Star Wars: Nightmare on Elm Street Star Clarifies Reports of Auditioning for Han Solo

The stars of the Star Wars universe have defined the on-screen portrayals of now-iconic characters, though there are a number of names that nearly joined the galaxy far, far away, but A Nightmare on Elm Street star Robert Englund has cleared up reports that he auditioned to play Han Solo for Star Wars: A New Hope. The spread of news can often result in a game of telephone, with various outlets slightly misinterpreting comments made by performers, resulting in Englund confessing that he had a brief meeting with Lucasfilm yet never actually read for any part, nor did he even know for certain what part he was meeting for.

“You know everybody gets that wrong. I kind of hate to talk about this,” Englund shared with Fantha Tracks. “Because, well, here’s why: Everybody gets it wrong. This is the Internet. They get everything wrong. I don’t know whether it’s a generational thing or whether it’s a sound bite thing.”

He added, “I wasn’t right for anything. They didn’t think I fit, but they took my photo. They took a Polaroid of me and they talked to me for five minutes. I later on discovered that Tom Selleck or somebody like Tom Selleck had turned them down for Han Solo. I’ve read all sorts of names including his in connection with Han Solo. My understanding is that in the very early drafts, he wasn’t even human. Solo was some sort of alien.”

The actor went on to note that, given his screen presence and background, he only assumes he was meeting for the role of Han Solo, due to reports he had heard that the studio was having difficulty casting the character and were pursuing a number of avenues.

“I say presumed, that they took my Polaroid for Han Solo. I didn’t read. I didn’t read any script. They just took my picture and talked to me for a few minutes,” the actor confessed. “The rumor I heard later was that they were going up and down in age with Han Solo. They were thinking he should be, like, an uncle to Luke, like the cool uncle that comes to Thanksgiving and takes the young kid out in the alley to smoke a cigarette — the cool older uncle. So I thought they were going older — maybe. But they were thinking for a brief second in time, maybe Han can be young like Luke. He could be like the Artful Dodger in Oliver Twist. He could be around the same age as Luke. And that’s when I’m thinking maybe they saw me, at that moment of time. That’s all that happened.”

The actor also recalled how he was friends with Mark Hamill at the time, with the Luke Skywalker actor having previously confirmed that Englund notified him of the project and encouraged him to audition.

You can read the full interview over at Fantha Tracks.

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