As his film career is filled with comedies, I expected Woody Harrelson to be funny – and, indeed his is. He’s also charismatic, kind, vibrant and the kind of guy you’d love to travel with or hang out with on the weekend because you just know you’d have a great time. Thanks to my partnership with Disney, I had the chance to attend an exclusive interview with Woody Harrelson right after the world premiere of SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY.
Woody Harrelson said he’s love to be the kind of person who makes people laugh and hopefully, that’s what people think of him. He feels that he is a genuinely happy person and that a huge part of that feeling is gratitude.
“I’m very grateful for the life I have,” said Harrelson. “I feel like all of us who do movies and probably all who write about the movie, we’re breathing a bit of rarefied air.”
The first time he saw STAR WARS was in 1977 and he jokingly told us you wouldn’t know it at the time, but it was a huge film.
“I just remember going to see it [Star Wars] and it’s so original,” said Harrelson. “So different from anything else, all of it was great.”
If he could be any character from a STAR WARS universe film, he said it would be Han Solo, but commended Alden Ehrenreich for making the young Han Solo character in SOLO special, fun and funny. He shared that he admired how Ehrenreich would use his free time to do things like taking piano lessons and read novels while Harrelson would be lounging around playing things like “speed chess” online, losing his queen.
“Love Alden, love him! Awesome, awesome guy. Really hard worker,” said Harrelson. “I really admire his work ethic and I think just the way he cultivates himself as a human, he’s an extraordinary guy.”
In Harrelson’s career, he says he’s played scoundrels, criminals and thieves before but had yet to play one in space, so that aspect definitely sets his character apart from other roles. His character Beckett is tough on the young Han Solo, attempting to mold him into a street smart survivor in the STAR WARS universe.
“Beckett is complicated in the sense that he isn’t always as chummy as he could be,” said Harrelson. “He’s a survivor who really also does have this image of life, wanting to be done with this life of criminality and ultimately, just be playing the valachord, living in a remote planet somewhere.”
Harrelson’s performance as Beckett in SOLO: A STAR WARS story is top-notch and I think fans will agree, he’s a highly credible mentor both on-screen and off for a character like Han Solo!
