Wookie Bootcamp: Mastering the Role of Chewbacca – Interview with Joonas Suotamo

The countdown begins for SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY. It opens in theaters on May 25th, and I had the privilege to walk the red carpet and attend the movie premiere for this Star Wars film earlier this month, so read my review and get your tickets. When asked what audiences can expect from Han’s journey, Producer Kathleen Kennedy said:

They can expect to have fun, laugh a lot and fall in love with Han and Chewie all over again, or for the first time.

I can say that I did. The closest relationship Han Solo has is with Chewbacca, played by former college basketball player Joonas Suotamo. Chewbacca is central to the action in “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” which gave Suotamo a real opportunity to embrace the character.

I had the great opportunity to interview Joonas Suotamo during the Han Solo Event. I was so happy to meet him and at the premiere after party. I was at his table for quite a while and met the most amazing woman and mom. I believe Joonas Suotamo and I have a friend in common now!

I also met Peter Mayhew and his wife, Angie, there! Peter Mayhew, who is 7 ft 3 in tall, played our beloved 200-year-old Chewbacca in 1977 when Star Wars, Episode IV – A New Hope was released and subsequently in the trilogy. It was fun seeing Joonas Suotamo interacting with Peter Mayhew and then learning that they had worked together to make sure the essence of the wookie we know and love. Angie said about the movie and the characters “I believed them!” 

In order to take over as Chewie, Joonas Suotamo consulted with Peter Mayhew. This is his third role as Chewbacca { Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017), and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) }

Angie and Peter,  I met them both at the same time… they really embraced and gave me their blessing to play this part, which was a huge deal for me, because Star Wars is so beloved that I would hate there to be any kind of bad water when we do this. Because it’s a very significant thing and very, much be hard to let go of something that you dedicated your life to and when the fans love you so much. But I’ve assured them that he’ll always be the original Chewbacca – and there’s no one who can take that away from him.

He told us that they went through a “week-long  Wookiee Bootcamp” and joked that the term was trademarked. 

He showed me the original films and clips. And we looked at his walk, and he told me why he did it such a way and what he did and what was he thinking at the time. And it was so helpful, because I had done some studying up myself previously. And to hear from the master himself how and why did he do those things helped me tremendously in preparing for this role.

Joonas Suotamo said it was easy to learn to speak Wookiee. It’s been said that wookiee talk is a mixture of recordings of four bears, a badger, a lion, a seal, and a walrus from Long Beach.

When they told me I was gonna meet Harrison Ford the next day, it took me 24 hours.

The challenge of the role was deeper for Joonas Suotamo, because he wanted to embody Chewie, not just “talk” like him.

The biggest { challenge } is respecting the legacy of Chewbacca, because he was played by Peter Mayhew, the legendary, original Chewbacca. And I want it to be so that the fans going to these films see the same Chewbacca who was in the original films, because Chewbacca is so loved and I would not want there to be a feeling that Chewbacca somehow feels different this time around. 

Chewie is 190 years old in SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY, so he is a youngish Chewbacca with different circumstances; however, you definitely feel he will grow to be the Chewbacca you know, with the continuity we felt in the two previous STAR WARS films Joonas Suotamo filmed.

Chewbacca is truly the most loyal companion. He’s very attentive, always alert to danger because he’s lived such a long, dangerous life, always on the watch. He is the perfect partner to have watching out for you. It becomes clear to Chewbacca that Han needs someone to take care of him. Han’s too much of a risk-taker, overconfident that he can accomplish any task. Chewbacca is there to tell him that maybe he needs to think first. It brings enormous fun into the scenes.

Joonas Suotamo and Alden Ehrenreich also worked together to make sure the Han and Chewie relationship was also seamless. What a privilege to get to work with two Han Solos!

We talked a lot about the arc of their friendship and how to start that journey together so that the audience will see the development and also the downs and the ups of that relationship. And it was very important to get right, because we all wanna see how that relationship started. I’m so glad Alden { Ehrenreich } did such a great job in embracing this character and becoming Han Solo for us in this wonderful story.

Alden Ehrenreich said that even though Joonas Suotamo had to be “mindful of all the technical requirements involved in moving in the suit, Joonas was really able to bring so much to the performance, so much heart in what he does, and that’s really impressive.”

And speaking of the suit, there were many! This is the first film to feature Chewbacca in a lead role, so to achieve this level of on-screen action, production produced eight suits and 10 heads.

The Wookie suit, the main obstacle is the heat and the endurance throughout the day. But also it’s the fact that I gotta be careful with the suit. You gotta constantly be aware of the suit, how it moves and how it looks on camera. So, that’s why I have to go and look at the screens and after the takes and making people think that I’m sort of a diva or something. I wanna make it look right. And I trust the directors, but I still want to see and if I could do something myself to improve the next day. And that’s maybe the hardest thing. Because the moves of Chewbacca are very much something I can do as a basketball player.

Did you see the Roar For Change video in which the cast and crew (along with some special friends)? We get to see the “diva feel” Joonas Suotamo is talking about:

Of course, Chewie and I really looked like divas on the red carpet and at the after-party, but we didn’t act like divas, I promise!

Joonas Suotamo’s physicality had a lot to do with his casting in The Force Awakens:

I got the role out of the blue sky came a call one day from the Finnish Basketball Association, who had received a request for a such person who has blue eyes, is seven feet tall… They called me and I said immediately I’m interested. Didn’t take a second to think about it. We didn’t know what the role was. So, I just said, yes, whatever it is, I’m in.

His casting process required sending a video of himself grunting like a caveman who’s been shot in the knee with an arrow.

They wanted to see if I could do the acting required for the film. And then it took four or five months to really go through the process. And at the end of it, I received a call: “Congrats, you are gonna play Chewbacca!

WHOA. His body language said it all and I think we don’t have to do much guessing as to how excited he was about that call. J.J. Abrams got his blue-eyed man (he did not want anyone wearing contacts), 6’10” and a Star Wars fan!

He was telling us about the first time he stepped into the Millennium Falcon and how there were people crying, but he held back the tears.

It is just the marvelous thing, because your mind goes back to the times you saw the movie and the first time Luke put on that helmet and battled against the floating ball, which I still don’t know how they did that. And it’s just like you know all the angles that they used. And it’s wonderful to be there, because it’s part of everyone’s childhood and memories, those places. And now when the Millennium Falcon is new and well-kept and there’s a mini bar in the corner, there is a cloak cape closet, which is more like a luxury room than a closet, it’s just wonderful to see that difference. And it goes to deepening my appreciation for the ship, because it has a history now. And, boy, I just hope nobody ever tarnishes that very sweet décor on that ship. But I guess that’s a wish that’s not gonna come true.

The ship’s condition in SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY is incredible and I got a wonderful tour. Check it out on my Instagram post:

 

 

A post shared by Elayna Fernandez (@thepositivemom) on May 12, 2018 at 8:18pm PDT

Were my acting skills on point?

One of my favorite parts of the interview with Joonas Suotamo was how he owned the part, telling us he was born to play it.

I think basketball certainly gifted me extra body awareness. And also the trips I made with various team and the national team of Finland and everything. I met so many wonderful players and people. And I grew up to become a very social guy. I have always observed movements and I have always observed — because we had guys on our team who run with a very specific kinda way, and I’ve always loved the fact that we are different as humans. And I’ve always tried to imitate in a very loving way my teammates and how they run.

And, and that has more than anything alongside with growing up with dogs and observing them when I was a kid secretly prepared me for the role of playing Chewbacca. And on top of that, we Fins have a very rich sauna tradition. So, I can withstand heat exceptionally well. Basically you could say I was born to play this role.

Often times, we dismiss the opportunities we are given because we dismiss ourselves thinking we are not ready, we’re not prepare, or even worse, we are not worthy. I invite you to learn from Joonas Soutamo and think a little deeper on how your experiences, your story, have prepared you and qualified you for whatever amazing opportunity that comes your way – and seize it!

At the end of the day, being tall and having blue eyes was just the entry way. It took willingness to say YES to an opportunity, effort to keep pursuing something he didn’t know what it really was, humility to learn from the masters, endurance to deal with the physical challenges, and heart to collaborate with his co-stars to make Chewbacca. I know you’ll be pleased with the end result.

In SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY, amidst great action and adventures in a galaxy far far away, we learn how Chewie and Han meet, both of their back stories, and how they get to fly the Millennium Falcon. It’s an epic prequel with new stories and characters but the same feel of classic Star Wars.

SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY opens in theaters everywhere on May 25th!

Follow the latest updates by visiting the official SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY site, following STAR WARS on Instagram, following STAR WARS on Twitter,  and liking STAR WARS on Facebook. Also, follow the conversation along with #HanSolo and #HanSoloEvent.

Founder of the Positive MOM® and creator of the S.T.O.R.Y. System: a blueprint to craft and share powerful stories that will transform your results and help others do the same. Dr. Elayna Fernández is a single mom of 4, an award-winning Storyteller, Story Strategist, and Student of Pain. She’s a bestselling author, internationally acclaimed keynote speaker, and 5x TEDx speaker. She has spoken at the United Nations, received the President’s Volunteer Lifetime Achievement Award, and was selected as one of the Top Impactful Leaders and a Woman of Influence by SUCCESS Magazine. Connect with Elayna at thepositivemom.com/ef and follow @thepositivemom. To receive a gift from Elayna, click HERE.

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Group interview photos by Louise Bishop of MomStart.com / Nonpersonal photos courtesy of Disney