Four Jewish actors are in the running to play the famous “Star Wars” character Han Solo, JTA reports Wednesday.
After having viewed thousands of auditions, Disney and Lucasfilm cut down their list of actors to star in the upcoming “Han Solo” spin-off to “about a dozen,” Variety reported this week.
On that shortlist are four Jewish actors – Logan Lerman, Dave Franco, Ansel Elgort and Emory Cohen – as well as several other big names.
According to JTA, Lermen, 23, is probably the best-known of the four, having starred in such films as “Fury,” “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” and “Noah.”
The 30-year-old Franco is the younger brother of Hollywood heavyweight James Franco. He has had several supporting turns in comedies like “21 Jump Street” and “Neighbors.”
Elgort, 21, starred in such blockbusters as “Divergent” and “The Fault in Our Stars.” His father, a well-known fashion journalist, is of Russian Jewish descent.
His maternal grandmother, while not Jewish, helped save the lives of Norwegian-Jewish children fleeing the Nazis during World War II, eventually serving 18 months in a concentration camp for her heroic actions, JTA notes.
Cohen, 25, appeared in a number of independent films before earning a starring role in the critically-acclaimed “Brooklyn” last year.
The spinoff will feature a younger version of the character made immortal by the half-Jewish Harrison Ford. The film will go into production next year, Variety reported.