21 Actors You Didn't Know Were Almost Cast In Star Wars
10. Kurt Russell Was Almost Han Solo
It's hardly news that Harrison Ford was not the first choice for Han Solo - according to various sources ahead of him were the likes of Nick Nolte, Jack Nicholson, Steve Martin, Billy Dee Williams, and Burt Reynolds - before he swooped in and made the role his own. Another of the more popular choices pre-Ford was Kurt Russell, who had made a name for himself as a child actor who had a number of Disney projects to his name by the time he came to screen-test for Solo. Fresh from starring in gunslinging TV show The Quest, Russell almost played a cowboy of a completely different type in Han Solo, though he was ultimately unsuccessful in his audition.
His lack of success in the audition might have come as a surprise for those who saw him cast as the iconic Snake Plissken, but since his audition tape came to light fairly recently, it's obvious that he just wasn't right for the role, and perhaps should have gone for more of Plissken's attitude:
