If there’s one downside to the culture of nostalgia in which we now live—and there are many—it’s that our desire to see old faces and familiar locales is negatively impacting modern storytelling. One major critique of the Marvel franchise, for example, is that it lacks stakes—there’s no way the franchise is going to…
Solo: A Star Wars Story finally revealed the origin of Han Solo’s iconic DL-44 blaster pistol (He got it from Woody Harrelson! Wow!), and one of the actual blaster props that Harrison Ford used in Return Of The Jedi went on sale at a big auction of Hollywood artifacts in Las Vegas over the weekend. The prop is a…
One of the perks of watching films set in a lived-in universe, like that of the Star Wars movies, is that every frame is filled with unnamed objects and characters that hint at a larger world just outside the scope of the story you’re being told. Recently, The Star Wars Show invited viewers to take a behind-the-scenes…
Long before every tertiary character in the franchise was guaranteed their own origin story movie, there were these things called books that some Star Wars fans would seek out in order to spend more time with their favorite heroes from a galaxy far, far away. Some of the most successful installments in this literary…
Even though it was arguably a better match for the visual tone of the film’s trailer, it’s unlikely we’re going to hear the song “I’m Han Solo” pop up anywhere in Solo: A Star Wars Story. That’s mainly because it’s notoriously terrible. The infamous track—a parody of Jason Derulo’s “Ridin’ Solo” with ham-fisted Star…
Han Solo is based on a familiar archetype: Star Wars’ lovable scoundrel can trace his roots back to our earliest myths, while there are progenitors of his world-weary cynicism in Humphrey Bogart’s movies, his charming roguishness in Douglas Fairbanks’, and his reluctantly outlaw heroics throughout the samurai films…
It was one common complaint-as-question among many leveled at the Star Wars prequel trilogy: With all the Jedi, Padawans, royalty, and Gungans running around, where was the Han Solo figure—the lovable rogue to cut through the series’ considerable mumbo-jumbo? Now the newly prolific Lucasfilm has provided a belated…
Harrison Ford likes to present himself as a bit of a curmudgeon, even when his underlying goodness shines through his gruff exterior, but apparently he had a very productive chat with Alden Ehrenreich last year to discuss the actor’s then-upcoming role as the young Han Solo in Solo: A Star Wars Story. That’s according…
[This post contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and the headline contains a spoiler for Star Wars: The Force Awakens that everyone should already know about by now.]
Given what we know about Han Solo from the original Star Wars movies, there are a handful of major events that surely everyone assumes will be addressed in Ron Howard’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, including Han’s first meeting with Chewbacca, him winning the Millennium Falcon from Lando, and him putting on his iconic…
A lot of Star Wars characters have a little theme that can be played or referenced when they appear on screen or tragically die, like Darth Vader with “The Imperial March,” Luke Skywalker with “The Force Theme/Binary Sunset,” and Leia with the aptly named “Princess Leia’s Theme,” but other than “Han Solo And The…
Director Ron Howard has been carefully teasing his Han Solo movie, Solo: A Star Wars Story, all in what seems like a blatant attempt to keep people excited about the movie even after original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired. He has yet to share anything particularly informative, though, like a teaser…
There are slim chances of titling a Star Wars movie in a manner that will please all or even most of its many, many fans, but just calling the Han Solo movie Solo is still pretty gobsmacking. That Han Solo’s last name directly implied his raffish, go-it-alone nature was always the type of thing you didn’t want to look…
Lest you forgot that Ron Howard has been working overtime (cheerfully and without complaint, one assumes) to finish the previously-untitled “young Han Solo movie” after previous directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller dropped out in an improv-related scuffle with producer and final authority on all things Star Wars…
Part of the joy of the Star Wars universe (the joy of any expansive fictional world, really) is that it allowed fans the room to dream, to fill in the details of back stories only barely alluded to, and imagine rich lives for characters only fleetingly glimpsed. It’s how Boba Fett became such an icon despite having…
Ron Howard continues to fill his inherited Han Solo movie with actors he’s worked with before, with Variety reporting that A Beautiful Mind and Da Vinci Code co-star Paul Bettany has signed on for Howard’s standalone Star Wars film.
The sudden departure of Phil Lord and Chris Miller from Disney’s standalone Han Solo film created a lot of anxiety—a disturbance that the studio has tried to quell by bringing in the sure, steady hand of Ron Howard, who’s also done his part to assure that everything’s fine. “[It’s] coming along great,” Howard told The…
Here’s one for anyone harboring a lingering nostalgia for Ron Howard’s 1988 fantasy epic Willow: Howard—apparently delighting in his ongoing role as the trickster god of the Star Wars universe—obliquely revealed today that Willow star Warwick Davis will appear in his upcoming Han Solo spin-off. Howard made the…
By passing the young Han Solo film off to Ron Howard, the Star Wars universe handlers assured viewers of a certain level of competence and joy. Howard’s varied career has involved everything from beloved acting turns like Opie Taylor and Richie Cunningham and well-respected directorial work like Frost/Nixon, Cocoon,…
Ever since he took over the director’s chair for Disney’s standalone Han Solo movie, Ron Howard’s been teasing fans of the Star Wars franchise with tiny glimpses from the set. (Like, “Here’s a picture of a bunch of water bottles” tiny.) Howard’s finally starting to open up with a few actual looks at the film, though,…
