Al Pacino has said he’s responsible for Harrison Ford’s career because he turned down playing Han Solo in Star Wars.
The iconic role, which made Ford a household name, was originally offered to Pacino who explained that although they “offered him so much money”, he just “didn’t understand” the storyline.
“Well, I turned down Star Wars,” the 82-year-old told David Rubenstein as part of the 92nd Street Y, New York’s People Who Inspire Us series.
“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,” Al recalled. “They gave me a script called Star Wars…
"They offered me so much money,” he added. “But I didn’t understand it, I read it… So I said I couldn’t do it.
“I gave Harrison Ford a career.”
Ford took on the role as Han Solo in the original film, which made £627.8 million worldwide with just a £9 million budget.
The actor went on to reprise the role in The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Return of The Jedi (1983) and again in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).
Pacino also said that his iconic role as Michael Corleone in classic film The Godfather almost didn’t make the cut as studio executives were underwhelmed by his performance and were planning to replace him.
In a meeting with the movie’s director Francis Coppola, the actor remembers him saying: “‘You know, I had a lot of faith in you. And you’re failing me,’ I’m standing there thinking ‘What the f**k, what did I do?’”
He said they decided to keep him because Coppola put a gripping scene closer up to the beginning of the film.
He explained. “The Sollozzo scene, where Michael shoots the cop. Coppola pushed that up, because he thought Paramount was about to fire me…
“They liked it, and they kept me in because I shot someone.”
