For being a notorious grump, Harrison Ford is sure happy to revisit his old characters (and cashing paychecks from doing so). He starred in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 19 years after The Last Crusade, Blade Runner 2049 35 years after Blade Runner, and The Force Awakens 32 years after Return of the Jedi. (Still waiting for that Mosquito Coast sequel.) Ford has nothing officially to do with Solo: A Star Wars Story, but he did consult with The Young Han Solo, Alden Ehrenreich, on how to play the notorious smuggler.
“Tell them I told you everything you needed to know,” Ford advised his younger self during a lunch meeting, “and that you can’t tell anyone.” Ehrenreich kept his promise — “I gotta stick to my orders from the man himself” — but Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy rang Ford after he met the Hail, Caesar! star.
“It was perfect, classic Harrison,” Kennedy says, breaking into [Ford’s] signature low-key grumble. “‘Good kid, good kid. Really good kid.'” She had also sent Ford the script, which she said he read and gave a thumbs-up. “I think being who Harrison is, there is no way he would step into the middle of this and start trying to dictate,” Kennedy says. (Via)
Kennedy said Ford also gave Ehrenreich the “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.” Ehrenreich learned from the man himself, but don’t get cocky, kid. Solo: A Star Wars Story opens May 25.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)