Overview

• Al Pacino said he was offered a “fortune” to play Han Solo in the original Star Wars but turned it down because he didn’t understand George Lucas’s screenplay.
• He recalled sending the script to mentor Charlie Loughton who also found it baffling and advised him against taking the part.
• The actor revisited the decision in interviews on June 8, 2025 and reflected on it in his 2024 memoir Sonny Boy.
• Pacino joked that his refusal cleared the way for Harrison Ford’s breakthrough as the roguish space pilot.
• He described his admiration for the Movie Brats generation led by Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola that transformed 1970s Hollywood.