Al Pacino is an industry unto himself. The legendary actor has been active in Hollywood for more than six decades. In his long and successful career, Pacino has done films in various genres that have been critical and commercial hits. He is also a recipient of an Oscar, a Tony, and two Emmy Awards.
Recently, the 82-year-old actor revealed that he turned down George Lucas’ epic space opera film ‘Star Wars‘ back in the day. This comes as a shock to his fans who are unable to imagine anyone but Harrison Ford playing the role of Hans Solo. So let’s find out why he did that.
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Al Pacino Talks About Rejecting ‘Star Wars’
On Wednesday, Al Pacino gave an hour-long interview to David Rubenstein as part of 92NY’s series called ‘People Who Inspire Us‘ series. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Pacino revealed why he turned down ‘Star Wars.’
“I turned down Star Wars”, he said about the project which was offered to him initially in his career. “So I was there and all of a sudden they gave me a script that was called ‘Star Wars’. I said, ‘I got the script, they offered me so much money, but I don’t understand it.”
Pacino ended up saying no because of the same reason. He then joked, “I gave Harrison Ford a career, which he has never thanked me for!”. In the same conversation, the ‘Insomnia‘ actor revealed that he is writing an autobiographical book.
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Pacino Feels The First ‘The Godfather’ Is Better Than The Sequel
‘The Godfather‘ is easily one of the most influential film in cinema history. It catapulted Pacino’s career to superstardom and was followed by two sequels. But the actor still believes that the first one was better than the rest.
“I really think it’s more — what would you call it — artistic or something, I don’t know. I don’t mean to play it down and be overly modest because I star in it with Bob de Niro, but at the same time, it’s a different film,” he said about the sequel.
“You see, The Godfather is more entertaining. Godfather II is this study, this personal thing for Francis [Ford Coppola],” Pacino added. He then called the first film an example of “storytelling at its best.”
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