Han, ma boo-kee!

 

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We live in a world of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). No longer is a series of progressively shittier and shittier sequels enough (although it looks like the Terminator franchise is still trying…). As with anything in Hollywood, success breeds copycats. (“They made money doing that thing that made sense for them. So we should do that thing too!”) Warner Bros’ DCEU (DC Extended Universe), spinning out of Man of Steel, launches next month with the legal proceeding of Batman v. Superman. And Universal recently cast Tom Cruise as Van Helsing and Johnny Depp as the Invisible Man for their Monsters Universe. Trust me when I say these are all things we will be discussing in the coming weeks/months/years.

Not one to be left behind by their cinematic brethren, Star Wars’ first theatrical spinoff, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, releases in December of this year, with the recently confirmed an as yet Untitled Han Solo, umm, solo movie coming May of 2018. While Rogue One will deal primarily with new characters, Untitled Han Solo is the Han Solo origin story we’ve always wanted (or not). Below, Loren and I take a look at the rumored casting shortlist of those young actors looking to fill the shoes of Harrison Ford.

  • Miles Teller
    • RDT: While a pretty good actor (see Whiplash, don’t see Fant4stic), I just don’t see it. I also get major douche-chills from him.
    • Loren: No.
  • Ansel Elgort
    • RDT: Though I’ve seen The Fault in Our Stars, I’m probably not familiar enough with his other work to say one way or the other, but I will anyway. He’s like a poor man’s Miles Teller. (See above.)
    • Loren: No.
  • Dave Franco
    • RDT: My preferred Franco, but still, meh.
    • Loren: No.
  • Jack Reynor
    • RDT: All I’ve seen of his work is Transformers: Age of Extinction. I have nothing else to say.
    • Loren: No.
  • Scott Eastwood
    • RDT: Son of Clint, I literally haven’t seen a thing he’s been in. (Though if/when they recast Wolverine, based on looks alone, he gets my vote.)
    • Loren: No.
  • Logan Lerman
    • RDT: This kid seems to show up on every genre casting shortlist. I believe he was in the running for at least the last 2 Spider-Man reboots. Anyway, too baby-faced.
    • Loren: No.
  • Emory Cohen
    • RDT: Awful in Smash, but great in Brooklyn. Also, looks super douchey in his official IMDB photo. So…maybe? (But probably not.)
    • Loren: No.
  • Blake Jenner
    • RDT: Oh shit, that’s this guy? I saw him on Glee and Supergirl and he was fine, I guess. Blah.
    • Loren: No.

Literally as I was drafting this post, 2 more (rumored) frontrunners seem to have emerged. (This is the internet, so take it all with a grain of salt.) They are:

  • Taron Egerton
    • RDT: I liked Kingsman. But, yeah, I dunno.
    • Loren: No.
  • Alden Ehrenreich
    • RDT: He’s getting a lot of buzz off of Hail, Caesar playing a character nothing like Han Solo. That’s not to say he couldn’t play Han Solo. I just don’t think he should play Han Solo.
    • Loren: No.
  • How about an unknown???
    • RDT: This may be the best (only) option. I feel like the actors above are bringing too many preconceived notions to the part. Maybe it’s me (and maybe I’ll be wrong), but I don’t see Han in any of them.
    • Loren: No.

Final thoughts:

Loren: The fact of the matter is I don’t want anyone to play a young Han Solo besides young Harrison Ford. We already got all we needed about his backstory from the Original Trilogy. It’s a story that doesn’t need to be told. It’s a bit of a different situation than we had with Young Indiana Jones in Last Crusade and the Chronicles where we have actually seen this character age in real time from a young man to a grizzled veteran and having someone else play him will always feel wrong. But mainly, I think that there are so many other Star Wars Stories we can be told, either using pre-existing characters (Obi-Wan, Bounty Hunters) or completely new characters (Rogue One). I mean I’ll still see it, because it’s Star Wars, but I’ll always hold to it being superfluous and unnecessary.

RDT: Yes.

From Hollywood,

–RDT and Loren

One thought on “Han, ma boo-kee!

  1. I agree with Loren that we got all the Han Solo origin stuff we need from the first trilogy.

    However, I would love to see something about how he met up with Chewie, why they have a blood-bond, and what got him into smuggling in the first place, since I’m assuming even in the Star Wars universe, Han Solo was a promising carpenter in his youth.

    I assume most of these questions have been answered in books and cartoons, but I’m a busy guy and need everything to be presented to me in feature length.

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