Just as Donald Glover met with the great Billy Dee Williams before taking on the role of Lando, Han Solo-to-be Alden Ehrenreich sought the advice of Harrison Ford shortly before production began on Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Ford, who has played Lucasfilm’s prince of thieves on four separate occasions, isn’t one to dwell on the past, nor has he been very forthcoming about his Star Wars career. Still, when the call came, the original Han Solo did impart a kernel of wisdom to Ehrenreich: “Tell them I told you everything you needed to know, and that you can’t tell anyone.”
Proving there is honor among thieves, the Solo actor kept his promise while chatting to Entertainment Weekly, merely hinting that he’s “gotta stick to my orders from the man himself.”
Thankfully, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy was more willing to part with the juicy intel, and recalled the moment she arranged that fateful meeting between Ehrenreich and Ford – between the newbie and the old guard.
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. 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.
Remaining behind the scenes for the time being, it seems Ford also offered some sage wisdom to Ron Howard, who took over control of Solo: A Star Wars Story in lieu of Phil Lord and Chris Miller last summer.
Here’s what Howard told EW:
Harrison’s a very thoughtful actor and an artist, and I wanted to know what he learned about the character. 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.
So even if Harrison Ford is no longer involved with the Star Wars franchise – not directly, at least – his legacy will be strongly felt when Solo: A Star Wars Story zooms into theaters on May 25th.
