The Next Star Wars Movie Is Going to Be a Trainwreck, and Disney Knows It
Listen, I had hopes for Solo, even if it can't help being the ugly middle child of the new Star Wars franchise. But at this point, the movie has seemed completely doomed for a while now. Consistently good filmmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller were removed from the project and replaced with occasionally good filmmaker Ron Howard. Add to that the fact we've yet to see a minute of footage with just four months until this movie's release. (That's right—this baby is supposed to come out in May!)
Yesterday, the synopsis for Solo: A Star Wars Story dropped in lieu of a long-awaited trailer. There are no surprises. In fact, it doesn't really sound that interesting at all:
Board the Millennium Falcon and journey to a galaxy far, far away in Solo: A Star Wars Story, an all-new adventure with the most beloved scoundrel in the galaxy. Through a series of daring escapades deep within a dark and dangerous criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his mighty future copilot Chewbacca and encounters the notorious gambler Lando Calrissian, in a journey that will set the course of one of the Star Wars saga’s most unlikely heroes.
Sounds dull as hell, and pretty vague for a movie in the can. The synopsis itself betrays a lack of faith in both this movie and its character, and this open-ended description of the movie seems to suggest that, yes, the movie is headed back for more reshoots after already getting four months of them under its belt. The fact we're still not getting anything from Disney about this movie—even a still!—is concerning.
Hey, perhaps it was a bad and incredibly stupid idea in the first place to bank on a movie that recasts Harrison Ford with an unproven actor? Obviously, this anonymous source, who spoke to Screen Geek last month, thinks so:
"[Disney is] essentially writing Solo off. The lead actor, Alden Ehrenreich, can’t act, and they had a dialogue coach on hand for all of his scenes. On top of that, the script is unworkable.
Thank you, anonymous source, for not mincing words. This isn't the first time Ehrenreich's acting has reportedly been an issue. LucasFilm quite publicly hired an acting coach months ago, even before Lord and Miller were removed, to help him hew closer to Harrison Ford's icon. Call me crazy, but maybe banking an entire movie on a twenty-something impersonating an all-timer Harrison Ford performance wasn't a super great idea to begin with.
In any case, Solo: A Star Wars Story marches inexorably toward its May 25, 2018, release date. Alongside Ehrenreich, it will star Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and Donald Glover, all of whom absolutely deserve better than this nonsense.
