Jack O’Connell’s “tediously frustrating” time trying to land an iconic role
From wreaking havoc on Skins to dressing up as Jimmy Savile in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, Jack O’Connell has come a very long way.
The British star has made a huge splash on both sides of the Atlantic, on screens big and small, and in productions large and small. At just 35, he’s already forged a career that would make most actors green with jealousy, but the thing is, it could have been even bigger.
O’Connell was one of over a dozen notable names to have been in the running to play a younger version of Han Solo in his 2018 spin-off movie; if there was an actor under 30 with any sort of profile, then they were probably considered for Solo: A Star Wars Story. Taron Egerton came close, while Charlie Cox, Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Rami Malek were just some of the famous faces to have been linked with the part in some form or fashion.
Speaking to Yahoo in 2016, two years before the spin-off came out, O’Connell went into some depth about the audition process, and while he was happy to accept that he hadn’t chosen, he still had questions.
“I love the process of auditioning, even the rejections,” he said, “It will refine you and make you stronger as an actor. Or sometimes, it can be so tediously frustrating that it exhausts you as an actor. I think that applied throughout this process. It didn’t go my way. I wish them all the best of luck. But I don’t know, I necessarily agree with the reasons given.”
The thing that O’Connell found most annoying about this period was that he only got one chance to audition, saying that it was basically impossible to convey all of his abilities in a short space of time, especially when it came to a character as well-known as Solo.
“That process kind of contributes to the overall exhaustion that you have to face as an actor,” he explained, admitting to wanting to update the audition process, but ruefully admitted that no one person could make that change.
In the end, none of the previously mentioned names landed their dream role, and the part instead went to Alden Ehrenreich. As for Solo: A Star Wars Story, well, the less said about that, the better; the movie was completely fine, one of the most aggressively average films I have ever seen, but that wasn’t good enough. It failed to earn back its insane budget of over $300million, possibly due to the controversial reception of The Last Jedi from the year before. All plans for future spin-off movies in the Star Wars universe were placed on hold, and director Ron Howard still has huge regrets over how this project turned out.
As it turns out, O’Connell might have dodged a blaster round by not getting this job. His points about the gruelling audition process still stand, however, and unfortunately, as do his points about one voice not being loud enough to make a change.
