Harrison Ford is a tough act to follow as Star Wars set for its Solo run

By Laura Harding

Harrison Ford is a tough act to follow — even tougher for a relatively unknown actor who has to step into his most famous role.

But that is what Alden Ehrenreich had to do in Solo: A Star Wars Story — the origin tale of Han Solo.

It’s a careering adventure story, part-heist, part-romance, part-rebellion, that introduces us to not just Han, but beloved characters such as Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian.

It’s a role with so much pressure, it’s enough to make any actor want to run for cover rather than grab the controls to the Millennium Falcon. But the American star, who had appeared in Hail, Caesar! and Beautiful Creatures, felt up to the task.

“It’s a lot bigger than I thought, not in terms of everyone knowing about it, but the actual physical production is so enormous,” admits Ehrenreich.

There was speculation about how Ehrenreich was managing with the part, and then major drama when the original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller departed the project, and Ron Howard was brought in.

For Howard — the director behind Apollo 13, The Da Vinci Code, A Beautiful Mind, among others — jumping into a film in such a situation was “unlike any experience I ever had”.

“It was unfortunate that they needed to change directors at a certain point, or felt that they had to, but the one thing that I could offer was fresh excitement.

"Because I wouldn’t come in unless I felt the story was really strong and offered something to fans and also real belief in this charismatic, cool cast.

"So I got to come in and say, ‘Hey, this stuff is already great that you were doing but here is a new idea’ and inject it with that creative energy.”

Howard also took the chatter about the production in his stride.

“It’s nice that people care and I expected it. Of course there is that pressure, with something like this and believe me, everybody at Lucasfilm and involved in the projects is very, very interested in fans and trying to imagine what the fans might think but by the same token, they are creative.

“They also know that they would be doing a disservice to everybody, including the fans, if they got paralysed with fear and anxiety over that, so they do have to take some risks.

“This movie does take those risks. It doesn’t have The Force, it’s not about a war, it really focuses on a single character for the first time.

“It is this rite-of-passage, defining, adventure story about Han Solo. The tone of the movie is young and fun. There is drama, there is real pain, but the centre of it is more about this quest for freedom and trying to throw off the burdens of oppressors, so it has a kind of an energy.

“It depends a lot, of course, on action and those scenes were fun to do but it also depends a lot on therelationships. There is a romantic relationship that matters, there is the Han-Chewie bromance, there is a funny adversarial relationship between Lando and Han.

“There is a mentor story. There are other relationships that are truly dangerous and so I thought those scenes offered different kinds of acting opportunities than you have in the usual Star Wars movies and this great cast really got to bring them to life.”

Howard’s prepared for there to be controversy surrounding the film.

“When you have really fervent fans, dedicated fans, it’s a little bit like if you love sports or a certain kind of a television show, you get to be emotional about it. I’m sure that it will be controversial for some people because it’s sort of a different Star Wars movie. It’s a bit of an experiment and I think that’s a good thing.”