Solo George Lucas' contributions to "Solo"

What we know:

• The idea of a young Han Solo is George Lucas'. As part of the Disney sale, GL included ideas for an ST, and ideas for stand-alone spinoff movies. One of these included an idea about a prequel movie about a young Han Solo. Ergo, Lucas had been working on the "Solo" movie prior to the Disney sale in 2012.
• A very early idea about Han's origins was developed during preproduction of ROTS; Yoda would encounter Chewbacca raising a very young Han on Kashyyyk. Obviously this ideas never made it past the preproduction phase. But it seems likely that thinking along these lines formed the basis for the idea of developing a Han Solo prequel.
• According to Lawrence Kasdan, he was invited by Kathleen Kennedy to attend a meeting with GL prior to the sale. GL presented him with his various ideas for possible spinoffs, and LK volunteered to take on writing "Solo" because that's his favorite character.
• Then, after the Disney sale, Kasdan became tasked with writing TFA, and left creatively burnt out afterwards. So he enlisted the help of his son Jonathan to finish writing the "Solo" script.
• One final bit of GL's involvement happened when he visited the set during Ron Howard's first day of shooting and made a suggestion as to how Han would behave (toss the cape aside, not hang it back up).

Is there anything else known about which parts of "Solo" were GL's ideas? I assume that GL's ideas about a standalone Han Solo spinoff movie weren't just "we could do a standalone Han Solo spinoff movie," but that these would actually include some notes as to what happens in this movie... right? Is there anything known about this?
Also, has GL actually made any statements about what he thought of the final movie?

Sorry if this topic has been done before.

 

I´m glad they didn´t go down the Chewie raising Han route.

 

Cool thread idea.

"Kira" was the original name of GL's female lead for his ST concepts that LFL/Disney later changed to Rey.

I'm sure there a lot of others that we don't and won't ever know about. Between Kasdan and Ron Howard....GL's imprint is all over this movie.

I haven't seen GL quotes about his reaction to the movie though. I think he was at the opening premier though...he was clearly excited about it.

But we do know Harrison Ford loved SOLO. He saw it twice and then called Ron Howard to tell him how much he loved it.

Would like to see George's thoughts...

 

Once I found out about the cape bit I totally see it now, that is a great little bit of character. I mean, really, was George the only one who thought of that, of course Han wouldn't hang it back up!

 

Me too. I guess that's why it didn't make it into the final version of ROTS. Still, I suppose it's always worth exploring ideas.

Derp, I didn't even make that connection! That's pretty nice, actually.

I actually agree with this. Of all the Disney movies thus far, this one feels the most Lucas-y, despite the lack of the usual mythological themes that GL put in his SW movies.

 

Yeah Kira was George's for the ST and was changed to Rey but they changed Kira to Q'ira for the Solo movie. I'm sure it was just the name though and not the character but who knows? If she was originally an offspring of Han, I could certainly see her with some smuggler swagger.\

Maybe George has a scene in the ST where Luke turns to her and says "You know, you are worse than your father!"

 

From what I understand, wasn't Rey 'Kira' almost just before filming? The Art of The Force Awakens had a lot of insight into the development of the characters...highly recommend those books!
Judging from what most of this forum says, I'd guess Lucas liked Solo as much as the rest of us did. I'd really like to see what he thought of it in his own words.
I mean, who didn't love Solo? Some movie gets made, I didn't want to see it, then I see it and it all makes sense. Ron Howard is doing his part on Twitter, cheering on the folks who saw the movie and liked it.

 

Apparently George was instrumental in developing the details of the microbial makeup of the hot springs on Kessel.

 

Ford saw Solo twice? That's cool! We did you hear this?

 

George: The PH balance in the springs was originally off. Digital technology now frees us up to show the proper distribution of chemicals and microbes in the water.

 

I think it's great GL came to set & gave Ron some advise.....

 

https://movieweb.com/harrison-ford-solo-a-star-wars-story-reaction/


The original scoop I guess came from Variety, but for Harrison to see anything twice --let alone a SW movie --is a pretty big endorsement. Apparently Ford loved that Alden did NOT try and imitate him but rather gave his best take on the character of Han Solo.

And Howard is correct -- if Ford took the time to actually call him up after seeing it (twice) and congratulate him....that kind of thing is definitely unusual for Harrison. He must have really enjoyed the film.

Cool stuff.

 

Apparently, Larry wasn't a fan of the story ideas that GL and KK had in mind:

https://www.starwars.com/news/solo-lawrence-and-jonathan-kasdan-interview

 

This is awesome!

 

How on Earth did I not see this interview until just now? Anyway, I hope there's a spiritual sequel to the hard work these guys started, be it the long-rumored Bounty Hunter film, they made a movie that really captured a lot of things I've wanted in my Star Wars movies. Western? Han Solo was my first gunslinger hero. Film Noir? It works perfectly in this Underworld context. Well, I congratulate them on getting their vision out there!

Also, in the spirit of reconciliation, I'm sorry I told you to leave and not come back during the heated discussions regarding The Last Jedi. We won't agree about that film, but let's still enjoy the stuff we DO agree on.

 

I'm not sure LK intended to convey that he didn't like GL's story ideas. I think he was trying to say that he wasn't so much interested in the story as he was in the character. Just my reading of it.

 

True, true. That's probably a more accurate reading of it. It does seem like the Kasdans were very open to all sorts of ideas, as long as the general tone was right. That's something LK has clearly emphasized; that the tone was their main concern (along with getting the characters right, of course).

Thank you very much, my friend!!
I haven't been thinking about that a lot to be honest, but I do remember it, so I really appreciate this. And I, too, am sorry for adding my own little bit of heat.
FWIW, I enjoy all the movies for what they are, even if I find some more rewarding than others. They're all quite beautifully made in my eyes!

I also hope we'll get more of what SOLO gave us... preferably in a sequel

On topic, I agree with what's been said above about this film feeling really Lucas-y. It seems fitting that it features a major character from TCW, voiced by the same actor, because I definitely get a general TCW vibe from it.
That probably has a lot to do with the crime syndicates, of course (I L-O-V-E the fact that there's a Pyke on Kessel, BTW!!).

 

Ron Howard was filming by the end of June 2017. He chose Maul from a list. The script said something like 'big boss'. Whoever put Maul in that list knew maul would interact with Qi'ra. So maybe Qi'ra suggested Maul, and the big boss list person(s) remembered this:
https://www.gameinformer.com/b/feat...he-darth-maul-game-that-never-came-to-be.aspx

Maul+femme fatale Bacall as a friendly team sounds like Maul and femme fatale Qi'ra working 'much more closely' after the end of 'Solo'. Not 'friends', but still a team (As for Darth Talon, maybe the idea survived in another way, related to this Maul-Qi'ra team. I wonder where Trevorrow's Sollony Ren, a female 'maul-like character', came from - and if she survived the ST)