Ehrenreich, Glover talk ‘Star Wars’ spinoff
Film fleshes out Han Solo, enemy Lando Calrissian
It’s always daunting to take on a character that’s been memorably played by another actor. But stepping into an iconic role in a “Star Wars” movie? As Han Solo would say, “Never tell me the odds.”
In the new “Star Wars” spinoff film “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” Alden Ehrenreich plays a younger version of Harrison Ford’s swaggering, swashbuckling smuggler in an adventure set years before the events of the original trilogy. Directed by Ron Howard, the film is a cross between a heist movie and a space Western, chronicling Solo’s first encounters with his Wookiee sidekick, Chewbacca, the Millennium Falcon and his stalwart frenemy, the smooth-talking gambler Lando Calrissian, who was introduced in 1980’s “The Empire Strikes Back” by Billy Dee Williams and who is played in “Solo” by actor-writermusician Donald Glover.
“Solo” marks the first venture into the blockbuster realm for Ehrenreich, 28, who has appeared in such films as “Rules Don’t Apply” and “Hail, Caesar!” Glover, 34, created and stars in the acclaimed FX series “Atlanta,” which recently finished its second season on FX, and has appeared in movies such as “The Martian” and “SpiderMan: Homecoming.” As his musical alter ego Childish Gambino, Glover is currently riding the top of the Billboard charts with his zeitgeist-tapping hip-hop song “This Is America,” the video for which has become a viral sensation.
On a recent afternoon, Ehrenreich and Glover spoke with The Times about their formative “Star Wars” experiences and the thrill and challenge of taking on two of the most famous characters in this or any other galaxy. This is an edited version of the conversation.
My dad. All of the original movies had already come out, but he would talk about the lore of it: “When this came out, I waited in line and da-da-da …” It was such a big part of his life. Then when “Episode I” came out, it was great because it was like getting to do that all over again — he pulled me out of school to go see it and we waited in line for tickets and dressed up.
When I was 5, I saw the originals and I had all the toys. I had a green lightsaber and everything. When I was 10, I went to a screening of “The Phantom Menace.” I don’t think I saw the other prequels until I got this part.
No, but when I was like 13, I was pretty cocky. My screen name was LegoMyEggo 1663, and I remember this kid was like, “More like LegoMyEgo .” ( I was sort of an arrogant seventhgrader. And that was probably the closest I came.
We weren’t just talking about “Star Wars” — we were talking about his life being this mega-movie star for so many years. He was basically saying, “It’s not normal, but that’s all right.” He talked about how important it was for him to have his place in Wyoming. The thing that I was most curious about is he is someone who’s had an enormous amount of recognition for a very long time and he seems to have been able to navigate that to the beat of his own drummer.
I feel like people were like, “He’s making a statement with that sketch” but I didn’t even write it. It was just a funny bit. But I never thought of it too hard. It wasn’t like, “Oh, a black character.”
It wasn’t until later that I understood the significance of that — and the significance of him being highend. It’s so interesting to see “Empire Strikes Back” and how Lando is more highend than Han. Han is the cowboy: “I’m scrappy, I’ve got this junky ship.” And Lando is like “I own this beautiful city. And you’re all invited to dinner, of course.” most important thing was that it felt like a person, that it didn’t feel like you’re watching someone do something consciously. I tried to absorb and think about all those notes really early on so that I could forget them by the time we were actually filming.
When I had lunch with Billy Dee, he let me ramble on for a while and then he was like, “I don’t know — just be charming.” And that was actually a really good note because it simplified things. That’s how Lando got what he wanted out of people, by making them feel wanted. He’s not a fighter or a pilot and he knows that. He’s like, “I don’t need to do that because I can get other people to do that for me. That’s my superpower.” I just tried to make that as clear as possible and exude that in my own way.
I just want to have more fun. I feel like that’s the cool part about these (spinoff ) movies. These are the ones that can be really fun and silly but also do things that don’t … with the canon that much. There are no Skywalkers in this. So you don’t have to worry about the royal family of “Star Wars” and that whole lineage.
I would love to do more. This is the movie about becoming Han Solo, and it would be fun to do those movies that are more in the Indiana Jones mold in a way, where you
Han Solo.