A/V SOLO: A Star Wars Story (untagged spoilers allowed)

The current casting was good enough for Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola.

 

People aren't ever going to be satisfied because they only see Harrison Ford in the role of Han Solo. They really need to look at this with an open mind and without expectations.

 

Well okay then, who are some actors who more closely physically resemble Ford's Solo? (Since both my post and the post I was responding to specifically concerned Alden in a poster/still image looking "nothing like Han", not Alden's general mannerisms and delivery as discussed in other posts.) I can't think of any others with incredibly similar faces off the top of my head but I also don't know many.

Aptly enough, I just saw an amateur deepfake edit of the trailer placing Ford's face over Alden's:



Anyway, I'm as usual optimistic and still looking forward to seeing what Alden can bring. And Glover! Lando's role in this film is what I'm most excited to see.

 

He doesn’t need to bare an uncanny resemblance to Ford, but the only way Alden could look less like him is if he were black or asian...

The fact that Alden was discovered by Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy is Spielberg’s protégée makes me think the casting might not have been entirely based on how suitable he was to the role.

 

I mean he could be a ginger?

 

I read the Rogues Gallery feature on EW and it all sounds very interesting and I just want to reiterate how devastated I am that Michael K. Williams was cut from this movie and replaced with Paul Bettany.

 

I heard that Michael K. Williams wanted to come back for re-shoots but couldn't due to an obligation with whatever his current project was at the time. Does the EW article say he was cut? It sounded like it was Michael's decision not to come back so he had to be replaced.

 

I don't get the impression that it was his decision so much as the unexpected reshoots made it difficult for his schedule. That doesn't change the fact that he was cut and replaced.

 

I agree. People keep saying "Alden doesn't look/sound/act enough like Harrison" but that's not the point. Alden was cast as Han Solo, not Harrison Ford. Different interpretations of characters should be welcomed. Do we really want a Harrison Ford impression in our film?

 

I guess there's a fine line between a new actor adding to a character and a new actor going through the motions of impersonating the original character to be "good enough". Like Ewan McGregor -- he added to Obi-Wan and made him somewhat different but equally awesome to Alec Guinness's version. But this is really hard to pull off, especially because they're trying to recast an actor who's not much younger than the original.

 

I think we can all agree that Rohan Nichol looks nothing like Peter Geddis.


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It's going to be fine. I'm sure Han in Solo is going to look more like Han in A New Hope after the Kessel Run. Weird things happen to your face, voice, etc when you do it in less than 12 parsecs.

 

Anthony Ingruber

 

Thank you! I'm not familiar with any of his film or TV work but looking at stills from The Age of Adaline and the Han impression posted on his YouTube channel I can definitely see it.

 

Ingruber auditioned. I wonder if Ron Howard had been directing from the start, he might have been cast.

 

Yeah, he does a good impression (in that he can replicate Ford's mannerisms), but he's certainly not an actor of Alden's calibre.

 

To say nothing of Tim Beckmann

 

The issue of recasting a role is a tricky one. A lot of it is very subjective, and while the physicality can be a big part, a lot of it is also about capturing the “feel” of a character, which is always going to depend on the viewer. Sometimes the most important thing is just to really remind the viewer of the previous incarnation of the character, whether it be in mannerisms, something in the facial structure, hairstyle, voice, even if the other elements are different but that one thing grounds you.

I don’t blame people for not feeling Ehrenreich as Han yet. I’ll be honest, I’m not really feeling him yet. Physically he doesn’t really remind me of Ford in any way, and none of the performance has really reminded me of Han either. I’m not judging too harshly because we haven’t seen the movie yet, I’m not bothered. But it does stand in contrast to something like Glover as Lando, which felt right the minute it was announced and has only been reinforced by the visuals. Glover’s look, his persona, his talent, all just seem to click with the role and it made sense right away. So if it’s possible to get a good vibe before the film, surely it’s possible to get a bad vibe, for the casting just to not be working for people. I’m not prejudging the film but nothing yet has sold me on Ehrenreich.

The question of what exactly it is that makes this work or not work is tricky. Like, when it was rumored that Indiana Jones would be recast with Chris Pratt, I actually thought, “Okay, I could see that working.” Does Pratt look particularly like Ford? No. Does he sound like Ford? No. Does he do a mean Indiana Jones impression? I don’t know. But there’s something about his look and his screen presence that made me think that you know, maybe he could actually evoke Indiana Jones onscreen without doing a simple impression. It wouldn’t be the same but it could feel like the same character through some intangible quality of performance. And maybe Pratt wouldn’t actually work, but something clicked and gave me that good feeling.

Something clicked watching Baby Driver (and it wasn’t just the jacket) where I thought Ansel Elgort could do a young Han. I was picking up those vibes. I can see how Ingruber could work. Jack Reynor is one of the people rumored in the casting period whom I could see working. It’s not that nobody but Ford can even get a look in the role. Ehrenreich just hasn’t clicked yet. I’ll give him a chance. But I don’t think it’s unusual or close-minded for people to note that Ehrenreich isn’t working for them. Write off the whole movie and preemptively trash Ehrenreich completely? Yeah. But the people going, “Nah, this is poor casting, it’s not working for me at all,” I think that’s as reasonable as any early response.

 

I think Ansel Elgort would’ve been a good fit as well. Ingruber absolutely does a great ford impression but his acting is terrible.

I’d rather someone with a good track record of acting over getting a perfect impression.

 

Ooops, looks like the Solo film is sticking with the Falcon has already been around for decades so the ROTS appearance is back in!

http://ew.com/movies/2018/02/14/star-wars-solo-millennium-falcon/

“Remember, when the Falcon enters our movie, it’s already had a long life. Decades of existence. And it’s been modified even from its original design,” says Jon Kasdan.

 

From the same link...

Breznican references Legends from time to time but he's pretty good about clarifying that--and he didn't here. I'm starting to think this could really be it.

 

If this is true, then wow, Han really trashed it. I'd sell him to the Empire too.

 

I read the full article in the magazine (Showed up today!) and they said that Han sees Lando's relationship with his droid and thinks he wants something like that with Chewie, so oddly I have this vague feelings that Han is going to get drummed out of Imperial flight school but it may have nothing to do with Chewie (which seems odd considering if only how much Legends EU we've been getting bits from in this film). Or, I believe in the Crispin novel, he started off with Chewie tagging along due to the life debt and eventually learned to deal with him.

Also EW has a piece on the new Hasbro falcon toys and, while it's always a dicey idea to get plot information from toys, it does say that the ship rattles as it "goes faster" and then pieces of it pop off as it "races to the finish line". So maybe a significant amount of trashing the Falcon, into the shape we know and love, will be by Han pushing it. Maybe in the Kessel Run. And the reference to "finish line" and the racing that we've seen Han do in the recent canon works makes me think it'll also be a race he's in. (Remember the Solo script/story was in development around the time of TFA, and Lawrence Kasadan got enlisted to work on TFA, but the story beats have probably been floating around LFL for awhile)

 

"...this Falcon reflects its owner very clearly in its shape and aesthetic and his needs, even if those needs be a little more space to entertain."

Haha guys Lando built a lounge in between the mandibles what an absolute legend.

 

Lando put in the dejarik table, obviously.