Casting on the Han Solo spinoff movie started with some 2500 young actors tossing their hats in the ring to tackle the part of the galaxy’s loveable rogue. Whether it was recording themselves on tape or showing up for live auditions, these hopefuls did whatever it took to impress Disney casting directors.
All of them except Daredevil‘s Charlie Cox, it seems, whose dedication to playing Marvel’s blind lawyer-vigilante hindered his chances of impressing anybody. Says Cox:
“I had gone to an audition — one of those things that are super secretive and they don’t tell you, but I’m pretty sure it was for the Han Solo reboot— and halfway through it, the casting director stopped me and said, ‘Why aren’t you looking at me?’ I realized I had gotten into a habit of not making eye contact, because the only thing I had done for two years is play someone who is blind. I never got invited back, probably because they couldn’t figure out why I was acting like a complete idiot.”
It was the tactics of one Alden Ehrenreich that truly wowed studio brass. Following an extensive search for a young, scruffy Millennium Falcon captain that saw a crop of rising Hollywood talent test for the part, Ehrenreich eventually nabbed the role made famous by Harrison Ford. If his winning turn in Hail, Caesar! is any indication, Disney made the right decision.
Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s origin tale for Han Solo is poised to enter production in January 2017. Tell us, do you think Disney went with the right man for the job in choosing Ehrenreich? Sound off below and let us know.
