Disney and Lucasfilm have hired Lego Movie directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller to helm a Han Solo origin film. The directing team released this statement:
“This is the first film we’ve worked on that seems like a good idea to begin with. We promise to take risks, to give the audience a fresh experience, and we pledge ourselves to be faithful stewards of these characters who mean so much to us. This is a dream come true for us. And not the kind of dream where you’re late for work and all your clothes are made of pudding, but the kind of dream where you get to make a film with some of the greatest characters ever, in a film franchise you’ve loved since before you can remember having dreams at all.”
The script is being written by Joe and Lawrence Kasdan, and so far, this is what we know about the film:
The story focuses on how young Han Solo became the smuggler, thief, and scoundrel whom Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi first encountered in the cantina at Mos Eisley.
As we’ve seen in the past, Star Wars films don’t have to be good to be successful, so this will boil down to casting. The question is, who do you cast as a young version of one of the most popluar characters in film history? Casting a younger version of a popular Harrison Ford character has been done before, and successfully at that. Sean Patrick Flannery did a decent job when he donned the fedora in the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. While he didn’t have Ford’s mannerisms down, he embodied the essence of the character pretty nicely. More impressive, though, was River Phoenix’s portrayal of young Indy, but he had the advantage of working with, and studying, Harrison Ford while filming Mosquito Coast prior to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
There is an online push for the role to go to Anthony Ingruber, who made waves a few years back when his Harrison Ford impression went viral. It made such an impact, in fact, that he was recently cast as the younger version of Ford’s character in the Blake Lively film, The Age of Adeline.
The young Han Solo movie will be the fourth new Star Wars film, including J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Gareth Edwards’ Star Wars: Rogue One, and Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: Episode VIII. Lil’ Han Solo is scheduled for May 25, 2018 release date