Woody Harrelson is the kind of actor that you could seamlessly drop into nearly any kind of movie and immediately see it improve. From comedy to drama and everything in between, Harrelson is your man. With a litany of A-List titles to his name and several large franchises on his resume, it only made sense that ‘Star Wars’ would eventually come calling. However, when the team at Disney made their phone call, Harrelson actually ended up shaking his head and turning them down. As we know now, Harrelson is in ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ but here is why it almost never happened at all.
When Disney first called up Woody to join the already excellent cast, Harrelson was simply too tired to even think about taking on another role. This amazing revelation was dropped by Harrelson during an interview with Yahoo. In the interview he talked a little bit about his character Beckett while revealing that it almost never happened at all! Harrelson said, “Honestly, I’d been working. I’d done so many things back to back and I just wanted to go home.” His shocking admission makes sense even if it sounds preposterous to us ‘Star Wars’ fans back home. How could you turn down a starring role in friggin ‘Star Wars’? Fatigue makes sense, however, as Harrelson’s 2017 rivals almost every other actor on the planet. Harrelson starred in five different films in 207 including ‘War For the Planet of the Apes’ and ‘The Glass Castle.’
Still, Disney wasn’t ready to let go of Harrelson joining their cast and eventually they were able to get the big name actor involved with the project. Harrelson joins one of the most impressive casts in the ‘Star Wars’ galaxy for the prequel film that is ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’. The film also stars ‘Game of Thrones” Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Thandie Newton and Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo himself. Despite the popular concept of a Han Solo prequel film, as well as a great cast, the project has been plagued by production issues. From the firing of directors Miller and Lord to the leak that Ehrenreich needed extensive acting training, there has always been something in the news. However, director Ron Howard took over and since then the film seems to have finally found its rhythm. We’re just glad that Harrelson was able to join the team to provide his extensive talents.
