Hollywood thrives on “what ifs.” They’re the lifeblood of each late-night debate between movie nerds and the spine of numerous YouTube rabbit holes. What if Will Smith starred in Django Unchained? What if Tom Selleck’s Magnum P.I. mustache cracked the whip like Indiana Jones? What if Nicolas Cage had actually soared in Tim Burton’s doomed Superman Lives?…properly we received that for a short minute in The Flash by way of CGI, however maybe one of many best “almost” of all of them is a narrative that seems like a fever dream: What if Al Pacino, recent off The Godfather and on the absolute peak of his powers, had been forged as Han Solo in Star Wars?
It’s not fan-fiction. Pacino has confirmed it through the years, with a mixture of bemusement and remorse. “I was offered Star Wars, yes,” he admitted. “But I didn’t understand the script. I was in The Godfather. They wanted me for it. But I couldn’t understand it.” Think about George Lucas, clutching his sci-fi opus about Jedi knights and Wookiees, sliding it throughout the desk to essentially the most revered actor in America, and Pacino flipping by way of pages of alien names and lightsaber duels earlier than muttering his line from Jack and Jill, “Burn this. This must never be seen by anyone.” As a substitute, the position went to Harrison Ford, a part-time carpenter and part-time actor who wasn’t even presupposed to audition. With that one choice, the course of film historical past shifted ceaselessly. So at present, make certain your hyperdrive isn’t leaking and every thing isn’t out of order (particularly the courtroom) as we attempt to discover out What If Al Pacino Had Performed Han Solo?
To grasp how wild this almost-casting was, it’s essential to bear in mind the place Pacino stood within the mid-Nineteen Seventies. He was the star. After The Godfather, Serpico, and The Godfather Half II, Scarecrow and the upcoming Canine Day Afternoon, Pacino had mainly outlined an period of American appearing. He embodied the gritty, paranoid, and morally ambiguous ‘70s cinema that mirrored America’s post-Watergate malaise. He was the face of methodology depth: brooding, unpredictable, electrical.
Alternatively, George Lucas was a younger director who had a wild house fantasy that nobody in Hollywood believed in. To executives at Fox, Star Wars regarded like a Saturday matinee serial at finest, and a career-killer at worst. One studio exec allegedly referred to as it “a children’s movie about space wizards with laser swords.” Lucas was determined. He wanted somebody who may floor the chaos, somebody whose identify on a poster would immediately make individuals take his intergalactic fairy story critically. Who higher than Al Pacino, the person who introduced us Michael Corleone’s quiet menace and Frank Serpico’s street-level depth?
The plan was clear: pair Lucas’s dangerous, untested idea with Pacino’s creative credibility. If audiences trusted Pacino, they could be keen to associate with Jedi knights, smugglers, and an enormous furry co-pilot who solely speaks in growls. Lucas wasn’t simply casting an actor; he was trying to find a cinematic anchor, somebody to bridge the hole between pulp journey and excessive artwork.
However Pacino took one have a look at Lucas’s cosmic fable about Jedi and Jawas and determined it wasn’t for him. “They didn’t need me for that.” And in a way, he was proper. Star Wars didn’t want Al Pacino. It wanted one thing else solely. It wanted the clean slate charisma of a Harrison Ford, somebody who wasn’t weighed down by status roles, who may convey levity, sly attraction, and rakish vitality with out the bags of Corleone’s shadow looming over each scene.
Nonetheless, right here’s the kicker: had Pacino mentioned sure, Star Wars wouldn’t have simply featured him; it might have trusted him. His mere presence would have shifted the film’s tone. Think about Pacino’s Han Solo: much less roguish smuggler, extra coiled spring of hazard, somebody who seems to be like he may gun down Greedo in chilly blood after which make a protracted, tortured monologue about why. As a substitute of Ford’s breezy, boyish grin, we’d get Pacino’s haunted eyes and hushed depth. When Chewbacca would ask him about his enterprise with Jabba, would he have slapped him foolish? The franchise would have leaned much less towards pulpy enjoyable and extra towards brooding operatic drama. Star Wars would nonetheless have been huge, however wouldn’t it have been enjoyable? Wouldn’t it have been beloved?
That’s the unusual irony. By saying no, Pacino gave Star Wars precisely what it wanted: room for another person to make it their very own. And by getting into that vacuum, Harrison Ford didn’t simply inherit a task; he inherited a whole galaxy, received the lady, and gave us an offspring hellbent on dwelling as much as his grandfather’s identify.
So let’s think about Pacino as Han Solo. Harrison Ford’s Han was the right mix of swagger and sarcasm. An area cowboy who rolled his eyes at Jedi hokum whereas secretly being the center of the Revolt. However Pacino? He didn’t actually “do” laid-back. His appearing type was intense and confirmed interior turmoil, even when he whispered. Han Solo in A New Hope wouldn’t be smirking as he shoots Greedo, however obvious like Michael Corleone deciding to place two in Sollozzo’s chest.
That well-known line, “Great shot, kid, that was one in a million”? With Ford, it’s playful. With Pacino, it would’ve appeared like a menace. Even “Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side” would’ve landed much less as sarcastic banter and extra like a courtroom testimony. And don’t even get me began on the “I love you / I know” second. Ford turned it into considered one of cinema’s coolest improv strains. Pacino, in contrast, may’ve delivered it like a person on the verge of a breakdown: “I know! Of course I know!” Leia would’ve backed away slowly.
After which there’s Chewbacca. Ford had the buddy-comedy timing to make his scenes with a non-verbal Wookiee really feel like precise banter. Pacino with Chewbacca? I can virtually hear him shouting, “HOO-AH!” each time Chewie growled again. The Millennium Falcon cockpit would’ve felt much less like a smuggler’s trip and extra like a remedy session.
As said earlier than, Pacino turning down Han Solo modified Harrison Ford’s life. Ford wasn’t Lucas’s first alternative. He wasn’t even within the room at first. He was actually working as a carpenter when Lucas tapped him to learn reverse different actors throughout auditions. However one thing clicked. Ford’s pure cynicism, dry supply, and movie-star charisma gave Star Wars the grounding it wanted. He was the final word unintentional casting alternative. Look again to when Harrison guest-starred on Conan and considered one of his interns confirmed off his Lego Millennium Falcon. Do you suppose Al would have smashed it on the ground in an amusing approach? In all probability not, he may need yelled on the child and run off. It could have been considerably humorous, but it surely may have additionally been scary. Pacino has joked about it since, saying, “I gave Harrison Ford a career.” And he’s not flawed. Han Solo catapulted Ford into superstardom, paving the best way for Indiana Jones, Blade Runner, Hollywood Murder (joking), and a decades-long profession as Hollywood’s most bankable everyman. With out Han, Ford may’ve been one other face within the crowd.
However what about Pacino? Had he taken the position, his profession trajectory may’ve splintered. Would he nonetheless have made Scarface? Would Michael Mann have forged him in Warmth if Pacino had been ceaselessly branded as “that guy from Star Wars”? Or would Pacino have develop into a box-office king, headlining blockbusters as a substitute of status dramas? Possibly Harrison Ford finally ends up auditioning for Tony Montana as a substitute, shouting, “Say hello to my little friend!” in a Midwestern drawl. That thought alone is proof we stay in a greater timeline.
In hindsight, Pacino’s rejection feels inevitable. He belonged to a unique cinematic custom. His pure habitat was New York crime dramas, Shakespearean monologues, and dabbling in creating A.I. fashions in S1m0ne, not house battles and laser swords. As a lot as Lucas wished him, it’s arduous to think about Pacino sliding comfortably into the roguish ease Ford dropped at the position. Harrison Ford wasn’t a star but, which meant he had nothing to lose and every thing to realize. That looseness, that lack of self-consciousness, was exactly what Han Solo wanted. Alternatively, Pacino already carried Corleone and Serpico’s weight. His Han would’ve been iconic, positive, however perhaps not enjoyable. And Star Wars wanted enjoyable as a lot because it required gravitas.
So what the hell occurred to Al Pacino’s Han Solo? Properly… nothing. For the reason that half went to Harrison Ford, historical past unfolded because it ought to. Ford grew to become the face of two of the most important franchises in cinema, properly, three should you rely two of the ’90s Jack Ryan films. Pacino stayed on the trail of status and depth, carving out a profession that gave us Cruising, Scarface, Warmth, and numerous courtroom outbursts.
However nonetheless — the “what if” lingers. Someplace in a galaxy far, far-off, there’s an alternate Star Wars lower the place Pacino sits within the Falcon, staring down Luke Skywalker and muttering, “She may not look like much, kid, but she’s got it where it counts.” In that world, sci-fi followers quote Pacino at Comedian-Con, Harrison Ford remains to be fixing doorways for George Lucas, and Tony Montana is performed by… John Travolta…hey, we are able to dream, can’t we?
Fortunately, we don’t stay in that world. We received each legends, each careers, each cultural milestones. Pacino grew to become the face of American appearing. Ford grew to become the face of blockbuster cinema. And the remainder of us get to take a seat again, rewatch Star Wars, and sometimes think about what it might sound like if Han Solo checked out Greedo and growled, “I tried to get out… but they pulled me back in.” Typically, essentially the most exceptional tales are those that by no means occurred.
Supply:
JoBlo.com
