Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Today’s first The Force Awakens story from Entertainment Weekly’s Fall Preview is all about Han Solo. Err, Harrison Ford’s return to the role. It’s a nice piece – the bit about Ford’s reunion with Peter Mayhew is very sweet – and there’s at least one laugh-out-loud transition, but the news here is slim. (At least, if you watched the SDCC panel.)
But later, we’re getting something on the Han Anthology film… Though Lawrence Kasdan does talk about the script like it’s already done!
We haven’t had any official updates on Rogue One lately – even though they presumably started filming last week – but fandom is pretty sure that The Mirror has pics from the filming. They think it’s The Force Awakens, but those are pretty clearly original trilogy stormtroopers…
Jonathan Aris (Sherlock, The Game) has a part in Rogue One, the BBC’s Lizo Mzimba reported today. Aris will be playing Senator Jebel, according to his page on Spotlight. (The Rogue One listing has since been removed.)
Yup, a little more board-clearing ahead of the big con. Hey, how about that Han Solo thing? Didja get all the fancasting out of your system? Please be sure you have all that fancasting out of your system, make sure your snark detector is in the upright and locked position, and… Go.
The second Anthology film will feature a young Han Solo film, and The LEGO Movie’s Christopher Miller and Phil Lord are at the helm, StarWars.com announced today.
The screenplay, by Lawrence and Jon Kasdan, focuses on how Han Solo became “the smuggler, thief, and scoundrel whom Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi first encountered in the cantina.” The film is set for a May 25, 2018 release.
I’d say to gird yourself for the casting speculation, but we already know how that goes…
According to The Hollywood Reporter, which broke the news just before LFL did, the Han Solo film is not the one that Josh Trank was working on, though obviously it’s occupying the same slot now. That film was rumored (though never confirmed) to be about Boba Fett.
That’s what Making Star Wars has heard, anyway. Not sure we’ll get any big splash on it officially, due to the Mission Impossible situation, but here’s hoping.
Actor Forest Whitaker is “in negotiations” to join Rogue One, Variety reports today. The trade isn’t sure of his role just yet.
An Oscar winner for 2006’s The Last King of Scotland, Whitaker would be the biggest name to join the film thus far. Felicity Jones is still the only confirmed cast member, but solid reports also place Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Sam Claflin and Ben Mendelsohn in the ensemble.
Today was a good day for Anthology rumors. First up, apparently director Michelle MacLaren took a meeting on the second spin-off. MacLaren was most recently in the news for departing the Wonder Woman film, but her directing credits include episodes of Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad.
As for Rogue One, JoBlo has a few bullet points, most of which we’ve already been told or can guess at, but consider it a double-down on a few things.
In the L.A. Times, director Josh Trank addresses why he dropped out of the second Star Wars Anthology film.
“I want to do something original after [Fantastic Four] because I’ve been living under public scrutiny, as you’ve seen, for the last four years of my life,” he said. “And it’s not healthy for me right now in my life. I want to do something that’s below the radar.”
“I have a great relationship with everyone at Lucasfilm and with Kari Hart,” he continued. “And they all understood it because this whole experience for me has been very psychologically hard.”
Simon Kinberg, also present at the interview, called the rumors that followed Trank’s departure “particularly cruel.”
Neil deGrasse Tyson has replied to Chris Weitz’s Rogue One science query. Of course, then they took it to private, so all we know is: SCIENCE!