He may have handed over the role to Alden Ehrenreich, but it seems that Harrison Ford wasn’t entirely out of the loop when it comes to Han Solo’s next big screen adventure in Solo: A Star Wars Story, with Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy revealing to EW that Ford provided “vital insights into the character he has lived with, sometimes uncomfortably, for four decades.”
“What [Ford] did so beautifully for Alden was he talked a lot about what he remembered when he first read Star Wars, and what George had done with Han,” said Kennedy. “Who the character was and the conversations he had for so many years with George about how that character developed… He gave Alden that kind of insight which was invaluable. There were several times in the course of making the movie where Alden would actually recount some of the things that Harrison had pointed out. I think that was really, really helpful to him.”
And, it seems that Ehrenreich wasn’t the only one benefiting from Ford’s wisdom, as Ron Howard also sought his advice upon taking over directing duties from Phil Lord and Chris Miller.
“Harrison’s a very thoughtful actor and an artist, and I wanted to know what he learned about the character” said Howard. “He said that Han is always torn between that sense that he was, in a way, an orphan, and therefore both yearned for connection with people and struggled with it at the same time. I thought that was pretty interesting.”
SEE ALSO: New images from Solo: A Star Wars Story featuring Han, Chewie, Lando, Qi’Ra and more
SEE ALSO: Solo’s Alden Ehrenreich on meeting Harrison Ford for the first time: “He was very, very supportive”
Board the Millennium Falcon and journey to a galaxy far, far away in Solo: A Star Wars Story, an all-new adventure with the most beloved scoundrel in the galaxy. Through a series of daring escapades deep within a dark and dangerous criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his mighty future copilot Chewbacca and encounters the notorious gambler Lando Calrissian, in a journey that will set the course of one of the Star Wars saga’s most unlikely heroes.
Solo: A Star Wars Story features Alden Ehrenreich (Hail, Caesar!) as the famous smuggler, Donald Glover (Atlanta) as Lando Calrissian, Woody Harrelson (War for the Planet of the Apes) as Tobias Beckett, Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca, Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag) as L3-37, Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) as Qi’Ra, Thandie Newton (Westworld) as Val, Ian Kenny (Sing Street) as Rebolt, Harley Durst (Wonder Woman) as Moloch, Tien Hoang (Now You See Me 2) as Moloch’s henchman and Paul Bettany (Avengers: Infinity War) and Warwick Davis (Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi) in as-yet-unrevealed roles. It is set for release on May 25th 2018.
Originally published February 9, 2018. Updated February 10, 2018.
