Harrison Ford Was Paid Just $1000 Per Week For Star Wars

There may have been a price on Han Solo’s head, but it wasn’t that much…

During an interview with Good Morning America, the original ‘Star Wars’ star revealed that he was paid just $1000 a week for ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’.

“A producer friend of mine that produced ‘American Graffiti’ somehow connived to get me to read the lines with people that were auditioning for the parts of Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker,” he said. “I thought I was just helping out… Then when the whole thing was over they asked me if I wanted to play Han Solo. I said yes… eventually.”

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“When the whole thing was over they asked if I wanted to play [Han Solo],” he explained. “I said, ‘How much?’ And then they said $1,000 a week. And I said, ‘No’. But I did, I did it for $1,000 a week.”

“For the first one,” he added with a smile.

Although $1000-a-week might sound like a pretty good deal, it certainly wasn’t compared to is co-stars – many of which were already established actors.

Sir Alec Guinness – who famously played the Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi – negotiated himself a rather good deal, receiving 2.25% of the gross royalties paid to George Lucas, who himself received 20% of the box office takings.

Of course, Ford’s fee for ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ is likely to be a little higher this time around… but what really brought him back to the galaxy far, far away?

“A really good script,” he said. “[And] the opportunity to work with J.J. [Abrams], who I admire… and it just seemed like a good idea.”

As for Han Solo himself, Ford admits that he’s a much more complex character by the time we meet him in ‘Star Wars 7’… but while he may admit that the Force and Jedi are all real, he hasn’t changed that much.

“I think he’s got a more complex story now, a little bit more of an emotional context than perhaps there was before,” he said. “But he’s still the same guy.”

‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ heads to cinemas on 17 December 2015.

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Picture Credit: Lucasfilm.