Star Wars fandom is reaching fever pitch with the arrival of Star Wars: The Force Awakens opening in theaters on December 18. In that spirit, Kurt Russell (who will be appearing in Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming The Hateful Eight) appeared on The Graham Norton Show to share his experience in auditioning for the role of Han Solo in 1977’s Star Wars. Russell described a conversation that he had with Star Wars creator George Lucas as the actor was deliberating on whether or not he should pursue the role:
“Do you know if you’re going to use me in this movie? (Lucas) said, “I just can’t. There’s just a lot of combinations that I’m looking at and I don’t know.” And so, I said, “I got to go to work.”
While it would have been interesting to have seen Russell’s portrayal of Han Solo, the role of the charming smuggler went to Harrison Ford (whose career skyrocketed in response). Russell did well for himself as well by becoming a favorite of director John Carpenter and portraying iconic cinematic characters such as Snake Plissken and Jack Burton.
During the show, Russell and Tina Fey decided to have a bit of fun and recreate a classic scene in The Empire Strikes Back, in which Han is about to be frozen in carbonite and Leia confesses her love to Solo. Needless to say, it’s well worth the watch and we get a taste of what Russell would have brought to the role of Han Solo.
Also, Tina Fey opened up on the show about her accelerated maturity that she experienced as a child growing up. During the same segment, she shares a hilarious story of her awkward excursions to JcPenney’s with her mother as she tried on bras.
(Via Graham Norton Show)
