Paul Bettany Reveals The Text He Sent To Ron Howard For Solo Role

Paul Bettany says he landed his dream function inSolo : A Star Wars Storywith one lucky text . The UK actor - who is a longtimeStar Warsfan - ship a humorous subject matter to Ron Howard after he was announced as the young director . It bear off and secured him the coveted purpose of Dryden Vos , the astronomical gangster who Han eventually has to face . It means that Bettany is now in the enviable position of being an of import part of both theStar Warsfranchise and the MCU .

Solohas had a riotous journeying to the great screento say the least , with Bettany ’s casting being linked to that . The plot focuses on the former animation of the galaxy ’s most ill-famed moon curser and one of his vicious put-on , as well as the iconic first skirmish with Chewbacca plain . But the moving-picture show to begin with hadLEGO MovieandJump Streetduo Phil Lord and Chris Miller helming the action . When it was just weeks away from wrapping , theduo were raise by the studio for reportedly taking too many peril . Experienced film maker Howard then sat in the director ’s chair and adopt a few changes . One of these decisions involved re - honk the part of Dryden Vos , up until then a CG - creation described as " half - Leo the Lion " and played by Michael K. Williams . Williams was no longer able to take part in re - shoot due to scheduling struggle , and the fictitious character was re - write and open to new casting .

Despite being the voice of A.I. Jarvis and finally Vision in the MCU , Bettany is also a Brobdingnagian rooter ofStar Wars , even say that " it was fairly instrumental in making me want to become an actor . " So when he become aware of Howard ’s liaison in the yield , he transmit the manager one simple text in hope of a part . Speaking toUproxx , he discover the full message , which was just this :

“ Hey , Ron , have you ever spend farseeing wintertime evenings like I have wondering why I ’m not in theStar Warsfranchise ? ”

Howard apparently responded with : " LOL . Let me get back to you . " From this , Bettany generate news of his casting moderately quickly and found himself flying to London within two week of sending his text edition . Despite all the worry that come prior to his arrival on solidification , the actor says that his experience motion-picture photography was wholly incontrovertible and that it was " really an incredibly happy set . " He ’s also quick to praise Howard , call him a " brilliant manager and an incredibly fast crap-shooter , " as well as being " impossible to detest . " As far as comparingSoloto his sentence drop onAvengers : Infinity War , Bettany has antecedently said that theMCU movie was much more closelipped to shoot , with lockdowns on the script .

Bettany is evidently very proud of with the final version of the picture show and to have been involved . The other decisions that Howard made when he was appoint as conductor also seemed to have lead in a positive outcome . Harrison Ford has praised the filmand the performance of Alden Ehrenreich , and says that he " adores " the story . Although earlyreviews forSolohaven’t been stellar , they have been mostly positiveand certainly not terrible . We ’ll see how it fares at the box office whenSolo : A Star Wars Storyopens later this week .