In a recent interview, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kenedy revealed how Harrison Ford helped actor Alden Ehrenreich prepare to take on the role of a young Han Solo in the upcoming film Solo: A Star Wars Story:
"What (Ford) did so beautifully for Alden was he talked a lot about what he remembered when he first read Star Wars, and what George had done with Han. Who the character was and the conversations he had for so many years with George about how that character developed. He gave Alden that 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 thing that was really, really helpful to him."
Ron Howard, who took over the directing duties after Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired partway into production, called Ford for advice on what direction he thought the movie should go:
"Harrison's a very thoughtful actor and an artist, and I wanted to know what he learned about the character. He said that Han is always torn between that sense that he was, in a way, an orphan, and therefore both yearned for connection with people and struggled with it at the same time. I thought that was pretty interesting."
Solo: A Star Wars Story hits theaters May 25th, 2018.