Han Solo Anthology Film - "Solo: A Star Wars Story"*

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Encuentro, Nov 18, 2016.

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  1. Grunge Master

    Grunge Master 8 Bit Enthusiast

    Location:
    Michigan
    I'm am an absolutely, unashamedly Star Wars fanboy; I have been for 37 years. Having said that, I'm going to say that I hate the idea of a SW movie coming out every year, and I'm pretty sure that Disney is going to run the franchise into the ground. Say what you will about the prequels (which I didn't like, save for the last half hour of Sith), at least Lucas took some chances. Disney wants the same old cookie cutter stuff; that's understandable for most things, as you're trying to make a profit. Star Wars was built on taking chances (at least it felt that way), and now we're going to be stuck with crud every year. I really hope that I'm wrong!
     
  2. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Doh, this evolving story continues to get messier and messier:

    Does 'Star Wars' Need to Be Saved from Lucasfilm? (Commentary)


    Han Solo Film Firing May Force Directors Guild to Make Tough Choices

    Note that IMDB has already removed the director's names from the "Untitled Han Solo Project" film.

    These are all good questions. My guess is that Disney/Lucasfilm is a union signatory so they have to abide by the DGA rules, regardless of what they want to do or what the directors' contract with the studio says. Now it could be that if the directors pull their name off the film, they get less money. But they do have to be paid the agreed-upon basic rate and they do get to choose a fake name in their place. There's also strict rules about film producers stepping in and taking the director's job, which is not allowed.

    And today, rumors are running rampant that Ron Howard may take over the film as the new director. I find this bizarre, but given that he's had a few bombs in the past few years, maybe he'd like to make a huge profitable mass-market blockbuster for a change...

    Ron Howard Top Choice To Take Over Han Solo Film?
     
    Last edited: Jun 21, 2017
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  3. mikeyt

    mikeyt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    I asked a buddy of mine who works at Disney theatrical if knew anything and he never replied. :laugh: Though I find it interesting that the directors were fired with three weeks left of photography, that's likely not enough scenes to save or significantly change a movie unless they plan on combining these with massive reshoots. I feel like they're going to do something like that and try to salvage what they can in post, with Kennedy and Kasdan closely overseeing the edits. The directors must have come out of the production hiatus agreeing to compromise some and then went their own way. A mess indeed.
     
  4. dprokopy

    dprokopy Senior Member

    Location:
    Near Seattle, WA
    No offense to Messrs. Lord and Miller, but when it comes to the character of Han Solo, I'd always side with Lawrence Kasdan.
     
  5. Johnny Rocker

    Johnny Rocker Well-Known Member

    Location:
    DFW
    :biglaugh:
     
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  6. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Dammit! Dammit dammit dammit! You beat me to it! :bdance:

    It's probably more a matter of, "Who's free at short notice and capable of taking on a technically complicated flick like this."

    Of course, Ron Howard is free for a reason...
     
  7. Johnny Rocker

    Johnny Rocker Well-Known Member

    Location:
    DFW
    Shes is smokin' hot, I wonder how she would look in a purple wig?[​IMG] Yahhhhh, that's the good sci-fi stuff!:cool::D
     
  8. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Well, he has a number of positive points:

    • he's available
    • he's a known quantity
    • he's done very high-budget movies and not screwed them up
    • he's a well-respected person in the business
    • he's been around long enough to know not to have temper tantrums and disputes when the clock is running.

    I have never in my life heard a bad story about Ron Howard, and while I don't think he's a pushover, as far as I know he's a hard-working guy who gets the job done. I don't always like his films, but he's made some terrific movies in the past; I'm a big fan of Apollo 13.

    BTW, when Lucas was finishing up the script on Star Wars I: Phantom Menace, Ron Howard was one of the first people he called that he asked to consider directing it. Howard turned him down (as did several others), which is what led to Lucas directing it himself. In hindsight, I think Howard would have done a much better job, but that's only my opinion.
     
  9. Encuentro

    Encuentro Forum Resident Thread Starter

    What could have been.
     
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  10. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Bigly. (Also thought Apollo 13 was pretty good.)
     
  11. Jason Manley

    Jason Manley Senior Member

    Location:
    O-H-I-O
    Side note: I wonder if this will hinder Disney's ability to draw in top talent to direct these seemingly endless stream of Star Wars films that we will be getting for the coming years? Particularly the 'anthology' films. It might cause a filmmaker to pump the brakes a bit on accepting a chance to direct one of these knowing they will have a very "involved" production team.

    I still can't get over the fact that this thing has been filming since like what, February?
     
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  12. Deesky

    Deesky Forum Resident

    They're just following in the latter-day footsteps of Trek with TOS!
     
  13. Purple Jim

    Purple Jim Senior Member

    Location:
    Bretagne
    My feelings too. I do like the three prequels but the last two Star Wars movies did nothing for me at all. Perhaps the return of Luke will bring some interest but Mark Hamill isn't charismatic so it could fall flat. Maybe a good dose of self parody might get him through. The young heroins of the last two films are pretty but pretty bland. As for this Hans Solo themed movie, it sounds like a good idea as that character and Harrison Ford's portrayal of him is what made the first trilogy so great. Difficult to see how a new actor to the role could follow that. Ryan Reynolds could have pulled it off maybe.
     
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  14. The Hermit

    The Hermit Wavin' that magick glowstick since 1976

    I always thought Joe Johnston should have directed The Phantom Menace... was he asked, I wonder? The trouble is any potential director knew implicitly who was running the show on those films had they taken the job, and that's probably why they turned it down... the late Richard Marquand once quipped that directing Return of the Jedi was like "trying to direct King Lear with Shakespeare in the same room"... ba-ba-boom!!!

    Hang on a mo'... they've been filming since January, had a lengthy hiatus since May, had a mere three weeks left to shoot, with a release date in less than a year... and only NOW they've decided to give the directors' the boot!!??? Hooray for Hollywood :rolleyes:...
     
  15. daca

    daca Currently on Double Secret Probation

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    Understatement of the Star Wars franchise. I think you or I could have done a better job than Lucas. I think anybody could have done a better job than Lucas.

    I am glad that Howard turned it down then, and I hope he turns down the Han Solo movie as well.
     
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  16. kouzie

    kouzie Forum Resident

    Location:
    Batavia, IL
  17. inaptitude

    inaptitude Forum Resident

    I am not a Ron Howard fan at all so this does not bode well for me.
     
  18. bferr1

    bferr1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA
    I'm okay with this development because Ron Howard and George Lucas go way back, so I'm sure he'll be a better fit for Star Wars than those frenetic Lego maniacs.
     
  19. supermd

    supermd Senior Member

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    Seems like, from the comments made about the previous directors' departure, this is a Kennedy/Kasdan film. I don't think any director who takes over at this point is going to shape it into his/her own film.

    This sure has been an interesting view into Lucasfilm.
     
  20. Solaris

    Solaris a bullet in flight

    Location:
    New Orleans, LA
    That film was going to turn out badly no matter what. The script was rotten, and the whole thing was so much under Lucas' thumb that no director short of maybe Spielberg could have improved the raw material.

    When I saw Ron Howard had signed on to finish this, my first thought was, "They needed to get a seasoned pro in there to wrap this thing up with as little fuss as possible." Makes perfect sense to me. Do I think the film is going to be any good? Not really, but they're doing what they need to do to get this film done.
     
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  21. Exit Flagger

    Exit Flagger Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    Amused to see comments on articles in places like the Hollywood Reporter from fans who want to see Kathleen Kennedy, Lawrence Kasdan and, now, Ron Howard fired because they directly or indirectly insulted the talents of the guys who made Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.
     
  22. balzac

    balzac Senior Member

    Using Ron Howard makes total sense for the modus operandi for Lucasfilm, which is to make these films by committee and outside of anything close to the "auteur" mode of making films.

    Ron Howard's going to be the fixer and just do what Kennedy wants done and make sure everything is tidy and goes smoothly. It's all certainly not going to help the continued feeling/criticism that these Star Wars films are kind of soulless products made by committee.

    There are some interesting articles about how the DGA is going to handle how to credit the director for this film. Interesting in that nobody seems to know how the films will be credited, and what sort of residuals will be due to which parties.

    The film should just be credited as "Directed by Lucasfilm." I know they can't do that for all sorts of reasons and never would.

    I'm curious if Lucasfilm tried to pitch these two young directors the same deal the did to Gareth Edwards, which was to largely cede control of the film but keep his name on it, which would save face for both sides. Maybe they pitched this and the two guys turned it down. But at the same time, it appears they were *fired* from the film and it also appears as of right now that they're *not* asking for their names to be taken off, which I'm sure would make the whole DGA issue much easier for Lucasfilm.
     
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  23. andrewskyDE

    andrewskyDE Island Owner

    Location:
    Europe
    Yesterday I saw comments people were scared if Ron Howard would work for the Han Solo film and now I just read the news he indeed will be the director of it. :help: ;)
    [Edit:] Glad to see beautiful Emilia Clarke being part of the project. :love:
     
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  24. balzac

    balzac Senior Member

    Well, if you think having "Cloudy..." on one's resume is an embarrassing item that calls into question whether that person should direct a Star Wars film, then a lot of this is on Kennedy for hiring the guys in the first place. And Lucasfilm and Kennedy certainly should have someone asking them plenty of questions concerning how they let things get so far along before catching the problem. I don't see any reason to fire them, because the machine to churn out product will be there with or without them.

    There was an interesting article in one of the trade papers back, I believe, around the time of the Gareth Edwards/Rogue One re-shoot debacle, and it was quite interesting in going into why studios often aren't being brave and progressive by picking young guys with few films on their resume to helm large films like "Jurassic World" or "Rogue One"; they're doing it by necessity because the "big" directors often won't go anywhere near big blockbuster/franchise films, and also because those directors are *way* more expensive.
     
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  25. Juan Matus

    Juan Matus Reformed Audiophile

    Is it going to end up being an Alan Smythe film?
     
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