Kurt Russell on Almost Playing Han Solo or Luke Skywalker
"Star Wars" could have been very different.
— -- Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill are cemented in history as Han Solo and Luke Skywalker, respectively, but things could have been very different.
Kurt Russell spoke to The Daily Beast about his career and new film, "The Hateful Eight," and said he auditioned for the original “Star Wars” back in the mid-1970s.
Asked whether he tried out for the part of Han Solo, he said, "both Han Solo and Luke Skywalker."
"That was back in the day when all the usual suspects in their twenties would roll in there, and it was early 1976 because at the same time was a television Western called 'The Quest' that they were offering me. I really loved the part."
Indeed, Russell, now 64, spoke to director George Lucas about the role ("The Quest" had already been offered to him) to get the director's take and see what he should choose.
"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 added, "I said, 'I gotta make a decision on this Western and I gotta go to work,' and he said, 'I just can’t give you an answer.' So I said, 'All right, I’m going to go take this Western and there will be one less guy to think about.' I don’t know if he would’ve hired me."
The "Overboard" star laughed at the rumor he turned down Han.
"I didn’t turn down 'Star Wars.' But that’s the fun history of that. You know, it was pretty fun because George taped it, and I had no idea what I was saying. I’m talking about a Millennium Falcon [spacecraft] and however long it took to get from here to there and the Death Star,” he said.
“So we’re just doing stuff, having no idea what you’re talking about and no idea what you’re doing.”
Imagine a galaxy far, far away with Russell as Solo. A win-win either way!
Here's a video that surfaced in 2008.
The Walt Disney Co. owns production company Lucasfilm and ABC News.