This winter’s ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ will be the first of the ‘Star Wars’ Anthology films, which take place in the same universe as the classic trilogy of trilogies, but will tell their own self-contained tales. ‘Rogue One’ should be cool and all. It tells the story of the band of Rebels who steal the plans to the Deathstar prior to the climactic battle in the first movie ‘A New Hope’. But 2018’s installment, directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (‘The LEGO Movie’) may bear the harshest scrutiny as it features a story from the past, about a young pre-‘New Hope’ Han Solo, possibly the most popular (heroic) character from the entire franchise. Not too much pressure, right?
Earlier this year, we reported that Disney was looking at nearly every under-30 actor in Hollywood to tackle that iconic role. Producer Lawrence Kasdan stated:
“You want someone who isn’t going to be exactly like Harrison, you want someone who suggests him. It’s like when you adapt a book, and I’ve adapted a couple: You don’t want to adapt it word for word, you want the essence to come through. With Harrison, though, it’s not easy to find someone with those kinds of qualities. He’s like Spencer Tracy, and what does a young Spencer Tracy look like?”
It appears the studio has whittled away names like:
- Logan Lerman (‘Percy Jackson’)
- Blake Jenner (‘Glee’, ‘Supergirl’)
- Scott Eastwood (‘Suicide Squad’)
- Miles Teller (‘The Divergent Series’, ‘Fantastic Four’)
- Ansel Elgort (also ‘The Divergent Series’)
- Dave Franco (‘Now You See Me’)
- Emory Cohen (‘Brooklyn’)
Reportedly, Teller, Elgort and Cohen have all met with execs, but it looks like those talks didn’t pan out as they are not on the new, RUMORED shortlist.
Of the original names originally reported to be under consideration, only Jack Reynor (‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’) is still under consideration. He played Shane, the race car driving boyfriend of Mark Wahlberg’s daughter, in the highest grossing ‘Transformers’ movie yet. He was also in ‘Macbeth’ which was neither based on a toy line nor directed by Michael Bay. He may also have an in; he provided a voice in the upcoming live action version of Disney’s ‘Jungle Book’.
Also in the running? Taron Egerton, the title star of the recent feel-good biopic ‘Eddie The Eagle’, who may be better remembered for starring in 2014’s comic book adaptation ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’. He will also be appearing in the ‘Kingsman’ sequel which is in pre-production and starring as Robin Hood in the ten billionth film version of that legend.
Though he’s a fairly new face, Egerton attracted a lot of attention after ‘Kingsman’ and since then, it seems like his name has popped up in connection to several high profile projects. Will this be the one that lands him?
The third leading candidate is Alden Ehrenreich, who was most recently seen in the Coen Brothers all-star ‘Hail, Caesar!’. He has also appeared in ‘Running Wild’, ‘Blue Jasmine’ and ‘Beautiful Creatures ‘. Of the three, he may have the lowest profile, but his turn in ‘Hail, Caesar!’ practically stole the show. Unfortunately, that film didn’t perform well at the box office, but that may not be the deciding factor here.
Also purportedly (still) on the list are Blake Jenner (listed above) and Jack O’Connell (‘Unbroken’).
This is a daunting bit of casting. Although he wasn’t quite playing the same role, the attempt to plug Shia LeBeouf in as a replacement for Indiana Jones proved to be a dismal flop. This could make… or break a young actor’s career.
Of these candidates, do you have a preference? Who could possibly live up to the swagger of a young Harrison Ford?
Source: Collider
