Meet the new Han Solo: all you should know about Star Wars’ Alden Ehrenreich
Harrison Ford’s young replacement, star of a Star Wars spin-off film out in 2018, was spotted by Steven Spielberg and has starred in two films by Francis Ford Coppola and one by Sophia Coppola
Since Disney announced its forthcoming Han Solo-centric Star Wars spin-off, directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, chatter has grown about which young actor could possibly take over for Harrison Ford.
Miles Teller, Emory Cohen and Ansel Elgort were all in the running, and the shortlist included rising stars Jack Reynor ( Transformers: Age of Extinction ) and Taron Egerton ( The Kingsman ).
Well, the actor to play Chewie’s best friend has finally been announced, and it’s Alden Ehrenreich.
If you’re asking yourself who that is, here’s what you need to know about Ehrenreich.
He’s got some big fans in big-name directors
The first to take notice of Ehrenreich’s talent was Steven Spielberg, who discovered him during a home movie that played at a bat mitzvah ceremony. Then Francis Ford Coppola took the actor under his wing. Between 2009 and 2011, Ehrenreich starred in two of Coppola’s movies, Twixt and Tetro, plus Somewhere, written and directed by Sofia Coppola.
Since then, Ehrenreich has worked with Korean auteur Park Chan-wook ( Stoker ), Woody Allen (Blue Jasmine) and Warren Beatty (an untitled movie that may eventually see the light of day), plus the Coen Brothers. Speaking of which ...