Back in July, Walt Disney Pictures and Lucasfilm announced that Chris Miller and Phil Lord of ‘The Lego Movie’ fame will helm the Star Wars Anthology film featuring a young Han Solo, while legendary screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan has been tapped to write for the project with his son Jon. It’s almost fitting that two generations of Kasdans are working together to tell the story of the infamous smuggler and captain of the Millennium Falcon since it’s almost symbolic of the old guard of the ‘Star Wars’ franchise passing the torch. But now the search is on to find the right actor to pick up the torch onscreen and step into the vest and boots of Harrison Ford’s iconic character and apparently the casting department is leaving no stone unturned.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, casting director Jeanne McCarthy has seen more than 2500 actors audition for the part of Han Solo in the upcoming prequel scheduled for 2018. Their sources say that every client sent by an agency roughly between the ages of 18 and 32 is getting looked at. These names are a who’s who of young Hollywood right now. For instance, some people that have auditioned are Dave Franco, Miles Teller, ‘Jurassic World’ star Nick Robinson, Logan Lerman of the ‘Percy Jackson’ movies, and Ansel Elgort from ‘The Fault In Our Stars’. Stars that made their names on television like ’Mr. Robot’ breakout Rami Malek, former ‘Weeds’ star Hunter Parrish, Colton Haynes of ‘Arrow’ and ‘Teen Wolf’, ‘Bates Motel’ star Max Thieriot, and even Chandler Riggs from ‘The Walking Dead’ are also in play. And of course the hunt for the next Han Solo isn’t being limited to America either. Canadian ‘Hemlock Grove’ actor Landon Liboiron and English actors Tom Felton, Ed Westwick, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Joshua Sasse are also in the mix. I’m pretty sure Boba Fett had an easier time finding Han Solo than this.
Because the film doesn’t shoot until 2017, the production has plenty of time to find the right Han Solo and they’re willing to explore every avenue to find him. But at the end of the day, they want “someone who looks at least a bit like a young Ford and can be funny and charming as well as handle the expected action scenes”. With so many choices still in the running, I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t know who won the part until late next year.
On another semi-unrelated note yet interesting note, the article also mentions that the film’s working title is ‘Red Cup’. This is clever on a few levels because A.) red cups are popularly used by teens, which is likely around the age we’ll be catching up with Han and B.) red cups are made by the Solo Cup Company. Well played, kids. Well played indeed.
What do you think about the current strategy for finding the next Han Solo? Do you like any of the names that are currently in the running for the part? Is there anyone that you think would fit the roll perfectly? Let us know in the comments below.