A search for blue-eyed basketball players.
A lonely roller coaster ride.
These are the elements of the broad search for a new Han Solo and Chewbacca.
Jonathan Olley/© 2018 Lucasfilm Ltd.
How many tests were there?EHRENREICH:I did six auditions.
So they had a dog puppet and a button that made a dog sound.
And then I would talk to that.
And I just couldnt figure out what they were trying to simulate there.
So I was doing this thing with the puppet, and the puppet was pretty good.
He was taller than I had realized.
And then I tested another two more times.
Then I got the part.
It was like a six month process.SUOTAMO:All right.
My jet lag was really kicking in.
But he did great, and it was so much fun seeing him in that Han Solo getup.
The classic from original films.EHRENREICH:Yeah, thats right.
Thats what I tested in.SUOTAMO:I had a hunch we found our guy.
Were the lines from a scene that was actually in the movie?EHRENREICH:No.
They do dummy sides where they create a different scene.
Yeah, it was funny.
It was such a good scene.EHRENREICH:Maybe.
Yeah, it was good.
Joonas, youve had the job of Chewie sinceThe Force Awakens.
I think they were pretty desperate to find a 7-footer with blue eyes.
There arent too many around.
So they called the basketball associations of Scandinavian countries and found me through the Finnish one.
They called me and asked if Im interested in this big budget Hollywood film.
Thats all I knew.
I thought it was something to do with that.
Then I knew that was Chewbaccas role.EHRENREICH:Whoa.SUOTAMO:I was always aStar Warsfan.
Ever since I was a kid watching on VHS tapes, mouth wide open.
Which kept me interested.
And I grew up with it.
That moment when you find out you get the part, I imagine its such a mix of emotions.
What do you do the day you find out, Youre the new Han Solo.
Youre the new Chewbacca?SUOTAMO:Open champagne?
That was what it was like for me.
I couldnt tell anybody.
So I had that news, and I didnt even know what to do.
So I just was like, Well, its a big deal.
I think Ill go for a walk on the beach, maybe.
And then I found myself at this pier, and there were some rides.
So I was like, I guess Ill ride the rides.
So I rode a roller coaster by myself.
Thats some kind of metaphor.SUOTAMO:Taking it in.EHRENREICH:Yeah, just taking it in.
When you hear that music for the first time after you got the part, thats pretty exciting.
And I asked for them to play it at one point when we were flying the Falcon.
In the last scene of the movie …
I asked if they would.
It didnt feel right to film the whole movie and never blast the theme once.SUOTAMO:Exactly.
