Al Pacino Reveals Why He Turned Down ‘Star Wars’ Lead

By now it’s a known fact that Al Pacino is a little out there. Is Pacino so out there that he once turned down the lead role of Han Solo in the Star Wars film? While all signs point to yes, we’re going to give him the benefit of the doubt that he couldn’t predict just how huge the George Lucas’ franchise would become.

For the first time ever Pacino gave a rare interview and sounded off on why he turned down the Star Wars role. Right before Pacino was offered the role he was already running with his gold streak with his hit films Serpico, and Dog Day Afternoon.

Surprisingly the reason why Pacino turned down Han Solo isn’t what you may expect. Pacino explained: “It was mine for the taking but I didn’t understand the script.” As we all know the role of Han Solo went to Harrison Ford, and from there his career was launched and a star was born from the franchise.

It wasn’t just the role of Han Solo that could have been played differently. The three iconic roles were looked at by all different actors. Originally Sissy Spacek or Cindy Williams could have fulfilled the role of Princess Lea. As we know Spacek was just coming off of Carrie fame, and then later went on to do Welcome to L.A. and then 3 Women.

Even though Pacino claims he had the role locked and loaded, a string of hunky men and character actors at the time were also looking at the role of Han Solo, including Kurt Russell, Nick Nolte, Sylvester Stallone, and Christopher Walken.

As for news with the new Star Wars installment, J.J. Abrams is taking over the franchise from Lucas, and will bring back the three originals, although it hasn’t been specified what size their roles will be in the new installment.

Could you have seen Al Pacino as Han Solo?