Al Pacino reveals that he refused the role of Han Solo in Star Wars: “They offered me a fortune”

The actor, who had just made the godfather, says today that he had understood nothing when reading the script.

And if Han Solo had had the face ofAl Pacino ? The very very distant galaxy would have been very different …

The Oscar -winning actor humorously returns to one of the greatest roles he has ever refused: that of the emblematic smuggler of Star Wars. A revelation that he shares in his autobiography Sonny Boyand that he recently commented in an interview for Entertainment Weekly.

“I said to myself: I think I want to offer a career to Harrison Ford …”he jokes today, thinking about this decision which has, changed anything, changed the course of the history of cinema.

Because at the time, Al Pacino Battled in the excitement of New Hollywood, this wave of young directors who revolutionize American cinema – the famous Movie Brats :: Steven Spielberg,, Francis Ford Coppola,, George Lucas,, Martin Scorsese or Brian de Palma.

“Zoetrope started in San Francisco, with Spielberg, Palma, Coppola and Scorsese. They were real idealists. I even visited their premises, just before doing the godfather”he remembers, evoking the legendary Sentinel Building, headquarters of the production company created in 1969 by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas.

At the time, Pacino Play on Broadway when we hold out the scenario of Star Wars. But he doesn’t really understand what he reads: “” “

“I told myself that I had to be in space too. I sent him to Charlie Loughton, my friend and mentor. He said to me ‘I don’t understand either, Al. Really, I don’t understand.’ So I declined.

Finally, everyone found their account there. Al Pacino continued to build a legendary career by signing instead Hunting by William Friedkin or the Scarface de Brian de Palma. And Harrison Fordhe has become one of the most powerful faces in Hollywood thanks to Star Wars.