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.
It's hard to pull off a younger version of a character like that. The one time I can think of that I thought was really good was josh Brolin doing Tommy Lee Jones in MiB3. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Messier:
He's mimicking Ford. There's a big difference between what Ford did to create a character and someone doing an impression of that character. They clearly want to capture an essence of a character instead of trying to copy Ford. Glover is nothing like Billy Dee Williams, yet I think it's a nice choice. Having someone do a Harrison Ford impression would be interesting for 5 minutes, then he better find a way to make the character his own or he's screwed.
Ford became a great actor later. In the original Star Wars he was just north of awful. Hamill and Fisher both did much better jobs. Ironic when you consider that he's the one who went on to become one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. [Reply]
Originally Posted by SAGA45:
The other difference is they clearly aren't happy with the guy they actually chose to play solo. Getting him help is admitting they may have miscast the guy, no?
Also, Ford's Solo is all there is. As far as SW fans are concerned...Ingruber wouldn't be imitating Ford...he'd simply be a young Solo...which is what we want here, correct?
I mean, I completely get what you guys are saying the "essence" of the character. It's just that apparently the guy they picked isnt cutting it
Again, copying a guy and actually having acting chops are completely different.
Does anyone think that Donald Glover won't be able to pull off a convincing version of Lando Calrissian?
Ron Howard is the key to this film. If he can't get Ehrenreich's performance where it should be, I think they scrap the entire film. I find it highly unlikely that they go back into the casting process and essentially reshoot the film, again.
Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud:
Again, copying a guy and actually having acting chops are completely different.
Does anyone think that Donald Glover won't be able to pull off a convincing version of Lando Calrissian?
Ron Howard is the key to this film. If he can't get Ehrenreich's performance where it should be, I think they scrap the entire film. I find it highly unlikely that they go back into the casting process and essentially reshoot the film, again.
The cost would be outrageous.
You think they'd scrap it? I think they'd release it, because even a bad Star Wars film is going to make a shitload of money. And as a one-off, I doubt it would have much (if any) of a negative impact on future films. It might be more damaging to admit it was crap and can it.
Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!:
You think they'd scrap it? I think they'd release it, because even a bad Star Wars film is going to make a shitload of money. And as a one-off, I doubt it would have much (if any) of a negative impact on future films. It might be more damaging to admit it was crap and can it.
If Ron Howard comes in and says "Ehrenriech has to go", I think they scrap the film. They've already spent nearly 16 weeks filming on sound stages and on location. It doesn't appear to be a film that's heavily ensconced with blue screens and VFX, so to reshoot the entire film would be very cost prohibitive.
Unlike Rogue One, I think the general public and even huge Star Wars fans are skeptical that this film will work so if word of mouth is bad, it could be their first flop. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud:
Again, copying a guy and actually having acting chops are completely different.
Does anyone think that Donald Glover won't be able to pull off a convincing version of Lando Calrissian?
Ron Howard is the key to this film. If he can't get Ehrenreich's performance where it should be, I think they scrap the entire film. I find it highly unlikely that they go back into the casting process and essentially reshoot the film, again.
The cost would be outrageous.
I for one would be very impressed if Donald Glover pulled off a convincing Lando. Billy Dee Williams' voice had a very unique cadence and tone. If Glover can't mimic Williams, I'll find it very distracting.
I think the overall problem with the concept of the film is the limited time range compared to the original. Asking Ewan to play Obi Wan 40 years younger works, (the voice sounds similar so it's a pass). Asking anyone to play a 30 year old Han Solo 10 years younger is an entirely different animal. People don't change that drastically in that small of a time frame. The only way to pull it off is with a convincing mimic. [Reply]
Those of you worried about speech patterns and cadences... were you distracted by Chris Pine as Capt. Kirk? If the actor gets the character, any distraction will go away after a few minutes. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!:
Those of you worried about speech patterns and cadences... were you distracted by Chris Pine as Capt. Kirk? If the actor gets the character, any distraction will go away after a few minutes.
Pfft.... Zachary Quinto's Spock saved those movies. Getting a young Shatner mimic would have made the movie more like an SNL skit.
Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!:
Those of you worried about speech patterns and cadences... were you distracted by Chris Pine as Capt. Kirk? If the actor gets the character, any distraction will go away after a few minutes.
Absolutely. Chris Pine sucked as Capt. Kirk. To be fair though, I hate the reboot. #notmytrek [Reply]
Originally Posted by Gadzooks:
I for one would be very impressed if Donald Glover pulled off a convincing Lando. Billy Dee Williams' voice had a very unique cadence and tone. If Glover can't mimic Williams, I'll find it very distracting.
I think the overall problem with the concept of the film is the limited time range compared to the original. Asking Ewan to play Obi Wan 40 years younger works, (the voice sounds similar so it's a pass). Asking anyone to play a 30 year old Han Solo 10 years younger is an entirely different animal. People don't change that drastically in that small of a time frame. The only way to pull it off is with a convincing mimic.
Let's say Glover nails it as Lando but Ehrenreich is garbage. Is it feasible to use any useful material already shot and do a rewrite to center the film around Lando, and build up to why he would have betrayed his friends (with a brief cameo from "Han")? I would much rather see that portion of the universe than a terrible Solo movie. I guess this is directed more toward Dane.
edit: Also, if this film is scrapped will it kill Ehrenreich's career for a while? [Reply]
Originally Posted by bowener:
I guess this is directed more toward Dane.
No, it's not feasible. There's no way that Larry Kasdan and his son will re-write an entire story focusing on Lando, nor would Disney & Lucasfilm greenlight such a film. Plus, you're talking about an entirely new concept and script, which would take at least 6 months to complete.
Every actor working on this film has a full schedule (most people are booked 12-18 months out). Same goes for the Cinematographer, editors, gaffers, electricians, set makers, etc. and so on, so you're basically looking at losing the entire cast and crew.
Currently, Lucasfilm is paying the Han Solo crew every day, even when they're not at work and paying for studio time, even though they're not filming. It would be better to scrap the whole movie than attempt to cobble together a script with the current cast and crew.
Originally Posted by bowener:
edit: Also, if this film is scrapped will it kill Ehrenreich's career for a while?
I doubt it. Does he even have a career? Hell, I had never heard of him before this casting, although I was at an industry party back in early 2016 in which people said he was the "best part" of Hail, Caesar!.
I saw that movie and recently, Beautiful Creatures. I didn't care for either performance. [Reply]
