Ford had been told he wouldn't be considered for the movie because he'd already appeared in George Lucas' 'American Graffiti'
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NEED TO KNOW
- Harrison Ford didn’t realize he was auditioning for Star Wars
- He said that he thought he was ‘doing them a favor’ by reading with the actors who were actually auditioning
- Ford’s role as Han Solo made him an international superstar
Harrison Ford's Star Wars audition was kind of an accident.
Ford, 83, opened up about his career on the May 13 episode of the Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast, hosted by Ted Danson and Ford's longtime friend Woody Harrelson.
Ford told the hosts about how, while he was a struggling actor early in his career, he also “had a career in carpentry.” And that job ultimately led him to playing Han Solo in Star Wars, his breakthrough role that brought him global stardom.
“I was working at the time for this guy named Francis Ford Coppola,” Ford said. But he wasn't starring in one of the director's films; he was installing the entrance to his office. Ford agreed to do the work, but only at night because he didn't want to “confuse people,” since he was also an actor.
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Meanwhile, George Lucas was casting Star Wars out of Coppola's office. “[He] had let it be known to our agents that anybody that was in American Graffiti need not apply because he was looking for new faces, fresh faces, not the worn-out, old faces we had,” Ford said. Ford had a supporting role in Lucas' American Graffiti in 1973.
Ford remembered Lucas, 81, brought Richard Dreyfuss in for the first interview. Dreyfuss had already starred in 1975's Jaws. “I was there in my carpenter belt… with a broom in my hand, not a movie star, but like Richard Dreyfuss,” he said.
But the casting director asked Ford for a favor: “Would I read with the other actors?” Ford agreed. “And then they gave me the part.”
Ford said there was another group of three people who were being considered for the roles. While he didn't know who Lucas was thinking of for Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker, he said, “The part that I eventually played would have been [Christopher] Walken.”
Harrelson, 64, asked when Ford got “the feeling” that they were actually interested in him for the role. “About two months after I signed the contract,” he said. “… I didn't think they were testing me. I thought I was doing them a favor.”
He continued, “So, that's how lucky I am. That's the kind of luck I have.” He joked, “But if I was really lucky, I'd be Chris Walken if I could.”
Credit: Lucasfilm
Star Wars (later subtitled A New Hope) was released in 1977 and ultimately starred the late Carrie Fisher as Leia and Mark Hamill as Luke, alongside Ford. Alec Guinness played Obi-Wan Kenobi, and James Earl Jones voiced Darth Vader. Ford, Fisher and Hamill became international superstars and reprised their roles in 1980's Empire Strikes Back and 1983's Return of the Jedi. Ford returned to the franchise as Han Solo one more time in 2015's The Force Awakens.
Walken, 83, opened up about his Star Wars audition in a 2024 interview with Vanity Fair. “I think it was for Han Solo,” Walken said. “Yes, I auditioned for it. And if I'm not mistaken, my partner in the audition was — I think this is true — it was Jodie Foster.”
Walken joked that even though he did audition for the movie, “so did about 500 other actors. It was lots of people doing that."
Ford, meanwhile, continued to see his star rise after filming Star Wars. Beginning in 1981, he starred in the Indiana Jones films. He also took over the role as Jack Ryan in 1992's Patriot Games and 1994's Clear and Present Danger, and portrayed Rick Deckard in the two Blade Runner films.
Other roles for the actor have included 1985's Witness, 1988's Working Girl, 1997's Air Force One, 2013's 42 and 2015's The Age of Adaline. In 2022, he moved into TV work with his role on the Yellowstone prequel series 1923, and, since 2023, he has starred on the Apple TV sitcom Shrinking.
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