This Godfather Actor Turned Down Han Solo, Despite Being Offered ‘So Much Money’

We’ve already written at HuffPost UK about how Ryan Gosling was very nearly in an iconic ’90s band, but turned it down.

And we’ve shared the fact that Vinnie Jones didn’t want to appear in Deadpool & Wolverine, despite being offered a part, too.

Well, it turns out that the iconic Star Wars role of Han Solo was offered to many actors before going to Harrison Ford.

Kurt Russell, Sylvester Stallone, Christopher Walken, Burt Reynolds, Tom Selleck and many more were reportedly up for the role, ScreenRant writes. 

But one shocked me more than the others ― Al Pacino.

When was he offered the role, and why would he turn it down?!

The star of Heat, The Godfather, and Scarface told Variety about his flirtation with the franchise last year.

“Well, I turned down Star Wars,” he told the publication. 

“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,” he added (I’d have loved to have seen that too).

“They offered me so much money. I don’t understand it. I read it,” the star continued.

“So I said I couldn’t do it. I gave Harrison Ford a career,” he joked.

The Star Wars: Rough Draft was completed by George Lucas in 1974.

That was two years after The Godfather, where Al Pacino played Michael Corleone, was released.

Oh! 

Yep ― but at least he’s in good company. 

As we’ve said before, everyone from Kurt Russell to Robert England has been said to have been asked. 

In fact, you can even see Kurt Russell’s audition tape for the role online. 

The reasons other actors missed out on the role varied. Sylvester Stallone said he “didn’t meet with much approval since when I stood in front of George Lucas he didn’t look at me once, obviously being very shy.” 

Burt Reynolds gave the part a miss because he “just didn’t want to play that kind of role at the time.”

“Now I regret it. I wish I would have done it,” he added. And it turns out that Burt Reynolds ALSO turned down Al Pacino’s part as Michael Corleone in The Godfather (!!). 

A-list Hollywood’s a small world, I guess…