Taking on the Iconic Role of Han Solo ~ Interview with Alden Ehrenreich #HanSoloEvent

I was invited by Disney on an all-expense paid trip to cover the #HanSoloEvent. All opinions are my own. Alden Ehrenreich plays “Han Solo” in SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY and in my opinion, he makes an excellent Han Solo. “For young Han Solo, times are tough under Imperial rule. He makes his way as a reckless street thief, working for a notorious gang on Corellia, which is headed up by an ill-tempered crime boss. After an arduous stint as an Imperial mudtrooper, Han calls it quits and finds that he is very comfortable reinventing himself and traveling in the company of scoundrels around the galaxy.” When I was in LA I had the chance to sit down with Alden and talk about his experience making the movie.

How did you decide how much Harrison Ford you would use for your character versus making it your own?

Alden: Well before I answer that, I just have to sort of excuse myself, because I’m in sort of a daze because I was just doing an interview and he came up behind me and it was just wonderful. And I haven’t talked to him since I met with him for lunch before we shot.

Did he tell you his reaction to the movie?

Alden: He loved it, he thought it was awesome, he thought it worked like gangbusters. He thought I was really great and he said I’m going to make hundreds and hundreds of dollars. {Watch the moment Alden is talking about in the clip below}

Back to the first question…

Alden: Something that was really important to me was to make it feel like a real person, that you’re watching a real person going through something. And you also want to feel a kind of continuity that you could grow into that guy. I basically started by watching all the original movies, very early on, and kind of trying to just absorb as much as of that as I could, so that when it came time to actually do it, I wouldn’t be thinking a lot about it.

What was that one Han Solo quirk that you made sure you nailed and how?

Alden: Well there are several things, I don’t want to name them because then it’s like you’re watching for them and I want people to just watch the story. But I think one of the qualities about him that I really love, you know, there’s a moment in A New Hope where they’re pinned in a corner and they don’t know what to do and he just starts yelling at the top of his lungs and running at them. And I feel like that’s a great quintessential thing of the essence of this guy.

What was it like doing the pilot scenes?

Alden: That was really one of the best parts of the whole shoot. And it was I think actually flying the ship, it’s so cool. There’s kind of two things that are really cool. One is that you sit down and it’s really fun and you can’t believe you’re there and it’s really surreal. And that’s exciting and that’s what everybody comes and visits the set experiences. And the other thing is about two months in and you’re in there every day and you realize you kind of know what button does what and you know how the yoke feels and you know how the chair sits and you kind of you feel like it’s yours. Yeah yes.

Is there a lot of pressure taking on this iconic role?

Alden: Yeah there’s certainly the more pressure with something like this, because it’s so enormous, of course. But the kind of pressure is the same as it is on any movie, which is you want people to really like it. And the only recourse you have in the face of that is to concentrate on what you have control over. You concentrate on your task at hand, the character you’re tasked with, and your job that you have to concentrate on. You just try to pour your energy into that.

After you got the part, what was your first thought and what did you do?

Alden: I think it’s kind of like- your mind is blown. You’re just in a daze such as I am right now. And you just kind of can’t believe it, it’s so thrilling and so exciting. And after I found out, I’m not allowed to tell anybody. So, you know, I