Al Pacino rejected the offer to play Han Solo in Star Wars.
The 84-year-old Hollywood legend revealed he had been approached by Lucasfilm to portray the suave space smuggler in the 1977 sci-fi epic, but ultimately decided to turn the offer down, allowing Harrison Ford to swoop in and take the part and become a pop culture icon.
Speaking with Ross King on UK TV show Lorraine, Pacino said: “We don’t want Harrison Ford to hear this… Harrison, you are a great actor and I love you. I’m sorry but I made your career — let’s face it!”
The actor joked the studio would have offered him any role he wanted after he starred opposite Marlon Brando in the critically-acclaimed 1972 mafia drama The Godfather, but insisted Ford did “a great job” playing Han Solo in George Lucas’ movie.
He added: “They’d have offered me to play the Queen of England at that time, because I had done this film [The Godfather], but Harrison does a great job. He’s got a great career, I’m very happy for him.”
Pacino, who recently released his memoir Sonny Boy, explained he had read the script for the first Star Wars film, but concluded the movie wasn’t for him after he struggled to understand the story and sci-fi concepts.
Elsewhere in the interview, Pacino reflected on his role as mobster Michael Corleone in The Godfather and the two sequels, and happily accepts that part defines his career.
Pacino credits director Francis Ford Coppola for believing he was the right man for the role, because studio Paramount Pictures and the casting producers didn’t want him as Michael.
He said: “They didn’t want me. Only Francis Coppola wanted me.
“Right from the get go, there was no one else in his mind and of course they said, ‘No, who’s this guy? He’s short’ … Any film like that [is life changing] and it can happen, but it happened like that for me (clicks fingers).”
