Christopher Walken has insisted he didn’t come “remotely close” to landing the role of Han Solo in the ‘Star Wars’ franchise.

Harrison Ford, 79, first portrayed the fan-favourite space smuggler in the original trilogy starting with 1977’s ‘Episode IV: A New Hope’.

And the 78-year-old Oscar-winner has insisted he wasn’t director George Lucas’ second choice for the part in the blockbuster sci-fi franchise.

In an interview with the Financial Times newspaper, he said: “I did audition [for ‘Star Wars’] but I don’t think I came remotely close to getting the job.

“About 500 other actors auditioned, so it wasn’t as if it was down to me and somebody else.”

The ‘Deer Hunter’ star also auditioned for Ryan O’Neal’s role of Oliver Barrett IV in the 1970 flick ‘Love Story’, but admitted he wasn’t the man for either of the movies.

Christopher added: “I was lucky [to have been rejected from both films] because I’d have been awful in them.”

Meanwhile, Stephen Merchant recently revealed he flew to the US to meet the ‘Annie Hall’ star because he wanted him to play a role in ‘The Outlaws’.

The co-creator of ‘The Office’, 46, had to take the drastic measure to convince Christopher, who has no mobile phone or email address, to be in his BBC One series.

He said: “Chris doesn’t use phones and he doesn’t have a computer, so it was a bit hard to ­contact him. I ended up having this very glamorous weekend where I went to Los Angeles to go to the SAG Awards for that film ‘Jojo Rabbit’.

“On the way back, someone said, ‘Chris can see you on your way home.’

“So I flew from this glamorous award ceremony to New York, and then drove up to Connecticut, and met Chris at his house. We spent hours just chewing the fat and the next thing I knew he agreed to do it.”

Christopher plays the role of unreformed con-artist and womaniser Frank in the drama, which centres a group of lawbreakers in Bristol who are thrown together to complete a community service sentence.

Stephen – who wrote the script and directed the series – took on the role of Greg, a lawyer who is caught soliciting in a car park.

The series will air on BBC One later this year and will also be available on Amazon Prime Video.