Alden Ehrenreich was almost certainly chosen to play the rogue-ish Han Solo by producer Kathy Kennedy because she felt obliged to kiss the ring of her longtime boss Steven Spielberg. The famed director discovered Ehrenreich in 2003, when the 28-year-old actor was 14, after seeing him in a Bat Mitzvah video at a party. Spielberg’s endorsement eventually led to Ehrenreich getting an agent, landing gigs on TV series like Supernatural and CSI, and being cast as Vincent Gallo‘s younger brother in Francis Coppola‘s Tetro (’09).

So when you’re watching Solo a few weeks hence and asking yourself how the producers could have possibly decided that the too-short, beady-eyed Ehrenreich could fill Harrison Ford‘s shoes in a way that audiences would totally accept (instead of hiring Baby Driver‘s Ansel Elgort, the obvious choice), remember that Aldenreich was primarily chosen as a deferential gesture to big bossman Beardo.