Al Pacino quickly rose to stardom through his breakthrough role as Michael Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather series. Due to that, he ended up becoming a demanding actor leading to many offers. Given that he made an impressive portfolio with whatever project he chose for himself, he also left many lucrative projects that would have further boosted his popularity. Not just Star Wars, he also turned down Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).
Developing his interest in filmmaking at a young age, the latter gained widespread acclaim for his 1975 movie, Jaws. As it became a major blockbuster, he decided to focus his interest on the Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He considered the former as one of the potential contenders for the role Roy Neary’s role. However, Pacino had a solid reason to turn down the projects.
Al Pacino Revealed His Mindset Behind Choosing Certain Projects
Al Pacino has worked in several blockbusters that solidified his status in Hollywood. Being one of the prominent figures in the history of American cinema, he had to let go of several offers which included the one he quite regretted- Star Wars. However, many might be unaware of the fact that he was in consideration to play the lead role in Steven Spielberg‘s sci-fi movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. However, he let of the opportunity. As he had chosen a lot of interesting projects in his career, he once mentioned via IMDB,
“I hope the perception is that I’m an actor, I never intended to be a movie star. I’m constantly striving to break through to something new.”
The 70s era saw an emergence in the popularity of the sci-fi genre with movies like Spielberg’s 1977 movie, Star Wars movies, and A Clockwork Orange contributing to its development. Eventually, Richard Dreyfuss played the role of Roy Neary whose life changed after he encountered a UFO. While the Heat actor never really addressed his involvement in Spielberg’s project, he did admit turning down to play the Han Solo role.
Al Pacino Addressed Rejecting Star Wars
In an interview with The Talks, the Dog Day Afternoon actor accepted turning down the Han Solo role he was offered as his “first big mistake.” Meanwhile, he reminisced about the time when he rejected the offer during a talk at The 92nd Street Y in New York via Variety.
He shared,
“Well, I turned down ‘Star Wars.’ When I first came up, I was the new kid on the block, you know what happens when you first become famous. It’s like, ‘Give it to Al.’ They’d give me Queen Elizabeth to play.”
He continued,
“They gave me a script called ‘Star Wars.’ … They offered me so much money. I don’t understand it. I read it. … So I said I couldn’t do it. I gave Harrison Ford a career.”
As he was unable to connect with the script at the time, he passed on the offer. Meanwhile, Harrison Ford, who was basically a newbie in the acting industry gained widespread acclaim for his playing the integral character in the story.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind is available to watch on Prime Video.
