Harrison Ford Defied George Lucas To Become Han Solo

This information comes to us courtesy of the Empire of Dreams documentary narrated by Kevin Burns. If you’re all about physical media, you can find the full version (not the 90-minute one that aired on A&E) on your Star Wars DVD or Blu-ray set.

You can also now stream the doc on Disney+, where you’ll discover plenty of secrets about how the most influential franchise in the world was created.

If you’re as impatient as Luke Skywalker getting denied a trip to Tosche Station, don’t worry…I won’t make you watch a two-and-a-half-hour documentary to discover why Harrison Ford was originally forbidden from auditioning for the role of Han Solo.

It all goes back to the fact that the actor had already appeared in the earlier George Lucas film American Graffiti. For his new sci-fi epic, Lucas was determined to have fresh faces the world was relatively or (ideally) completely unaware of.

Instead of Harrison Ford, other actors, including some who would later become major Hollywood players, nearly got the role of Han Solo.

This included Nick Nolte and Kurt Russell. However, the one who came closest to getting the role other than Ford (and, frankly, the one that is the most insane to think about) is Christopher Walken, whose breakout role in The Deer Hunter would come only one year after the release of the first Star Wars film.

Meanwhile, Harrison Ford wasn’t exactly a big name himself (despite his part in American Graffiti, it’s fair to call Han Solo his own breakout role).

As you might have heard, he was a carpenter in those early days when he wasn’t acting, and a friend asked him to do some work on legendary director Francis Ford Coppola’s office. Ford agreed, but only if he could do it at night. He was worried that if the various directors and producers saw him more as a carpenter than an actor, he’d never land a major role.

The plan to hide his carpentry skills didn’t work: Ford later recalled that he was finishing up the job very early in the morning when George Lucas walked in.

The actor later said he was there “with my tool belt on, sweeping up,” and when Lucas saw him, all the two did was say hello and briefly chat. Lucas was still committed to the idea that Harrison Ford couldn’t audition for Star Wars, and it was actually a producer and not Lucas himself who asked the actor to be part of the film in a different way.

Remember those other soon-to-be-famous faces who were auditioning for the role? A producer asked Harrison Ford if he could feed lines to these prospective Han Solo actors as well as prospective Leia actors. Here’s where it gets interesting:

Ford didn’t just read the lines in his normal voice…he went the extra mile and tried to give this smuggler a very distinct personality.

What was that personality? Pretty much what you see onscreen: Harrison Ford thought that Han Solo should come across as a guy with serious swagger but who was also quite world-weary, a perfect contrast to the youthful idealism of Luke Skywalker.

George Lucas loved this characterization so much that he offered the role to Ford, who later said there was “there was no indication or forewarning” that this would happen.

History was made, and Harrison Ford starred as Han Solo, making a very modest $10,000 for his part in A New Hope. The exact sum didn’t matter, though, as he kickstarted his Hollywood career by playing a major role in the biggest blockbuster film of all time.

As for George Lucas, he learned the hard way that Ford, like his famous character, knew how to make his own luck…though looking at Ford’s astounding career, you’d be forgiven for thinking there really was a mystical energy field controlling his destiny as a future Hollywood icon.