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 BigCatDaddy:
Looks cool... this one might pull me back in. I think the current trilogy is still ****ed though.
Same. I'm putting all of my eggs in the standalone/spinoff basket. At least most of them appear to be occurring around the same time as the OT. The new trilogy doesn't even feel like SW to me. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Easy 6:
I can somewhat understand the sentiment that an actor taking a role like this doesnt necessarily have to be a ringer for the original... but then I think about someone like Ewan McGregor, and just how perfect he looked and sounded as young Obi-Wan
He was absolutely the glue of those prequels because of how closely he matched Guinness
Originally Posted by Easy 6:
I can somewhat understand the sentiment that an actor taking a role like this doesnt necessarily have to be a ringer for the original... but then I think about someone like Ewan McGregor, and just how perfect he looked and sounded as young Obi-Wan
He was absolutely the glue of those prequels because of how closely he matched Guinness
The giant wart on Ewan's face always threw me off. Guinness didn't have a giant wart on his face.
Anthony Ingruber would've been a far more believable and less distracting choice. There must have been something really wrong going on to avoid making the most obvious choice.
Bad Actor? Serial rapist? Pedophile? [Reply]
Other than Neesons brief appearance, McGregor was really the ONLY good thing about those
Originally Posted by Gadzooks:
The giant wart on Ewan's face always threw me off. Guinness didn't have a giant wart on his face.
Anthony Ingruber would've been a far more believable and less distracting choice. There must have been something really wrong going on to avoid making the most obvious choice.
Bad Actor? Serial rapist? Pedophile?
Han Solo just can’t help being a good guy — much to his disappointment.
Try as he might to live outside the law, to care about nothing, to embody his loner name, he finds himself inexorably pushed and pulled by the tractor beam of his own decency. Just when you think he’s gone forever, he comes back to save the day.
That’s now literally true. Fans saw his journey end in The Force Awakens, but with the stand-alone Solo: A Star Wars Story (out May 25) Han is returning to the fight. In this week’s issue, Entertainment Weekly expands about the glimpse we got in the two new teasers with revelations about the story and criminal characters that will surround the galactic smuggler. Alden Ehrenreich is stepping into the cockpit for Harrison Ford, and the story rewinds the chronology to several years before the events of 1977’s original Star Wars. The filmmakers describe it as a Western crossed with a film noir, freighted with offbeat humor and set in the criminal underbelly of a galaxy being torn apart.
The Han movie is very Han about its arrival. It’s swooping in at the last minute with a first trailer and detailed revelations just a few months before release, and it all comes amid intense internal drama and second-guessing. Original filmmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The LEGO Movie, 21 Jump Street) parted ways with Lucasfilm over creative clashes that led to obvious upheaval in the midst of production. Oscar-winner Ron Howard, who has followed Star Wars ever since George Lucas first described his plan for it on the set of 1973’s American Graffiti, jumped in to pilot the movie home.
With luck and some skill — which Han always counted on in equal measure — this bumpy flight will smooth out in the end.
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy describes Solo as “a heist, gunslinger type movie.” That roller coaster-like train in the trailer is called The Conveyex, and Han has to prove his hoodlum bona fides by stealing something (we don’t know what) from on board. “He might be a little more immature, he may be a little less experienced, and he may hone his cynicism over time, but he’s very wary,” she says. “He needs to gain the respect of the people he interacts with, even if they’re the lowest of the low.”
Along the way he will befriend “walking carpet” Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), fall head over heels for shadowy Qui’ra (Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke), and cross paths with Lando Calrissian (Atlanta’s Donald Glover stepping into the cape of Billy Dee Williams) and his droid sidekick L3-37 (played via motion capture by Fleabag star Phoebe Waller-Bridge.) The wannabe smuggler will also face career crooks Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson), blaster-toting Val (Thandie Newton), and crime boss Dryden Vos (played by Paul Bettany). If you’re trying to figure out who’s good and who’s bad, you’re not alone. “I think that’s exactly what Han’s trying to do throughout the film,” Ehrenreich says.
Screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan was also big on saying its a bromance: “To me, this is a love story between Han and Chewie. Their relationship has always been my favorite part of the saga, and the fact that only Han understands what Chewie is saying, I find a very funny possibility for comedy.” [Reply]
