Let me preface this by saying: Meh.
No, I’m not Meh-ing the rumor I’m about to share with you. I’m not Meh-ing the people involved in this production (cause they’re stellar). I’m Meh-ing the project itself.
This new YOUNG HAN SOLO movie- a spinoff/prequel from the ever-expanding STAR WARS Universe- has got me worried. It was never an exciting idea to begin with because prequels, in general, don’t really work for me. Unless they’re going to explore very new, very fertile ground, and have very little connection to the films that take place after it, they just feel too safe and too restrained.
With the recent news that Lando Calrissian, a role originated Billy Dee Williams in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, was going to appear in the tentatively titled HAN SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY I can’t help but feel like this film is going to walk all over certain things that made his original appearance work so well. Remember, when we meet Lando in EMPIRE, he’s a mystery; an unknown entity. He’s charming, disarming, and unlike anyone we’ve met so far. The big twist that occurs in that film works so well because of how little we really know about Lando, and how little we have to work with in terms of his relationship with Han.
But now this film is going to change all that by giving us more information than we probably need. And that’s a bummer.
Not to mention, I think it’s downright strange to do a prequel for Solo- when we’ve already seen the character when he was a young man. The conceit of most prequels, and why they’re able to get away with casting actors that don’t fully resemble these characters as older people, is that we never saw them when they were younger and people change as they age. So, for me, this only would’ve worked if they actually cast Harrison Ford and used some Hollywood magic to de-age him somehow. Instead, we’ve got Alden Ehrenreich, a 26 year old who doesn’t resemble Ford at all, playing a Han Solo that’s only a few years younger than the man we met in that cantina in Mos Eisley all those years ago.
Very odd.
But okay, let’s get to this rumor:
According to Birth Movies Death, the top choice to play Lando Calrissian in HAN SOLO movie is Donald Glover.
The site claims that directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s first choice would be the COMMUNITY star. This doesn’t mean an offer’s been made. It doesn’t mean he’s even read for it. It just means that, internally, when Lord and Miller have discussed who their top choice would be, it’s Glover’s name that’s on their mind.
If Glover does end up getting the part, he’d be joining a team of very talented people. Lord and Miller have a great resume so far, and the film was co-written by Lawrence Kasdan (EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS). As I eluded to earlier, the project is certainly in fantastic hands.
I just hope they can crack the story without sapping the introductions of these characters in the original trilogy by over-exposing them.
We shall see!
More on this Glover/Lando story as it develops. We’ve got our own Scoop Hunter on the prowl…
SOURCE: Birth Movies Death
