When it comes to Hollywood Royalty, it doesn’t get much better than Al Pacino. The 82-year-old method actor has starred in some of Hollywood’s biggest movies, including The Godfather, Scarface, Dog Day Afternoon, Heat, Carlito’s Way, and The Devil’s Advocate. More recently, the Hollywood legend starred in the critically acclaimed Martin Scorsese Netflix movie The Irishman, Ridley Scott’s biographical crime drama House of Gucci, and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
As it happens, Pacino had a chance to add one more iconic franchise to his name.
During a talk at The 92nd Street Y in New York City last Wednesday, the prolific Hollywood actor revealed he was offered the role of Han Solo in the Star Wars franchise but turned it down. In his words, “Well, I turned down ‘Star Wars.’ When I first came up, I was the new kid on the block, you know what happens when you first become famous. It’s like, ‘Give it to Al.’ They’d give me Queen Elizabeth to play.”
The veteran actor also stated that they offered him a lot of money but he declined because he couldn’t understand the script after reading it. I gave Harrison Ford a career,” he jokingly added.
Prior to Ford’s casting as Han Solo, he had supporting roles in a handful of films, including American Graffiti, Kung Fu, and The Conversation. His performance as Han Solo catapulted him into the limelight and showed his potential as a leading man. While it is possible his acting prowess would have eventually been noticed and led to a glittering career, the truth is that his Han Solo role was what did the trick. So, Pacino’s joke has some element of truth to it.
Pacino is one of Hollywood’s most decorated actors having garnered numerous awards over the years so it is hardly a surprise that the Star Wars franchise wanted him as one of its stars. Apart from the Cecil B. DeMille Award and the AFI Life Achievement Award, he has also won one Academy Award, five Golden Globe Awards, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy Awards.
While there is hardly any doubt that he would have delivered a riveting performance as Han Solo, the Star Wars franchise’s ultimate choice of Harrison Ford worked out well in the end. Given Pacino’s glittering career, we doubt passing up on Han Solo and the success that would have come with it troubles him.
By the way, Lucasfilm recently released a new trailer of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which will see Ford reprise his role as the titular character from the franchise’s previous four installments. Also, Marvel Studios has cast the Indiana Jones actor as General Thaddeus Ross in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with his first appearance to come in the film Captain America: New World Order slated for release in 2024.
Pacino will next star in King Lear, a film adaptation of the William Shakespeare play of the same name. The film will reunite him with director Michael Radford and producer Barry Navidi with the trio previously working together on 2004’s film adaptation of another Shakespeare play The Merchant of Venice.
King Lear was originally announced in 2018 with shooting scheduled to begin in the autumn of 2019. However, there has been little to no update on its production until now. During the talk, Pacino stated that he and screenwriter Bernard Rose “are coming to a place when we have a script.” He also revealed that shooting for the film is likely to begin next year.
