Donald Glover is officially a young Lando Calrissian!
Lucasfilm announced today that Donald Glover, an acclaimed actor, award-winning writer, and Grammy-nominated artist, will be playing the part of Lando Calrissian in the still-untitled Han Solo Star Wars film, helmed by directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Glover will join Alden Ehrenreich — previously cast as Han Solo — in bringing two iconic Star Wars characters back to the big screen, but at a time in their lives previously unexplored. This new film depicts Lando in his formative years as a scoundrel on the rise in the galaxy’s underworld — years before the events involving Han, Leia, and Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back and his rise to Rebel hero in Return of the Jedi.
“We’re so lucky to have an artist as talented as Donald join us,” said Lord and Miller. “These are big shoes to fill, and an even bigger cape, and this one fits him perfectly, which will save us money on alterations. Also, we’d like to publicly apologize to Donald for ruining Comic-Con for him forever.”
Glover is best known for creating and starring in the critically acclaimed FX series Atlanta (which had the highest premiere numbers for any basic cable comedy show since 2013), as well as for starring in four seasons of the show Community, and for his Grammy-nominated album Because the Internet, performed under the name Childish Gambino. In addition, Glover appeared in the Academy Award-nominated The Martian, and will be seen in the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming.
The untitled Han Solo movie is set for release in 2018.
Originally Posted by Red Brooklyn:
I started watching The Clone Wars and Rebels because of it. I read my first Star Wars novel last year: the first Star Wars novel I've read in my life.
The re-casting has never been an issue for me. I come from a theater background. I'm used to seeing different people play iconic roles. It's more that this just doesn't seem like a story I ever needed to have told to me.
But given the backlash and the true "underdog" nature of this, I'm totally pulling for it. I want this to be a great movie. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud:
None of the editors can make anything coherent out of it, hence three more weeks of reshoots.
That’s borderline incredible if it really is reshoots and not pick-ups.
I’m surprised Disney has give KK this kind of blank check given that only one of the films didn’t have major problems or alienate half the fan base. [Reply]
Originally Posted by RINGLEADER:
That’s borderline incredible if it really is reshoots and not pick-ups.
For sure.
I wonder if it's Thandie Newton's character, as she has said many times that she wasn't involved in the reshoots and that 90% of her work was done with Lord & Miller? Maybe the "tone" of her character was "off" when compared to Ron Howard's vision?
All I know is that it's weird and they're spending a bundle to crack this nut.
Originally Posted by RINGLEADER:
I’m surprised Disney has give KK this kind of blank check given that only one of the films didn’t have major problems or alienate half the fan base.
I'm surprised, too. Unless Solo is a hit, she might not be long for Lucasfilm, especially considering all of the issues surrounding Alden Ehrenriech's portrayal of Han Solo and a Page One reshoot. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud:
On the other hand, re-casting Luke with Sebastian Stan should be a no-brainer and IMO, a Luke Skywalker film that's set between Episode 4 & 5 would have been a much better direction to go, especially after the success of Rogue One.
No offense to Stan (who I think is a great actor) but if you do that after the fan backlash of TLJ it would only get worse.
You can't piss off all the fans with making Luke a jaded asshole, then kill him off, then recast him and rewrite his past.
“Board the Millennium Falcon and journey to a galaxy far, far away in Solo: A Star Wars Story, an all-new adventure with the most beloved scoundrel in the galaxy.
Through a series of daring escapades deep within a dark and dangerous criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his mighty future copilot Chewbacca and encounters the notorious gambler Lando Calrissian, in a journey that will set the course of one of the Star Wars saga’s most unlikely heroes.” [Reply]
Originally Posted by Rausch:
You can't piss off all the fans with making Luke a jaded asshole, then kill him off, then recast him and rewrite his past.
They don't have to rewrite his past.
There's plenty of adventure and do-gooder Luke tales to be told in the space between ROTJ and TFA. [Reply]
Harrison Ford easily does the cool, sarcastic, tough but laid back, scoundrel but not totally bad guy. I envision the new guy doing a Han/Harrison Ford impression and it's going to come off douchey. [Reply]
It does tick off all the boxes, but is hardly believable.
It exposes the Disney PR spin by saying “people who didn’t like Episode VIII will like it because of all the ‘fan service’” when a lack of “fan service” was not why “older fans” didn’t like it. It sucked and was just a terribly boring and very stupid story. [Reply]