10 Scruffy-Looking Facts About Han Solo And The Actors Who Played Him

10 Facts About Han Solo And The Actors Who Played Him

Solo: A Star Wars Story is out in cinemas as I type this and thankfully the vibe is good.  fans love the new movie directed by Ron Howard and to keep with the Han Solo theme, I've put together 10 random scruffy-looking facts about the character and the actors who've played him.

1. Who Auditioned For The Original Han Solo?
We all know that Harrison Ford IS Han Solo but did you know there were some well known names that auditioned for the smuggler role?  Al Pacino was one and Nick Nolte had a shot too.  Others were Christoper Walken, Sylvester Stallone, Robert Englund and Kurt Russell.  You can watch that audition below:


2. The Door Was Opened For Harrison Ford...Literally
After working on American Graffiti, Harrison Ford made an impression on George Lucas.  But it was an installation of a door that helped Ford get the ball rolling for the part of Han Solo.  You see, Ford was installing a door for director, Francis Ford Coppolla when George walked past and the two started chatting.  A door was opened.

3. Green skinned Han Solo?
Originally, George Lucas had visions of Han Solo being a green fish-looking monster and actually was in the first draft of Star Wars.  The creature had gills on his face and looked rather menacing.

Green skinned Han Solo

4. Han Solo Originally Had a Big Head
He may be full of confidence and swagger but in the toy world, Han Solo had a big head but that was about to change.  You see, when Kenner released their action figures the original Han Solo had a head that looked too big for his body.  The toy company corrected this and brought out a figure which had more satisfying proportions.

Kenner Han Solo.  Small head and normal head version

5. Steven Spielberg Helped Discover Alden Ehrenreich
The new Solo movie sees Alden Ehrenreich take on the role of Solo.  Actually, you can thank Steven Spielberg and a chance encounter at a bat mitzvah for discovering Alden.  Alden was 14 years old and made a video about the girl in question that was shown at the event.  Alden recalls:

“It's a video that this girl asked us to do. I mean, there wasn't a script: We would go and just film whatever made us laugh. I'm this 14-year-old, skinny little kid with long hair. I break into her house, try on her clothes and make up a song. All of this is just us literally taking a camera and going like, 'Okay, ha ha, do this.' We showed it to our parents—'We're gonna play this at her bat mitzvah!'—and they were like, 'You look like an idiot in this. I don't think you should really do that.' We didn't care.  I got a call afterwards from these giggling girls from school who told me that he had really liked the movie,” he told New York Magazine in 2009. “Pretty soon, the DreamWorks people had gotten me an agent, and by now I’ve gone on hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of auditions.”

6. Alden Ehrenreich Kissed Natalie Portman In A Miss Dior Chérie Commercial
There's a commercial that was released a few years back for perfume, Miss Dior Chérie.  In the commercial we see Star Wars star, Natalie Portman (who played Padmé Amidala in The Phantom Menace) getting a little raunchy with current 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' star, Alden Ehrenreich.  Solo, you scoundrel.


7. Alden Ehrenreich Was Almost Harry Osborn In The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Yes, the Solo star was almost cast as Harry Osborn.  Osborn in the comics and the movie discovered his dad was the super-villain, Green Goblin and got just a bit stroppy with Peter Parker and Spider-Man.  The role in the movie eventually went to Dane DeHaan.

8. Alden Ehrenreich's Desire To Get Into Movies Was From Watching Westerns And The Marx Brothers
Alden revealed in an interview, "when I was a little kid, my parents would show me Marx Brothers' films and westerns and stuff like that. That's where all my desire to be an actor comes from and probably most of my understanding of acting comes from for sure. I love movies."

9. Han Solo's Famous Line With Princess Leia In The Empire Strikes Back Was Discussed Before The Shot
Back to the character, Han Solo now and did you know the famous lines, 'I love you'  'I know' were discussed before the shot and not improvised (as many people think) during shooting?  However, the lines we've come to love were actually Harrison Ford's idea.  He and director, Irvin Kershner had a discussion just before the scene and Ford thought those few words would fit the character.  The original scene had Leia saying, “I love you. I couldn’t tell you before, but it’s true.” Han replies, “Just remember that, ‘cause I’ll be back.”

Check out these Han and Leia Bookends I reviewed last month.

10. Who Shot First?
...And finally we just had to ask that question didn't we?  Well, its been the subject of much debate over the years.  Who shot first?  Han or Greedo?  Well, if you were to ask Harrison Ford that very question, and many have in interviews he will give you the same response.  "I don't care."  A classic Han Solo response.

Well, there you have it.  10 random facts on Han Solo and the actors who played him.  Don't everyone thank me at once.  You know?  Sometimes I amaze even myself with these articles.  Never tell me the odds that I may do another one.  Leave a comment if you want, or don't, boring conversation anyway...LUKE WE'RE GONNA HAVE COMPANY

Rob Wainfur
@thebeardedtrio

The Bearded Trio - The Site For Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, John Williams and a whole lot more.