Fassbender, DiCaprio, Pacino and Others Almost Cast in 'Star Wars'
Pacino, Fassbender, DiCaprio and more!
— -- "Assassin's Creed" star Michael Fassbender just told MTV News that he had talks with J.J. Abrams about possibly being in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" last year.
"I’m pretty sure I was busy doing something else in the summer," he said on Josh Horowitz's podcast, but didn't specify which role.
Someone who has specified the role he auditioned for is Eddie Redmayne, who was up for the role of Kylo Ren. That eventually went to Adam Driver.
The 2015 blockbuster hit would have been vastly different with the Oscar winner Redmayne as Ren and possibly Fassbender as say, Poe Dameron. But this is something "Star Wars" fans will just have to imagine.
This isn't the first time a big name surfaced who might have been in "Star Wars" films. Kurt Russell, Leonardo DiCaprio and others all were in talks about various films set in a galaxy far, far away.
Here's a quick rundown of what almost was:
Jodie Foster as Leia
Yes, you read that right.
The Daily Beast sat down with the eventual Leia, Carrie Fisher, and she said, "Jodie Foster was up for it … that one I knew the most. Amy Irving and Jodie. And I got it.”
Can you picture Harrison Ford opposite Foster? Which brings us to ...
Kurt Russell as Han Solo
This one isn't new at all. You can find Russell's Solo audition tape.
He's also spoken about the fact he auditioned for both "Han Solo and Luke Skywalker."
![](https://s.abcnews.com/images/Entertainment/GTY-almost-starwars-01-jrl-161222_33x16_992.jpg)
"I was in there on 'Star Wars' and remember asking George one day, 'Do you think you’re going to use me or not?' And he said, 'I don’t know which part I prefer you in. I don’t know if I like you as Han and this guy as Skywalker, or this guy as Han and you as Skywalker. I don’t know.'" Russell told The Daily Beast last year.
Russell ended up making a Western instead, and the rest is history.
But Russell wasn't "solo" on not getting the Han job. See what we did there?
Al Pacino as Han Solo
Wait, what!?
Pacino told MTV in 2014 that he didn't understand the script.
"It was at that time in my career where I was offered everything," Pacino told MTV. "I was in 'The Godfather.' They didn't care if I was right or wrong for the role, if I could act or not act."
Now, THAT would have been something.
Leonardo DiCaprio as Anakin Skywalker
Hayden Christensen ended up getting the role as the future Sith lord, but, wow, DiCaprio could have been in "Star Wars."
![](https://s.abcnews.com/images/Entertainment/GTY-almost-starwars-02-jrl-161222.jpg)
"I did have a meeting with George Lucas about that," DiCaprio told Shortlist magazine last year.
DiCaprio said he wasn't ready for something that big, though he was a big star at the time.
"Just didn’t feel ready to take that dive. At that point," he said.
Orson Welles and Michael Jackson
Two other stars almost cast in the franchise include Orson Welles as Darth Vader and Michael Jackson as Jar Jar Binks.
George Lucas ended up thinking Welles was too famous to be the voice of Vader, while Ahmed Best, who ended up playing Binks, told Vice last year that "Me, Natalie Portman, and George's kids -- we were at Wembley arena at Michael Jackson's concert. We were taken backstage and we met Michael. There was Michael and Lisa Marie [Presley]. George introduced me as 'Jar Jar' and I was like, That's kind of weird."
He added, "Michael was like, 'Oh. OK.' I thought, What is going on? After Michael had driven off, we all go back up to a big after-party. I'm having a drink with George and I said, 'Why did you introduce me as Jar Jar?'"
Lucas told him that "Michael wanted to do the part, but he wanted to do it in prosthetics and makeup like 'Thriller.' George wanted to do it in CGI."