Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Alden Ehrenreich’s Busy Year: ‘Fair Play’ Gender Roles, ‘The Idol’ Rumors and Waiting for ’30 Bigger Names’ to Audition First
variety.comDa’Vine Joy Randolph and Alden Ehrenreich haven’t taken many vacation days recently. She’s the breakout star of Alexander Payne’s heartwarming comedy “The Holdovers,” where she portrays Mary, the head cook of a boarding school in the 1970s. (She also showed her range as the jaded manager to a troubled pop star in HBO’s controversial summer series “The Idol.”) He’s the familiar face who played a young Han Solo in the “Star Wars” franchise and, this year, shows off his dramatic chops as a toxic boyfriend and financial analyst in Chloe Domont’s Sundance darling “Fair Play.” Here, they compare notes on preparation, keeping momentum and dating other actors. ALDEN EHRENREICH: How did you get involved with Alexander Payne? DA’VINE JOY RANDOLPH: I recently found out that Alexander had me in mind [for “The Holdovers”] initially, but the studio said, “Let’s find 30 actresses with bigger names!” He did his due diligence and went through all of them and said, “OK, I did it.
Now can I call Da’Vine?” We read a scene together, and he said, “I’m cool if you’re cool.” You’ve had a hell of a year with “Fair Play,” “Cocaine Bear” and “Oppenheimer.” What was it like making all these? EHRENREICH: I did “Cocaine Bear,” then “Fair Play,” and then “Oppenheimer,” and then my short film “Shadow Brother Sunday.” I did the Marvel series “Ironheart” right after that. RANDOLPH: You were on a roll. EHRENREICH: I hadn’t worked during COVID, so this felt good.
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