There was a time when Alden Ehrenreich looked like he was going to be one of Hollywood’s brightest new stars. He made movies with Francis Ford Coppola and then the Coen Brothers, before moving on to a major franchise project. Unfortunately, the one-two punch of the poor reception of Solo: A Star Wars Story and then COVID production delays took the actor off the screen for some time. Now Ehrenreich appears to be getting back to the place he once held, and one person who is here for it is fellow Oppenheimer cast member Robert Downey Jr.
Vanity Fair recently ran a major interview with Alden Ehrenreich titled “Alden Ehrenreich Is Back in the Spotlight—For Now”. Robert Downey Jr. posted an image of the cover story to his Instagram, with a note that makes it clear Downey believes the young actor absolutely belongs in the spotlight, and will hopefully never leave again.
It’s great to see the veteran actor Robert Downey Jr. going to bat for the 33-year-old relative newcomer. It’s certainly going to help more people take notice of Alden Ehrenreich when Downey is very visibly on his side. Downey doesn’t need to do this; he could just stay quiet if he didn’t believe what he was saying, so one has to believe that Iron Man is a Han Solo fan. Solo is a fan of Iron Man as well. In the Vanity Fair piece, Ehrenreich says that Downey took him to dinner when they first met for Oppenheimer, and from there, an actual relationship was born. Ehrenreich said…
We developed as much of a friendship as I’ve really ever developed with any actor I’ve ever worked with.
If anybody knows whether Alden Ehrenreich is an actor who deserves the spotlight, it’s probably Robert Downey Jr. The pair don’t just appear in Oppenheimer together, as Downey is in every scene that Ehrenreich has. Downey stars as Lewis Strauss, the businessman who was President Eisenhower’s nominee to be Secretary of Commerce in 1959, Ehrenreich is a Senate aide who is helping to shepherd Strauss through the process.
Oppenheimer is just one of Alden Ehrenreich’s 2023 projects that is receiving praise. He also appeared in the Sundance movie Fair Play and Cocaine Bear. These are the first movies the actor has been in since Solo: A Star Wars Story in 2019. A large portion of that hiatus was COVID-induced, but the lukewarm response to Solo was likely part of it as well. Though many still praised the actor's performance, the movie itself is the lowest-grossing Star Wars movie of the Disney era.
Alden Ehrenreich will return to a major franchise production soon, as he will follow in the spiritual footsteps of Robert Downey Jr. and join the MCU as a member of the Ironheart cast. One assumes they’ll have a lot to talk about the next time they have dinner.
