ROTTEN TOMATOES: Did Harrison Ford Turn Down a $47 Million "Han Solo" Paycheck?

Did Harrison Ford Turn Down a $47 Million "Han Solo" Paycheck?

by Scott Weinberg | January 12, 2007

From the "I don't really buy it, but everyone else is talking about it" files: Superstar Harrison Ford allegedly turned down a $47 million payday because he didn't want to play Han Solo for a fourth time. He instead opted to do "Indiana Jones 4," a gig that'll probably net him around the same amount.

We'll pluck our report from MSN.com, but the initial news came from the UK's Daily Star tabloid, which I wouldn't believe if it reported that the sky is still blue. But apparently George Lucas wanted to do a Han Solo spinoff movie, but Ford resoundingly rejected the idea, opting instead to do ... another fourth installment for George Lucas.

Here's what the Star's anonymous source had to say: "George wanted Harrison to play Indy but cleverly sounded him out about playing Hans Solo instead. Harrison was horrified. After that he was delighted to be playing Indy again. He told George he just couldn't face being stuck in a spaceship with Chewbacca again."
----

OK, first off, DAILY STAR, it's Han Solo, not Hans! Secondly, how dare you malign the wonderful Chewbacca! That big hairy brute did a lot of hard work for very little credit. Heck, even at the end of "Star Wars" -- he didn't even get a medal! It's like he was some worthless droid or something.

Anyway, an "Old Han Solo" movie is a really rotten idea to begin with, so let's just move on.

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(1-20 of 34 posts) | Reply

TortillaSoup writes:
on Jan 12 2007 02:42 AM

...so now instead of breaking his hip in a galaxy far far away he can break his hip in some desert or jungle

(Reply to this)

Thundaar writes:
on Jan 12 2007 03:18 AM

... and may the geritol be with you.

(Reply to this)

mojodaddy writes:
on Jan 12 2007 05:41 AM

Is that really the movie poster you guys have for Star Wars?

(Reply to this)

Kid_Ikarus writes:
on Jan 12 2007 09:36 AM

Um... i thought Lucas was done with Star Wars for good?

(Reply to this)

donkeytron writes:
on Jan 12 2007 10:02 AM

[b]Complete crap.[/b]
Sorry, but this isn't even worth reporting on, guys. Han Solo spin-off? So this would be like the Frasier of Star Wars? Right. Although, David Hyde-Pierce would make a great C-3PO. Hmm...

(Reply to this)

CannibalPenguins writes:
on Jan 12 2007 10:09 AM

For a man of his age, I'm surprised he made the right decision.
A Han Solo film could be a potential bomb, while an Indiana Jones 4 is a guaranteed hit.
Don't mean to offend Star Wars fans, but I doubt many would be interested in a spin-off focusing on just Han Solo. Mostly because he's not that interesting, and it's hard to imagine Han Solo running around for 140 minutes trying to entertain us.

(Reply to this)

adml_shake writes:
on Jan 12 2007 10:45 AM

[b]I'm not surprised[/b]
He's always said that he was done with Han Solo, he felt the character went about as far as it could go and he wasn't interested in playing him again. If they were THAT serious about a Han spin off they could easily just recast him, the true SW fans will still go see it while the fan boys will go shoot themselves.

(Reply to this)

Sputnik99 writes:
on Jan 12 2007 11:05 AM

The reason the prequels stunk was the "Han Solo Factor." There was no one in the movies with any balls or used testosterone, we all know that. Personally, I think a Han Solo movie would be awesome, because Star Wars has been super-wimpy for so long.

But I don't believe the tabloid.

(Reply to this)

Yalnif writes:
on Jan 12 2007 12:01 PM

[b]What?[/b]
Who on earth is Han Solo?

(Reply to this)

Stretchy writes:
on Jan 12 2007 12:29 PM

If this report is true, it was obviously meant to be taken in jest. Sure, Lucas might have brought up the topic of a Han Solo movie while talking to Ford about Indiana Jones, but Ford's response about being stuck in a spaceship with Chewbacca makes it pretty clear that he and Lucas were just joking around.

(Reply to this)

cabezone writes:
on Jan 12 2007 12:43 PM

Sputnik99, is just about dead on. None of the characters in the prequels could even come close to the trio of Chewbacca, Solo, and Lando. Everyone in the crap 3 were wooden and boring.

(Reply to this)

Kid_Ikarus writes:
on Jan 12 2007 02:44 PM

In reply to this comment (#852975)
Except for Palpatine... cmon now, that performance deserved some credit!

(Reply to this)

killermonkey8822 writes:
on Jan 12 2007 06:36 PM

harrison ford is lame now.......much much too old to play indiana jones.......unless they go for an indiana jones junior type thing but let's pray to god that they don't do that because that would be an even worse idea

(Reply to this)

unbreakable_samurai writes:
on Jan 12 2007 07:42 PM

I think a Han Solo movie with Ford would have been pretty sweet.

(Reply to this)

synergyred writes:
on Jan 12 2007 07:52 PM

This sounds like bull but I think that one action movie is a good thing right now. I mean Harrison Ford isn't very young anymore. Not to be insulting to older gentlemen (I mean, Christopher Lee is very very old but can still pull things off) but doing two action heavy movies might be a bit much for him. I mean Harrison is a great actor. We don't want him injured!

(Reply to this)

Defmonkey writes:
on Jan 12 2007 08:08 PM

[b]And I thought it was gonna be about the new sequel[/b]
...Ya know 7,8 and 9 that was supposedly to been made. Where all the original characters are older and the Jedi Academy is back up and running... Well I read that in a rumor about 2 years ago. 2009 is the year that the new trilogy begins supposedly if anything new starts up. Highly unbelievable but who knows. Because why was the new Anakin put as the ghost in Return of the Jedi? That always puzzled me. And I believe thats a connection to the "new trilogy" rumors that are floating around.

But a Solo spin off wouldn't of been good. Maybe a CGI with Ford's voice would of been better IMO. So it would show a younger Han Solo. But thats just My opinion.

(Reply to this)

wilkiedriver writes:
on Jan 12 2007 08:39 PM

In reply to this comment (#852980)
"Because why was the new Anakin put as the ghost in Return of the Jedi? That always puzzled me. And I believe thats a connection to the "new trilogy" rumors that are floating around."

No, the "new Anakin" was put there as more of a connection to the prequels. If Lucas didn't do that, then newer viewers of the movies (ex: kids, my girlfriend) would probably be confused with who goes where and why. Yes, I defended Lucas.

A CGI with Ford's voice? I hope your really tired or drunk (or failing at being funny) because that dose not make any sense at all.

(Reply to this)

digitaljawa writes:
on Jan 12 2007 09:28 PM

[b]"Daily Star" - "Death Star! ...Come on people![/b]
From theforce.net:

We've just gotten word through very reliable sources that this was in fact a fabricated story or misunderstanding at the Daily Star. Make no mistake that Harrison Ford is indeed going to be filming Indy 4. However, the Star Wars spin off portion was inaccurate.

(Reply to this)

TheAnswerMVP2001 writes:
on Jan 13 2007 11:05 AM

If this is true Harrison was probably was turned off by the three horrible Star Wars prequels Lucas churred out, and didn't want to be apart of another CGI filmfest. I don't blame him.

(Reply to this)

adml_shake writes:
on Jan 13 2007 01:11 PM

[b]If they really wanted to do some new SW's[/b]
just do the yuzan vong story line, if I remember right it's been about the same amount of time since ROTJ came out and that war took place in the SW's universe.

(Reply to this)

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