Twitter compared Alden Ehrenreich’s casting as Han Solo to when Chris Pine was cast as James Kirk and that’s very wrong and here’s why.
As someone who loves Chris Pine more than anything in this world, seeing a comparison of his casting in Star Trek to Alden Ehrenreich’s in the upcoming Han Solo movie shouldn’t be surprising. You know why it makes me angry, though? It’s because they’re saying it because of the rumors that the studio doesn’t like Ehrenreich’s performance.
Now here is why that is unfair: That never happened with Pine. Chris Pine never had a rumor come out that the studio or J.J Abrams hated his portrayal of Kirk. Sure, fans were upset because they love Shatner’s Kirk.
Understandable, right? I mean I don’t like Ehrenreich on the principal that he’s not Harrison Ford so I get it. But now my dislike has backing with these rumors. The Kirk hatred was just because the Star Trek fanbase didn’t want their favorites touched by new actors.
Now we have seen in the Star Trek franchise that it works. That each of those characters are new and refreshed but still the Kirk, Spock, Bones and the rest of the crew of the Enterprise that we know and love. With the Han Solo movie, it’s a little different.
It’s still in the same universe. It’s a prequel. We’re learning about this character as he was before we met him in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. It’s not a completely different timeline and it’s not really up for interpretation.
You can play with James Kirk a little more in the timeline of the reboots. Han Solo you cannot. So to compare the two is honestly, quite silly. One of the tweets in question is below.
So you know what my response is?
Careers
If we look at their careers leading up to the casting, there isn’t really a comparison. Alden Ehrenreich was already in two big movies that were pretty talked about in the media. Chris Pine had been in The Princess Diaries 2: A Royal Engagement, Confession (a movie that no one other than myself and die-hard Chris Pine fans have seen), Just My Luck, and Smoking Aces just to name a few. So basically, a bunch of movies no one or only young girls saw.
So the fear was warranted with Pine. He was a nobody. Except for me and my friends. Since, you know, Mia Thermopolis is our favorite princess out there. We loved Genovia.
With Ehrenreich, he has bigger acting credits to his name and people have praised his performances in his movies. So the fact that the studio doesn’t like his Han is a lot more frightening. With Pine, it was just fans complaining about him.
Basically Pine’s problem was fanboys and fangirls complaining because their favorite was being touched. Ehrenreich reportedly has an actual studio not agreeing with his performance. They’re two completely different stories. So to compare them is to shame Pine’s work on a bigger level.
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So here’s the thing: I’m going to see the Han Solo movie because I love Han. Alden may not have been my choice but I’ll give it a try. Just don’t compare him to Chris Pine. Unless you want me to explain why you’re wrong.