Star Wars finds its young Han Solo

After sifting through more than 2,500 auditions, directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord have cast Alden Ehrenreich as the young Han Solo in their upcoming anthology movie.

Ehrenreich, best known for his work in Hail Caesar!, beat out competition from more seasoned actors including Taron Egerton (Kingsman), Miles Teller (Whiplash) and Ansel Elgort (Fault in Our Stars), according to The Hollywood Reporter. Ehrenreich is currently in final negotiations with Miller, Lord and Disney to take on Han Solo — a role first made famous by Harrison Ford in 1977.

Although there hasn't been too much information released about the film, it will focus on the origin story of Han Solo and his furry best friend, Chewbacca. The events of the film will take place years before the characters joined Luke Skywalker on his mission to fight against the Empire in A New Hope....

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LazyLion said:

Doesn't really look like Harrison Ford, but maybe the weren't going for an exact visual match.

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Since the announcement by LucasFilm that there was going to be a young Han Solo movie, there has been speculation as to who could fill this iconic role. When fans think of Han Solo, they see Harrison Ford. Which actor would be able to pull off that cocky smile, swagger, and charisma that has come to be synonymous with Han Solo? There had been rumors and speculation that Hail, Caesar! actor Alden Ehrenreich was in talks with LucasFilm for the role but no official announcement had been made. Until now. This weekend, London is playing host to Star Wars Celebration and during the “Future Filmmakers” panel the casting decision was confirmed to a crowd of over 4,000 fans.

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When you're dealing with an established brand that's as valuable as Star Wars, nobody would be surprised if they learned that Lucasfilm was the one calling the shots so as to be sure that nobody went too far off the reservation. However, when you hire a pair like Phil Lord and Chris Miller you can expect that things are going to go off on their own. However, according to the new cinematographer of the upcoming Han Solo movie, Lucasfilm isn't just allowing the team to try new things with established Star Wars characters, they're offering to help.

We're doing our own thing, that's why we're there. Phil and Chris are there to bring what they bring to their films, their very unique vision, their perspective on story and they asked me to come bring what I bring, and so just for that it won't feel like any of the other films. And nobody at Lucasfilm is asking us to betray that, they're saying 'We're in full support of what you do and we wanna make sure that we're able to help you do it in the best way.' It's gonna feel like a Star Wars film, but we're definitely gonna break some rules, and we're encouraged to do that. Visually, narratively that's a good mandate. They really are about, from what I've seen so far, supporting up and coming artists, artists who have a strong vision and voice and perspective, and they really wanna permeate the films with those kinds of voices. So it's interesting, very interesting. Not what I thought it would be, that's for sure. I'm pleasantly encouraged and pleasantly surprised.

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As franchise based filmmaking is becoming a core part of most studios' business models, keeping that franchise intact is vital. It would shock absolutely nobody if the word coming out of Lucasfilm was that they were giving all of their directors marching orders whenever they came on board. Star Wars is the franchise in the movie business and especially following the success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens it's clear that the money available in it is nearly limitless. One has to say that hearing Bradford Young tell Collider that they have so much freedom is at least a little surprising.

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Ninja'd said:

I got a bad feeling about this.

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Could the new Han Solo movie become the biggest film ever to be directed by Alan Smithee?

Smithee is the pseudonym the Directors Guild of America uses for a helming credit when a movie's director takes his name off a movie. That hasn't happened yet in the case of the Star Wars spinoff.

But as Phil Lord and Christopher Miller depart the project, their termination by Disney’s Lucasfilm due to creative differences leaves the producers and the DGA with some difficult choices. The key issues: Who will replace them, who will receive directing credit, how will residuals be apportioned and will Lord and Miller even be welcome at the premiere?

At the heart of the matter is the guild’s protection of directors’ rights. The DGA has a strict rule which prohibits replacing the director with someone else from the film’s team except for a brief emergency. It's designed to discourage producers from forcing out a helmer and taking over a picture. And it means that despite speculation that veteran writer-director Lawrence Kasdan, an executive producer on the film who has written the new screenplay with his son Jon Kasdan, could step in to direct, such a move would violate the DGA rule.

But once a new helmer comes aboard — Ron Howard and Joe Johnston are among the names being mentioned — a new question will arise: Who will get the finished film's directing credit?

That’s tough. Presumably, Lucasfilm would prefer that the new director receive credit and will argue that his (or her) vision is the one that predominates in the ultimate film. But Lord and Miller signed on two years ago, and have been shooting since February, with only a few weeks of principal photography left. That gives them a strong claim to credit.



But complicating the matter is the vital role that postproduction plays in a big effects-laden film — and that will all be overseen by the new director.

The DGA doesn’t much like multiple directors to begin with: “There will be only one Director assigned to direct a motion picture at any given time,” says the guild's “one director” rule. But waivers are possible, and increasingly common — especially in the case of established directing teams. Still, it would be a stretch for the DGA to approve three directors' names on a film.

And there's a further twist: While the Writers Guild of America has elaborate rules and even an appeals procedure for credit disputes, the DGA doesn’t.

Instead, the rule is simply this: The DGA decides, and everyone is bound by that decision.

That process, particularly in the case of such a high-profile film, is likely to drag a range of ranking guild officials into the mix. The possibility of according credit to three directors — Lord, Miller and their successor — is likely to seem both logical and unpalatable.

The DGA did not immediately respond to inquiries, and it’s not known whether officials are investigating the situation yet.

And what about residuals? If Lord and Miller should decide to pull their names from the picture, their names would be replaced with a pseudonym — most commonly, “Alan Smithee” — and they might have to forfeit residuals. But assuming they don't pull their names, but are just off the picture, the rules don’t seem to say what happens to residuals in this case.

Possibly, that makes it a matter of negotiation between the departed directors’ agents and lawyers and Lucasfilm — and the new director’s representatives.

Profit participation — backend — is another complication, although not a guild matter. It may already be addressed in the pair’s directing deal, but, in Hollywood, a written agreement is often just a good start for negotiations.

Last, but not least, do Lord and Miller have the right to insist on tickets to the film’s premiere? That won’t happen for a while — as of now, the film’s scheduled release date remains unchanged at May 25, 2018 — but it certainly could be awkward.

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LazyLion said:

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After months of shooting, huge amounts of speculation and even a change in directors, the previously-untitled Star Wars Han Solo spin-off finally has a title – and it’s exactly what everybody expected.

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