We sat down with 'Cocaine Bear' star Alden Ehrenreich and asked him to explain a few things—from his role in Christopher Nolan's 'Oppenheimer' to the surreal story behind the start of his film career . Alden also reveals his experience auditioning for the 'Oppenheimer' role.
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00:00 What would you do if you came face to face with a bear?
00:03 I'm not sure.
00:04 If it's brown, lie down.
00:05 If it's black, fight back.
00:07 That's it.
00:08 So if it's brown, lie down.
00:10 Which seems scary to do.
00:13 And then if it's black, fight back.
00:15 Also seems very scary.
00:18 Hi, I'm Alden Ehrenreich,
00:20 and Esquire has asked me to explain some things.
00:23 Let's dive in.
00:27 Shares high praise for Christopher Nolan's filmmaking style
00:30 at the Astro.
00:31 Can you tell us about your role in Oppenheimer?
00:32 I play a Senate aide who's overseeing
00:36 Robert Downey Jr.'s character's Senate confirmation hearing.
00:41 That's really gonna get people in the theaters,
00:43 that sentence.
00:44 I was at a restaurant.
00:45 Richard Feynman's family was there,
00:48 who's an amazing scientist and a very funny person.
00:51 And they were like,
00:51 "You're playing our grandfather,
00:53 or great-grandfather, or whatever."
00:54 And then I had to tell them that I wasn't.
00:56 It's like, "Eee."
00:58 I play probably the only character in the entire film,
01:01 which has a thousand million people in it,
01:05 who isn't an actual historical figure.
01:07 What was the audition process for Oppenheimer?
01:09 I made a tape.
01:10 It was from some other movies.
01:12 And then I went into a room and met with Christopher Nolan,
01:15 who looks like what Christopher Nolan looks like.
01:18 He's got a long coat, and a vest, and a scarf,
01:21 and a shirt all the time.
01:23 And I was at my grandma's house afterwards,
01:25 and we got a call, which was pretty unusual
01:27 for it to be the same day, that I got the role.
01:29 And it was really, it was very special
01:31 to share that with her.
01:33 A "Cocaine Beer" star, Alden Ehrenreich,
01:35 got his big break after Steven Spielberg
01:36 saw him at a bat mitzvah.
01:38 I was 14, and my friend and I used to make
01:41 these little, very silly videos,
01:43 just for fun, on the weekend.
01:45 And a friend of his asked us to make one
01:49 for her friend's bat mitzvah.
01:50 They screened it at the bat mitzvah.
01:53 Steven Spielberg saw it and thought I was funny
01:55 in this video, and then got invited
01:58 to have a meeting at DreamWorks,
02:00 and that was how I got an agent and started my career,
02:04 which is still pretty surreal.
02:07 It's hard to even believe that that is true.
02:10 What do you like most about playing Han Solo?
02:13 I remember the very first time when I was screen testing,
02:16 and they put the pants on that have what's called
02:18 the Corellian blood stripe, which is kind of
02:20 the "Star Wars" like lines down your down.
02:23 And the holster and the boots,
02:25 and you just feel Star Wars,
02:28 and you just feel it in your body.
02:30 And that was always cool, the whole time,
02:32 getting to put the costume on and feel like the guy
02:34 and all of that, that was really fun.
02:36 The spaghetti, what was the hardest stunt to master?
02:38 How long did it take you to be an excellent lasso operator?
02:41 And I would bike over there, go to my office,
02:43 then I'd walk over to the sound stage,
02:45 and then I'd have a lasso teacher.
02:48 I had horseback riding lessons three days a week.
02:51 I had a spaghetti lassoing person
02:54 who was teaching me how to do that.
02:55 I had a guitar lesson, and I had a gun twirling teacher.
02:59 And I would do this for three months,
03:02 every, all day long would be one of these different things,
03:04 'cause I had to learn all these skills for it.
03:07 It was the greatest, greatest time in the world,
03:10 and listening to all this old country music,
03:13 and it was just fantastic.
03:15 Okay, what kind of comedy do you think you two
03:18 would be best suited to co-star in?
03:21 Okay, well he is my son, technically,
03:24 in the "Star Wars" universe.
03:26 So maybe one of these bad grandpa things
03:30 that De Niro does with these young guys.
03:32 I love improv comedy.
03:34 I just went to see TJ and Dave.
03:36 This is probably a shout out that I'm thrilled to do.
03:39 They're probably the greatest improvisers in the world,
03:42 or greatest team in the world, and I went to see them.
03:44 And that's kind of my favorite thing to do,
03:46 is go see great improvisers.
03:48 All-Maren Reich theory reveals
03:50 the most dangerous Iron Man villain ever.
03:52 What can you tell us about Ironheart?
03:54 I can't say anything about Ironheart,
03:56 other than the people making are very cool.
03:59 The show is really cool.
04:00 I really like my role a lot.
04:02 Showrunner, Nock Hodges, has a really interesting,
04:07 funny, zany kind of, but also very deep take on this role,
04:11 and I think it's unlike anything in the Marvel universe.
04:14 Is it true you auditioned for both Spider-Man
04:15 and Harry Osborn?
04:17 No, I never auditioned for Harry Osborn.
04:19 I don't even know where this came from.
04:21 I did audition for the Andrew Garfield Spider-Man.
04:26 Yeah, that's it.
04:27 No, I didn't.
04:28 I never did the Harry Osborn one.
04:30 What did I learn about directing
04:31 while working with Francis Ford Coppola?
04:33 Did he teach you anything about wine?
04:35 Coppola's whole vibe about wine
04:36 is kind of unpretentious about it.
04:37 He's like, "Drink whatever you like.
04:39 "If you like it, that's good, and that's it."
04:40 And there's more to it than that,
04:41 but he kind of like, that's all he'll say.
04:43 I learned a huge amount about filmmaking from him.
04:47 I went up and interviewed him a couple years ago.
04:50 I went up to Napa, and he was very gracious,
04:52 and I interviewed him and asked him
04:53 all these different questions.
04:55 And the thing that was the most important
04:57 that I got from him was just being in the vicinity
05:02 of his spirit about film and about art.
05:06 You've directed your own short film.
05:08 Who are your influences as a director?
05:10 You know, Coppola was a big influence.
05:12 I think the filmmaking of the '70s was a huge influence,
05:15 has always been on myself as an actor.
05:17 And as a filmmaker, I think that there was a kind of embrace
05:20 of flawed, very human characters,
05:23 stories that had moral questioning to them.
05:26 You can smell and breathe the people on screen.
05:29 And there was also this great awareness about great acting
05:33 and the value of great acting.
05:35 Thanks for watching.
05:36 Go see Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer,"
05:38 which is an absolutely magnificent and thrilling film.
05:42 [MUSIC PLAYING]