Steven Speilberg Helped Select Alden Ehrenreich for the Role of Han Solo.
Alden Ehrenreich’s career seems to be blasting off with his role in the critically-lauded Hail Caesar! and his recent casting as Han Solo for a Star Wars Anthology movie. Plus, learn about an interesting behind-the-scenes connection that indirectly links Ehrenreich’s past to Harrison Ford’s.
From The Hollywood Reporter:
The Los Angeles native had the fortune of having been discovered at age 14 by Steven Spielberg in a bat mitzvah video, and his first two movies were for The Godfather filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. He also worked with Woody Allen in Blue Jasmine and nabbed a key role in Warren Beatty’s untitled Howard Hughes movie, which finally will be released this year. (Ehrenreich plays the film’s leading man, the assistant to Beatty’s Hughes.) Insiders say Spielberg and Coppola were among those who reached out to producer (and their longtime friend) Kathleen Kennedy to vouch for Ehrenreich. Disney declined comment on the process.
Small world, eh? The article also notes that Taron Egerton, the runner-up for the role, allegedly dropped out due to his involvement with the sequel to Kingsman: The Secret Service and a potential Robin Hood franchise. Those who are familiar with Lucasfilm’s history shouldn’t be too surprised to hear that the advice of both Spielberg and Coppola were heeded, considering that both were longtime friends of former CEO George Lucas and that Kennedy was Spielberg’s protégé.
More interesting still is that Fred Roos, the guy who was responsible for kickstarting Ehrenreich’s career, was actually involved as a casting consultant for the original Star Wars movie. In fact, according to Entertainment Weekly, he’s actually the same man who helped Harrison Ford become a Hollywood star!
Jack Nicholson. Diane Lane. Tom Cruise. Joan Allen. Richard Dreyfuss. Roos cast them in roles that, if not their first, were certainly defining — and in many cases responsible for their breakthroughs. Probably his biggest find: Harrison Ford.
“I was, from the get-go, pushing him for Han Solo,” Roos says. “‘George, you saw him right under your nose in American Graffiti,’ and finally it clicked with George. Other people were considered, but finally I won the day with George on that one.”
Flash forward about three decades from 1977. Roos and Coppola have remained close friends and collaborators. The Godfather director is now making smaller, more personal films – and he wants a new face to star in 2009’s Tetro, as a young man searching for his expatriate brother in Argentina.
By 2006, the agent Ehrenreich secured with Spielberg’s help had gotten him small roles on TV shows like Supernatural and CSI. But that was about it. Then one of his reps introduced him to Roos.
And the rest, it seems, is history.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
Incoming: comments from people griping again about this movie for the umpteenth time -_-
ehem. Testing testing. one two.
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WHY ARE THEY EVEN MAKING THIS MOVIE???!!!!
I can’t tell if you’re joking or not.
Just give it a chance, damn it!
How about watching the movie before bashing it? It’s not even like judging a book by it’s cover, there is no cover. They are making the movie because there is a story that many people still want to hear, and of course there is this thing Disney likes called money. Your question is about as dumb as your stance on the film with nothing to base your opinion on. Just like one of the responses here to someone bashing the movie that has yet to be filmed never-mind released. You cared enough to read the article and comment. Ever hear of the phrase, if you don’t have anything good to say, why say it? You have now.
WAAAAAAH!!! ANTONY INGOOBER!!!!!!! WHY CAN’T JUST, EVERYTHING STAR ANTONY INGOOOOOOOOOOOOOBERRRR!!!!!!????
WHO CARES IF HE CAN’T ACT, HE LOOKS LIKE HARRISON AND THAT’S ENOUGH, RIGHT??!?!
No, Alden does not look like Harrison. He was chosen because he can act and pull of jokes. Period.
I was talking about Anthony Ingruber.
Sir, the possibility of Ingruber being cast as the lead were 3,720 to 1.
Never tell him the odds though…he never asks that question of possibility until after he’s done it.
(which, just to be pedantic, actually, are pretty GOOD odds…Threepio apparently doesn’t know how ratios and odds work)
I was joking.
I saw that.
HE WAS IN A YOUTUBE SHORT AND HAS AN IMDB PAGE!!!!!!! THAT MAKES HIM AN ACTOR!!!!!!
HE DID A HAN IMPRESSION YEARS AGO AND THAT MEANS THAT HE CAN LEAD A FEATURE FILM!
Luckily, you’ve never complained about ANYTHING, Marsha.
Marsha and Leslie are the same person but with different accounts hahahahaa
Some people would complain if you discovered the cure for cancer.
God d@mn penicillin!!!
Well, yes. I guarantee it would be controlled by the elite. They would charge ridiculous amounts of money of it, and on top of that have the nerve to ask for government funding.
I rest my case.
this is pretty reassuring stuff!!
Absolutely. When you’ve got Roos himself saying you’re a good choice, you’re probably a good choice.
I’m not sure if this role will have the same sort of impact on his career as it did with Harrisons.
Certainly not, especially if the fan reaction to the movie’s mere existance has anything to say about it. But, if he pulls it off, then we might just see Han Solo become a cyclical character like James Bond or Batman…
…and I’m okay with that! COME AND GET ME!
Oh, we’re DEFINITELY coming at you for that one, have no fear.
…Man, a thought just popped into my head. Could you imagine if the Internet was around during the age of the first few Bond movies? “HOW DARE YOU REPLACE SEAN CONNERY HE’S THE ONLY JAMES BOND EVER NO ONE ELSE SHOULD EVER BE HIM!!1!”
You can’t judge fan reactions just off youtube comments, Facebook likes/dislikes and Star Wars fan page comments though. There are a lot more fans than just the ones you see on the internet. Many of them wouldn’t mind seeing any new Star Wars movies, I’m sure.
Sure you can. There’s a difference between “fans” and “people that watch Star Wars movies”, and so far, the “fans” seem to be 90/10 “against”.
How do you know that though? Do you have proof?
Just like I can’t say that 90/10 are “for” it, you have no evidence that they are “against” it, besides internet comments.
I remember him saying Shia was the next Brando.
Until he shat on Indy 4. lol.
To be fair, the “whole dropped the ball” incident was a reference to his own performance ( Shia Lebouf ) – I don’t think he meant to criticise anyone else.
If that was the case, he shouldn’t have said “we”. Ford rightly slapped the little bitch down for that faux pas.
And then the next Brando became somebody was more qualified for the position – Tom Hardy.
Going back in the storyline is a mistake for me. Star Wars is lacking the creativity of going forwards with new characters in parallel timeline. Not a big deal, I enjoyed and will enjoy star wars almost for sure, but until Disney hasn’t fully recovered its investment they won’t risk too much.
You know, for all the complaints that SW has “small galaxy” syndrome, doesn’t it seem odd how everything in Hollywood is within one degree of Lucas, Coppola, Speilberg, or Kennedy?
I hope they make an effort with make-up and whatever they can to make him look more like Harrison Ford. Like they did for Joseph Gordon-Levitt to make him look more like Bruce Willis in Looper as seen here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45xUJVsAlaI
I liked the film but he looked nothing like Willis at all. It was as distracting as when John Wayne played Genghis Khan or Mickey Rooney played an old Asian Man.
It’s easier when there is a 25 year gap between the ages, though.
Why The Last Crusade worked but there’s only about a decade between this one and ANH.
I agree, I think the River Phoenix comparison is a perfect example of good casting making up for looks, especially since Indy is another Harrison Ford character. Of course it would be amazing if River or Alden looked just like Harrison did but sadly that’s not the case.
I’d like to see them do the first digital facial double film in history like they did in Antman/Civil War. Might take years to do but it would be a real accomplishment and like Titanic or Avatar I think everyone would go out of pure curiousity.
Wouldn’t that be just as distracting to some people as it would just leaving Alden’s face alone though? I guess you get used to it, kind of like CLU in Tron.
Don’t really know because not even CLU was used for the entire film. The RDJ and Douglas ones looked way better than Bridges did in that film and that was only like 5 years ago or so, I’m sure they could make some real breakthrough if they wanted to do a full film about it. Only downside is Ford no longer sounds young anymore but maybe they could use Alden’s voice if he can pull it off himself.
Exactly. What is going to be jarring is that we know what a younger Han Solo looks like. Clearly this isn’t a teenage Han Solo, this is a early 20’s Han Solo, not far off from the late 20’s/early 30’s Han Solo we met in ANH.
Early 20s going to early 30s.
This movie is one of the first things to come to mind as well. I also didn’t buy the whole looking like Bruce Willis but his mannerisms were on point. Nothing made me think for a second that I wasn’t looking at Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Doesn’t mean they can’t pull it off in this movie. The two in Loopers are really night and day as far as looks. I don’t think this would be as difficult to pull off. As long as Alden does his homework I think he will do just fine. We’ll have to wait until 2018 to find out, plenty of time to get it right. We shall see.
People in real life change a lot, my dad at 19 compared to when he is 55 is insane.
Ingruber was my first choice but Alden was definitely my second. The guy has talent and he can definitely pull it off. Nobody can replace Harrison Ford but we aren’t quite capable in cloning a younger version of him just yet but Disney has had some pretty good casting decisions in the past and there is no way in hell they’re going to risk butchering this character even though, again, it’ll never be the same as Harrison Ford. I’m fucking excited! – That guy who used to be called KyloRen (LOL)
They showed they can in Antman and Civil War.
The thing I question is whether or not they could map young Ford’s face to someone else. Both of those effects sequences were done using the original actor. But I guess it’s possible. The Russo brothers commented in an interview with Collider that the young Downey sequence was difficult to get right and was the last effects sequence to be finished. Even if they just use Ehrenreich’s own appearance unaltered with cgi, I hope they pay attention to details, like the scar on Ford’s chin for instance.
Well they did it with Micheal Douglass too who’s about the same age as Ford now. I’m sure he’d want a bigger pay day though to use his likeness.
I’ve seen Civil War last day and imo the scene was terrible. It just screamed fakeness. He looked like a wax doll.
It was jolting, but I thought it looked well enough. At least any shortcoming with the effect in this case could be explained away with the fact that it was a digital projection. I’m not sure that it would be believable on a leading character throughout an entire film though.
Im not really sure either. Especially motion is where the CGI face falls apart. Not even the best 2016 motion capture technology can do it right.
There are theories about what is the reason behind this, but most likely the human brain can just detect a fake/deformed face extremely well.
This would have more weight had this come from the younger Speilburg. Unfortunately like his bff, His creative judgement has rapidly atrophied over the years much like Coppola.
Exactly. Look how the last Spielberg “goldenboy” worked out in a Lucasfilm movie ( Shia Lebouf ).
Megan Fox should never have taken his career advice. Maybe if Shia was as good on his knees as her then he’d still have a job.
Ugh. That’s right… Long live the beef…
Celebrity endorsement is not going to make me have interest in this film.
Yet here you are, posting away on an article about this film…
It’s trill in hopes that Disney will see this turmoil and yank the film… *fingers crossed*
Amen to that…
Nepotism at it’s finest.
Except when it’s not.
I think you need to look up the definition for nepotism.
I think you do: “The practice among those with power or influence of favoring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs.” https://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en&gws_rd=cr&ei=sRDRVJW8FcexyASppYKICA&fg=1#hl=en&q=nepotism+definition
Actually I don’t. But thanks for being there to tell me what I already know. It is not nepotism to recommend someone for a position. Nepotism exists when the person hiring is a family member or friend. Go read the article again and apply critical thinking.
I beg to differ, and although Spielberg may not be a Disney employee, you think he does not have any influence over his girl Kennedy?
That’s called networking, not nepotism. Ever heard of LinkedIn? Yeah, same concept. It’s not nepotism for one of your old military buddies to get you a job at Booz Allen, but it is for Spielberg to get a kid a role in an Anthology film? Spielberg knows talent when he sees it, he has the resume to back it up, he knows this kid who he thinks could be a good fit and recommends him to Ms. Kennedy. Kennedy/ Director/ Producers still retain control over casting. His recommendation merely got him in for an audition, obviously. Again, not nepotism.
No Nepotism, is if they cast Alden without giving any others a chance. He wasn’t guaranteed the role of being young Han Solo any more than Taron or Reynor or Franco or Teller.
This was nothing more than good networking. Ehrenreich still had to satisfy the Disney casting team, and they’re no mugs.
what about making harrison ford himself help selecting young Han? I remember he worked on something like casting for episode IV
Because he doesn’t give a shit? And he didn’t work on casting, he read lines with actors who were auditioning.
Nope on this…
Make a Vader movie/ name it hunt for the lost jedi….
Let us see him in his prime, hunting the jedi without help of inquisitors. That sounds like a better idea than this Han Solo mess.
Rogue One?
not at all….it’s about the stealing of the Death Star plans.
Yes, but Vader will be in the movie hunting down rebels… Allegedly.
hunting rebels and hunting Jedi that escaped the purge are two completely different things.
That sounds like a dumb action movie to me. Leave that stuff to the comics.
Vader hunting Jedi sounds dumb??? Wow!
Of course he did, just as he put Kennedy as president and JJ for the first movie. So Spielberg has always wanted to kill Star Wars and now he can, some friend
Pretty sure Spielberg doesn’t want to kill Star Wars any more than you or I do.
How many Americans does it take to fill the Grand Canyon?
Four.
Yup, 1 to say “Heave”, and 3 to fill it with dead Brits..
Cannibalism now, is there no limit to your vices.
“User’s profile is Private” – that’s how you know you’re dealing with a real champ, and totally NOT a giant pussy.
Dr/Mr Crankypants who?
Quiet, pussy troll – grownups are talking sweetie.
Oh dear, I seem to have upset our brave and bold Mrcwankypants.
Shhh, honey, indoor voice.
Apologies dear flower, I’ll just tippy toe out of here, I know you don’t need your bottle(more of a dummy type anyway) but don’t you worry, they’ve deleted that nasty, hurtful joke, you can rest easy now.
Cool! Now I get to blame Spielberg for this as well… Indy 4 anyone?
The kid was pretty great in Hail Caesar!
Hmmmm…. strange to me that everyone isn’t crazy excited about this …sure it won’t be the same without Harrison as Solo ..but come on guys …we get to have an entire movie with the Millennium Falcon and blasters and Imperial Star Destroyers etc… plus the level of acting and writing Disney has been bringing to the table …I for one can’t wait …it’s not going to be a Michael Bay mess so why all the hate?! I remember everyone crying about Daniel Craig as Bond and look how THAT turned out! And recasting Capt Kirk… that turned out amazing
…at least I thought so
We are living in amazing times …new Star Wars movies every year or less …freaking AWESOME
…something 6 year old me could only have imagined in the 80’s ha ha