Al Pacino isn't know for his sci-fi/fantasy roles, and obviously leans more towards gritty crime dramas, but that might all have been different if he had accepted a role in THE ultimate space-set adventure;
Star Wars. While talking at "An Evening With Al Pacino" the actor reveals that George Lucas offered him the role of Han Solo in the original trilogy, but he turned it down because he couldn't wrap his head around it!
"It was mine for the taking but I didn’t understand the script." admits Pacino. That role went to Harrison Ford but he wasn't Lucas' first choice because the director didn't want to work with an actor he had previously (on
American Graffiti) and the likes of Jack Nicholson, Chevy Chase and Bill Murray we all considered, alongside Pacino, as potential Solos. Could you picture Pacino in that role? The courtship of Princess Leia would probably have been a lot different anyway.
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Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.