Locked SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY (First Reactions; Tracking for $160M+ Holiday Weekend)

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Update: July 7, 2015

Phil Lord and Chris Miller to Direct Han Solo STAR WARS Movie

Chris Miller and Phil Lord, the duo behind The Lego Movie and the hit 21 Jump Street movies, are tackling one of Star Wars anthology movies as their next directing project, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. The filmmaker team, who write, direct and produce, are stepping up to helm a movie that will focus on a young Han Solo, according to sources.

Lawrence Kasdan and Jon Kasdan are writing the script with the project now set for a May 25, 2018 release. The new project is not the same as the one that was to have been directed by Josh Trank. Trank parted ways with the project in May amid a cloud of issues stemming from his Fantastic Four shoot. The project, rumored to be an origin story of the intergalactic bounty hunter Boba Fett, is still searching for a director.

Unclear is how this move will impact Lord and Miller's schedule. The duo became hot property not only with their witty take on the buddy cop genre with Jump Street but especially with 2014's Lego Movie. Aside from a third Jump Street movie, they are also developing an animated Spider-Man project for Sony.

'Star Wars' Han Solo Spinoff In the Works With 'Lego Movie' Directors (Exclusive)

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Update: August 13, 2015

Han Solo's Age Range in STAR WARS Spinoff Movie Revealed

As Star Wars fans await The Force Awakens to discover what became of Han Solo in the years since Return of the Jedi, there's another question being asked at Lucasfilm: What happened to him in the years before we met him in that Mos Eisley cantina?

Even as Harrison Ford suits up to reprise the character again this December in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, a young Han Solo movie is in the works and is already scheduled for release on May 25, 2018. It will be directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The LEGO Movie, the Jump Street movies). And the script will be penned by both Lawrence Kasdan, (The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi) and his son Jon. No actor has been hired yet, and they're aren't even close in that department.

Although Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy couldn't talk about details of the story, it's clear it could involve a lot of figures we already know: Chewbacca, of course, Lando Calrissian, Jabba the Hutt, and even Greedo. (If there's not an argument between the two about who shot something first, the movie is missing a trick.) The Star Wars comics being made now by Marvel, which are considered canon, are also adding surprising facets to Solo's past - including the fact that he has a wife.

Kasdan had the option to do any kind of Star Wars story he liked. Kasdan said he had turned Lucas down when approached about working on the prequels, yet it was a different sort of prequel that interested him this time. "They said, 'Here are the things that we'd like to make movies about,' and I said, 'Oh, well, Han Solo. I would write a movie about Han Solo. He's always been my favorite.' And that's the job that I took," Kasdan says.

Another question is how young they should go with young Han Solo. In the Star Wars prequels, Lucas began by presenting Darth Vader as a mischievous, pod-racing child. They won't be venturing that far back with Solo. "He'll definitely be probably in the high teens, low 20s," Kennedy says. "We're not introducing you to a 10-year-old Han Solo."

Han Solo's Age Range In Star Wars Spinoff Movie Revealed - Entertainment Weekly

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Update: December 2, 2015

2,500 Actors Audition for the Lead in Young Han Solo Movie

It's a hunt that would make Jabba the Hutt proud. Disney and Lucasfilm are scouring the galaxy in what some are calling the widest casting search ever for the actor who will play a young Han Solo in the planned Star Wars spinoff movie.

According to sources, more than 2,500 actors have met on the project or put themselves on tape, with casting director Jeanne McCarthy running point on finding the man to fill the vest made famous by Harrison Ford in the first Star Wars trilogy and The Force Awakens, which opens Dec. 18.

The contenders are being whittled down before Star Wars spinoff directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who worked with McCarthy on the hit Jump Street films, hone in on their Han. The movie isn't due to shoot until January 2017 for a May 25, 2018, release, so they have plenty of time to make a choice.

"This has been the easiest movie to audition for," says an agent with a client who has auditioned. "They are seeing everyone." The strategy is a 180 degree turn from the plan producers took to find the young stars of The Force Awakens. Director J.J. Abrams took great pains to find relative unknowns to play the leads.

The top-secret Solo project, with a script by Lawrence and Jon Kasdan, is slyly working under the code name "Red Cup," a reference to the college party staple manufactured by, yep, the Solo Cup Corp. But with every agency sending clients between the ages of 18 and 32 in to read for the part, names are beginning to surface.

Actors who have read in person or auditioned via videotape range from the well-known (Dave Franco, 30, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, 25, and Miles Teller, 28) to the sort-of-known (Jurassic World's Nick Robinson, 20) to relative unknowns (Kickin' It's Leo Howard, 18, and The Purge's Tony Oller, 24) and also vary significantly in age. Though sources say the "sweet spot" seems to be the mid-20s, the ages of the contenders span from Chandler Riggs, the 16-year-old star of The Walking Dead, to Hunter Parrish, 28, and Mr. Robot star Rami Malek, 34.

Casting directors are not just focusing on American actors, either, considering Canadian Hemlock Grove star Landon Liboiron, 23, and English actors Ed Westwick, 28, Tom Felton, 28, and Joshua Sasse, 27, among many, many others.

The casting team is said to be looking for someone who looks at least a bit like a young Ford (now 73, he was 35 when the original Star Wars was released) and can be funny and charming as well as handle the expected action scenes. A few young comedians have been asked to read.

Others who have thrown their hats in the ring include Fury's Logan Lerman, 23, The Fault in Our Stars' Ansel Elgort, 21, and Transformers: Age of Extinction's Jack Reynor, 23, plus TV faces like Teen Wolf's Colton Haynes, 27, and Bates Motel's Max Thieriot, 27.

'Star Wars' Hunts for Han Solo: Disney Sees 2,500 Actors to Fill One Vest (Exclusive)

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Inb4 Anthony Ingruber - Harrison Ford Impression video.

 

[Lethal_Striker]

Guys like Dave Franco are completely wrong for the Han Solo role. But I guess there is so many roles to be cast in the next few years for Star Wars movies most of these guys are just trying to be seen by the casting agents of SW so maybe they can get cast for another role in the future.

 

[Ijedi]

Anthony Ingruber is the only one that could pull this off! He played a younger Harrison in something recently...

 

[HenryFlower]

#MichaelCera4youngHanSolo

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Update: January 11, 2016

Actor Shortlist Revealed for Young Han Solo Star Wars Spinoff

Disney and Lucasfilm are inching closer to finding their young Han Solo for the upcoming untitled Star Wars spinoff.

Sources tell Variety that after seeing thousands of actors, execs have cut the list down to about a dozen actors with [pictured from left to right] Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, Dave Franco, Jack Reynor, Scott Eastwood, Logan Lerman, Brooklyn star Emory Cohen and Blake Jenner among the names making the cut.

NDAs and test deals are still being worked out, but producer Kathleen Kennedy and directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller will begin testing the new group with a decision expected in the next couple of weeks.

The film does not shoot until next January, but sources close to the situation say the reason for such an early decision has more to do with another Star Wars film currently shooting, rather than the untitled Han Solo pic. While insiders were unable to confirm, the new Solo could have a small cameo in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story before appearing in his own standalone pic.

Rogue One still has a month of shooting to go and is supposed to be set between Episode III and Episode IV, making this new Han Solo age appropriate for an appearance in the film. Disney and Marvel used the same strategy for their new Spider-Man by casting Tom Holland early in order for him to cameo in Captain America: Civil War before appearing in his own film.

With the exception of Eastwood, who’s 29, Disney and Lucasfilm seem to be zeroing in on actors between the ages of 20 to 25. The studios tested actors as young as 17 to as old as 34. The untitled Star Wars pic is set to bow on May 25, 2018.


‘Star Wars’ Han Solo Spinoff: Actor Shortlist Revealed (Exclusive)

Comments: If I had to choose among the eight actors listed for the role, it would be Scott Eastwood, Jack Reynor and Blake Jenner. The others might be too dweebish for Han Solo.

Scott Eastwood is Clint's son for those that don't know. His new western Diablo opened last week. He will next be seen in Suicide Squad.

Despite starring in the horrible Transformers: Age of Extinction, Jack Reynor is a pretty good actor. He was last seen in Macbeth with Michael Fassbender.

Saw him first in The Glee Project, Blake Jenner is one of the rising stars to watch out for. Jenner is also the husband of Supergirl Melissa Benoist. He'll appear next in Richard Linklater's Everybody Wants Some.

 

[Adamant]

Update: January 11, 2016

Actor Shortlist Revealed for Young Han Solo Star Wars Spinoff

Disney and Lucasfilm are inching closer to finding their young Han Solo for the upcoming untitled Star Wars spinoff.

Sources tell Variety that after seeing thousands of actors, execs have cut the list down to about a dozen actors with [pictured from left to right] Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, Dave Franco, Jack Reynor, Scott Eastwood, Logan Lerman, Brooklyn star Emory Cohen and Blake Jenner among the names making the cut.

NDAs and test deals are still being worked out, but producer Kathleen Kennedy and directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller will begin testing the new group with a decision expected in the next couple of weeks.

The film does not shoot until next January, but sources close to the situation say the reason for such an early decision has more to do with another Star Wars film currently shooting, rather than the untitled Han Solo pic. While insiders were unable to confirm, the new Solo could have a small cameo in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story before appearing in his own standalone pic.

Rogue One still has a month of shooting to go and is supposed to be set between Episode III and Episode IV, making this new Han Solo age appropriate for an appearance in the film. Disney and Marvel used the same strategy for their new Spider-Man by casting Tom Holland early in order for him to cameo in Captain America: Civil War before appearing in his own film.

With the exception of Eastwood, who’s 29, Disney and Lucasfilm seem to be zeroing in on actors between the ages of 20 to 25. The studios tested actors as young as 17 to as old as 34. The untitled Star Wars pic is set to bow on May 25, 2018.


‘Star Wars’ Han Solo Spinoff: Actor Shortlist Revealed (Exclusive)

Comments: If I had to choose among the eight actors listed for the role, it would be Scott Eastwood, Jack Reynor and Blake Jenner. The others might be too dweebish for Han Solo.

Scott Eastwood is Clint's son for those that don't know. His new western Diablo opened last week. He will next be seen in Suicide Squad.

Despite starring in the horrible Transformers: Age of Extinction, Jack Reynor is a pretty good actor. He was last seen in Macbeth with Michael Fassbender.

Saw him first in The Glee Project, Blake Jenner is one of the rising stars to watch out for. Jenner is also the husband of Supergirl Melissa Benoist. He'll appear next in Richard Linklater's Everybody Wants Some.

Of that list, I'd go with Scott Eastwood. But half of them on there are a giant WTF. No way in hell would I accept some of them as Han Solo. But seriously, where the hell is Anthony Ingruber? I'd take him over all of them any day of the week.

 

[Cool Hand Luke]

so the harrison ford imitator can't act or what?

 

[Loiosh]

so the harrison ford imitator can't act or what?

You've been cast.

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

Chris Pratt would be an awesome Han Solo.

He fits allt he categories perfectly.

 

[Loiosh]

Chris Pratt would be an awesome Han Solo.

He fits allt he categories perfectly.

You're probably right, but Jurassic World really damaged him in my eyes.

Despite his brilliance in GotG.

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

You're probably right, but Jurassic World really damaged him in my eyes.

Despite his brilliance in GotG.

I liked Jurassic zworld and he was one of the best parts of the movie.

You knew what you were gonna get going in. It was never gonna be like Jurassic Park and that first time experience. That's what people wanted but you'll never recapture that again.

Jurassic world is awesome and kinda marketed towards kids. I can see why kids love it. It has dinosaurs. Wh wouldn't they love it?

Chris Pratt would be the best Han solo since Harrison ford. Disney make it happen.

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

You're probably right, but Jurassic World really damaged him in my eyes.

A bit for me as well.

Chris Pratt would be an awesome Han Solo.

He fits allt he categories perfectly.

Pratt was also being considered as the next Indiana Jones.

 

[Loiosh]

Pratt was also being considered as the next Indiana Jones.

Is he no longer?

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Is he no longer?

It all depends on Harrison Ford. There are talks that he wants to continue playing the character in a new sequel. If Harrison won't push through with it, I'm sure the studio will go to plan B which is to reboot it with a new, younger actor. The Pratt talks was nothing serious though.

 

[Loiosh]

It all depends on Harrison Ford. There are talks that he wants to continue playing the character in a new sequel. If Harrison won't push through with it, I'm sure the studio will go to plan B which is to reboot it with a new, younger actor. The Pratt talks was nothing serious though.

I imagine you heard the story about how Pratt scored the GotG role?

Hell, you probably wrote the story.

 

[KILL KILL]

Chris Pratt would be an awesome Han Solo.

He fits allt he categories perfectly.

Star Lord is basically Marvels Han Solo anyway.

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

I imagine you heard the story about how Pratt scored the GotG role?

Hell, you probably wrote the story.

Is this the one where his audition was so good that Gunn was ready to give him the role and Pratt asked to be given 6 months to lose 50 pounds?