We already knew there were plenty of issues on the set of the Han Solo movie as regards the directing situation. However, it turns out that's not the only problem. Lucasfilm is worried about their star as well. According to a recent report, the studio became so concerned with Alden Ehrenreich's performance that they took the steps of hiring an acting coach to work with him on the set.
As The Hollywood Reporter points out, hiring an acting coach is not a particularly unusual thing for a movie. However, hiring one this late in production is something that's not seen often. Normally, if an actor requires a coach for any reason, that's clear from the outset and so the studio will bring one in during pre-production to work with the actor on whatever issues are being perceived. Bringing in an acting coach weeks into filming would indicate a previously unnoticed problem with the performance.
The coach brought in was reportedly Maggie Kiley, a woman who Phil Lord and Chris Miller had previously worked with on the set of 21 Jump Street. No specifics are given in regards to exactly what the problem with Alden Ehrenreich's performance was, so we're left to speculate, but without any details it's essentially impossible to even do that.
Needless to say, on its face, the idea that an acting coach was brought in this late in production is slightly concerning. The issue isn't that the coach was needed, as mentioned, coaches are not unusual. The concerning bit is that nobody realized the coach was needed until filming had begun. Everything we've heard about Alden Ehrenreich up to this point was that he was the perfect person to play the role. We've been told he was the first to audition among literally thousands of people who submitted themselves. Something about his audition was so memorable that after Phil Lord and Chris Miller had auditioned every white male on the planet between the ages of 18 and 40, they still remembered Ehrenreich's performance. The perfect candidate can certainly still need a bit of help to get the job done, but how was this not noticed previously?
While this piece of news is certainly curious, at the end of the day it's really just one more question heaped on top of many in regards to the Han Solo movie. Clearly, this movie has had some fundamental problems. On the plus side, we know that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story also had issues, resulting in significant reshoots, and that movie turned out ok in the end. It's still possible that the same thing will happen to the Han Solo movie. At this point, Lucasfilm doesn't seem to think that the problems will delay the film's release, which is still set for May of 2018.
