“Laugh It Up, Fuzzball”
Reports started to circulate a couple of weeks ago about Harrison Ford returning as Han Solo in JJ Abrams‘ Star Wars VII. My understanding is that this is not idle conjecture and will probably happen but you know Ford — renowned for being a tough negotiator, has to get his price and then some. Naturally the Disney guys are telling everyone to keep their yaps shut.
If I were Ford, who turns 71 on July 13th, I would want to completely eliminate the possibility of anyone claiming he’ll be playing Grandpappy Solo. 70 is the new 60 or even the new 55 if you eat right and take care of yourself, but Ford really has to buff up for this. He has to at least be the guy he was in Cowboy and Aliens — graying but tough and snarly, rugged and sinewy and semi-leather-faced and still able to dodge asteroids. If I were he I would labor mightily through some punishing health and workout routine (and perhaps with some kind of mild cosmetic touch-up, like getting rid of the fucking turkey neck) to pass myself off as a rugged 50something, perhaps even the way Ford looked in in ’08 in that now-completely-discredited Indiana Jones flick.
The fans will want a return of classic Han Solo and the old Millenium Falcon. They’ll want to go right the hell back to 1980, or as much as possible in that direction. They’ll want one last final smirking strut of the once-rascally freelancer in all his Greedo-shooting glory, casually cruising the cosmos in his retro-fitted bucket of bolts. That means not, emphatically not doing any kind of getting-older, slowing-down, “Oh, my aching back” retirement-home version. Don’t even think about that. We’re talking a performance in the vein of Sean Connery in Never Say Never Again.
This thread will reach 60 or so comments by Sunday evening.
“Trust me.”
Ford looks great in the stills for the upcoming ENDER’S GAME. It’s Hamill and Fisher that need to shape up.
“and perhaps with some kind of mild cosmetic touch-up, like getting rid of the fucking turkey neck”
Plastic surgery’s a candy-ass move. Stick with a good diet, exercise, no smoking, not too much booze and then leave it up to luck…I’d rather see Harrison look like Harrison than show up on screen all shiny and smooth like some Steve Wynn-looking dickhead.
REGARDING HENRY SOLO SAYS…
[Unfounded piffle.]
Agree with jery- Ford will bring it. Hamill however is the key to this thing working, and I don’t know if the guy’s got it anymore.
Fisher… She’s a pro, but a space caftan ain’t a slave bikini.
My hope? They realize that you can’t go TOO young in the movies. As noted these people are grandparent ages, so their *children* would be old people by now.
Personally here’s how I envision this working:
- Han and Leia can’t be together, they have to be estranged for a long while
- If they did have kids give them the proverbial twins, son and daughter, but make the twist that the daughter ran off with Han and Chewie to cause trouble in the galaxy while the son grew up with Mom in a position of authority
- Make the son the new bad guy, make the daughter the hero (Star Wars is past due for a female lead)
- Make Luke a mystery. He disappeared after Endor, couldn’t take killing his father, couldn’t hack the thought of restoring the Jedi to the galaxy because all the shit that follows them. Nobody’s seen him decades, he’s a legend, a myth.
- When the son goes bad, Leia’s got to find Han to help find Luke so Luke can train his niece in the ways of the Force… get the gang back together again.
- And dammit, I want BILLY DEE FUCKING WILLIAMS.
Seriously, Ford CAN play this old school, Uncle Festus, “Too old for this shit.” He’s just got to play it like Eastwood in Unforgiven, once more unto the breach, Han and Lando like Eastwood and Freeman (with a gray-haired Chewie with dog-rheumus in tow).
I don’t want the new movies to be all about the old cast, but they can’t just by cameos for one film, either.
Why can’t Han Solo fly the Millennium Falcon AND be hooked up to a colostomy bag?
Hamill has been doing cartoon voices for thirty years, so everything he does now tends to be over the top. He just needs to totally underplay everything and it’ll be cool. Maybe Solo has become a military leader corrupted by power over the years (once a criminal, always a criminal) and is inching towards the dark side and at odds with Luke. At least that would give Ford something to chew on.
Haven’t we reached the point in film yet where they can make a 70 year old actor look 50 with makeup and CG? Not like the Jeff Bridges in Tron2 extreme, but the same techniques?
not that this wouldn’t still suck without trying to work in the original stars, but . . . just make a clean break with the past and start anew
As mentioned above, Ford is playing a military type in Ender’s Game, so he already has a leg up.
Now Billy Dee, on the other hand.
Lucas allegedly told Hamill that if he didn’t want to do it, he’d write him out rather than recast. So these parts will likely be pretty small.
@JLC – Are you saying Lucas is writing these sequels? First I’ve ever heard that – my interest just went down to zero…
And you just know Ford will only be overpaid for a minor cameo.
the stories are always by Lucas. the actual scripting is by Arndt (in the same way that Empire and Raiders were “story by” Lucas and “screenplay by” Kasdan)
I’m really against this idea. I thought Ford looked pretty rough in the fourth Indy movie — and that character is supposed to look rough compared to Solo. One of the overlooked aspects of the original trilogy is just how BAD he comes across in RotJ (and that’s both a discredit to the writing and the performance, IMHO). It’s a total betrayal of character; an emasculation.
In retrospect, he should have been sacrificed in Empire or the opening sequence of Jedi (dragging Fett into the Sarlaac Pit would have made for a much more memorable exit for both of ‘em). But hey — this is a series that at this point couldn’t even bring itself to kill off Lando Calrissian, so what the fuck.
All this new SW flick really needs to do is bring in a hooded Hamill in for a brief-but-unforgettable, Guinness-esque extended cameo. That’s probably easier said than done given the talent discrepancy there, but it’s certainly not impossible. It’s all about the economical writing.
I meant to say, “that’s all the new SW flick needs to do to ground it to the ‘past’.”
Too much of a focus on these older characters is going to be certain death — I would have thought they already learned that lesson ten times over from the prequels.
New adventure. Come on, this is a HUGE universe to work with — that is one of this franchise’s purest strengths, and (ironically) one of its least-utilized.
Like Joe Banks said, when Disney bought Lucasfilm, they also bought George’s outlines for 7-9. Lucas’ conversations with Hamill supposedly happened right before the sale, and Lucas did not tell Hamill he was in negotiations with Disney.
Looking back on the prequels, there are some really good kernels of inspiration there. I think if Lucas had had someone like Kasdan or Kershner to bounce ideas off of, they could have been much better. It was all in the execution. Look at the Clone Wars cartoons on CN. They are getting rave reviews from the same fanboys that hate the prequels, but they take place in the prequel universe.
Hell, Ford had lost the swagger and the cockiness of Han Solo by RETURN OF THE JEDI. Seriously, his is the worst performance in that film … not sure if he was dipping into Carrie Fisher’s bag of tricks at the time, but he was ZONED OUT and clearly just there for the paycheck even then.
Also, I don’t really want to see a crabby, snarly Han Solo in STAR WARS.
Mind blowing: in that SW clip, Alec Guiness was 61 years old when it was filmed, or ten years younger than Ford will be when he eventually steps out in front of the camera for this new SW film.
How the time has passed.
I hope it doesn’t happen. Reminds me of all the hype about Michael Jordan turning 50. Same thing: You had a great run in Star Wars, but it’s over. To go back now would be sad.
it’s a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t job…he’d be crazy to even consider returning to the role…. better to let the fans speculate on what could have been than let them draw the long knives when he fails to deliver….
Actually’s pitch sounds good to me, especially the part about the search for Luke. I agree that if they’re going to bring back the original cast then they must be integral players like Nimoy in Star Trek, and not just appearing for a bedtime story scene.
What I wonder is if they’ll be tempted to find some way, any way, to bring back Neeson or Portman for some kind of appearance to be able for the first time directly tie the trilogies together with actors. I imagine the temptation will be strong to bring back Vader and Yoda for an appearance too.
I could see Han Solo dying in this one.
All the terrible ideas in this thread proves that Lucas should stay the course and IGNORE THE FANS.
The villain is the big question mark with this new trilogy. The prequels had Anakin’s journey to villainy with the emperor always around in the background. The originals had Vader, the most iconic screen villain of all time. What’s this new one going to be about? They’ll need some seriously dynamite actor in a cool-looking costume to carry the burden.
And yeah, the idea of the kids being the central figures does seem a bit odd given the age of the likes of Ford, Fisher, etc. Grandkids would surely be better.
And they’ll need to give Hamill a very loose robe and a great big bushy beard to cover his old man appearance.
Call me a giant interstellar racist, but one of the things I hated about the prequels was seeing all those other species as Jedi. I liked Sam Jackson and Liam Neeson, but when you had those little kid Jedi and those stupid blue-headed aliens as Jedi it devalued their awesome cool a bit. Jedi should just be humans with awesome names.
And someone made the good point somewhere that the robes that have become associated with Jedi actually started out as Tatooine farmers’ clothes. Uncle Owen was wearing them. I guess Lucas forgot and made them the default Jedi clothes in the prequels.
Eloi, the one thing that Hamill has going for him is that his voice and eyes are still pretty recognizable. That’s good, because those are Luke’s two most distinguishing features. If he could get back to the weight he was during the 2005 AFI tribute to Lucas, he wouldn’t be that bad (though more fitness will be required if he’s going to be involved in lightsaber action):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQW-bPVJt7E
“the idea of the kids being the central figures does seem a bit odd given the age of the likes of Ford, Fisher, etc. Grandkids would surely be better.”
Return of the Jedi was 30 years ago. Han and Leia’s oldest child would still be in his or her 20′s.
TimDG: But by the time Episode VII comes out it’ll be almost 40 years since Star Wars, and doesn’t the original trilogy take place over a relatively short period of time? So Luke and Leia are supposed to be in their early 20s even in Return of the Jedi, despite the actors by then being older.
“And someone made the good point somewhere that the robes that have become associated with Jedi actually started out as Tatooine farmers’ clothes. Uncle Owen was wearing them. I guess Lucas forgot and made them the default Jedi clothes in the prequels.”
I’ve heard that, and have never bought it — for the simple reason that it’s a blazing hot, dry, desert planet. Seems kind of stupid for farmers on such a planet to wear as many layers of heavy clothing as possible.
Then again: it would make about as much sense as becoming a water farmer on a blazing hot, dry, desert planet. So maybe you’re right…
“What I wonder is if they’ll be tempted to find some way, any way, to bring back Neeson or Portman for some kind of appearance to be able for the first time directly tie the trilogies together with actors.”
The plan was for Neeson to come back for Episode Three, and he turned Lucas down due to either money and/or disinterest… which is why there’s some horrible Yoda exposition at the end about Qui-Gon Jinn, but nothing more. So I doubt they’ll go there, since they couldn’t even tie Ep One to Ep Three.
“I could see Han Solo dying in this one.”
Of old age?
“But by the time Episode VII comes out it’ll be almost 40 years since Star Wars, and doesn’t the original trilogy take place over a relatively short period of time?”
If I remember, I think the gaps were supposed to be something like one year between Star Wars and Empire, then three years between Empire and Jedi. But who knows — maybe I’m misremembering an old “Starlog” or something.
In any case: don’t think it’s supposed to be very short.
Down the road, I am optimistic about this new direction for Star Wars.
But the first film out of the gate has almost zero chance of meeting expectations. ESPECIALLY once you start bringing back the Original Cast, everyone is going to come to this with very fixed ideas of what they want out of the experience. The movie has to work for longtime Star Wars fans and geeks, the new generation of young people, everyone who was jaded by the prequels, and it has to fold Ford, Fisher and Hamill in logically and in ways they can handle.
JJ succeeded (in some eyes, including mine) with Star Trek, because he got to ditch everything we knew about Star Trek and its actors, with the strategic exception of Spock. He’s not going to have that luxury with Star Wars. This isn’t yet a “reboot.” This is Episode 7, and if you thought Phantom Menace was uber-anticipated, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
And that’s before you get to the touchy point that Abrams might need to consider a Williams to Giacchino hand-off for Episode 7. … One of the top-three reasons all of the Supermans since Christopher Reeve have failed is lack of the Williams score. Just wait until Star Wars tries to survive without John Williams.
Balthazar: Abrams also has two advantages: 1. Expectations are diminished among the hardcore due to the prequels, and 2. People have no idea what the stories are about, whereas they’d imagined the prequel trilogy in their heads for years and the reality didn’t match up to their own imaginations. It’s a completely fresh new set of stories so it’ll have the element of surprise. As long as it’s better than the prequels it’ll be seen as a success.
Williams apparently indicated he’d be keen to return at some concert recently. They should have Giacchino waiting in the wings in case he’s not fit to do them after all.
“This isn’t yet a ‘reboot.’ This is Episode 7, and if you thought Phantom Menace was uber-anticipated, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
I see what you’re saying — with Abrams (arguably) at the peak of his Hollywood cinematic power, and now with (allegedly) two entire “grown-up” generations of SW fans to feed this mighty EP VII beast.
I don’t know, though…I guess I sort of remain unconvinced that it’s a lock to be “bigger.” The hype around PM was massive (MASSIVE!), as a result of a myriad of disparate reasons that seemingly came together almost fatefully (there was Lucas’ long-anticipated return to filmmaking, the amazing trailers, the Internet finally hitting its stride as a movie marketing tool in ’99, the glimpses of that awesomely mysterious villain, what was probably — along with LotR — the very beginning of the peak of the “lining up for a midnight showing of a blockbuster” phenomenon ).
That’s an awful lot to contend with — and it’s still rather gobsmacking to me just how much cash the flick was pulling in when you consider almost everyone I went to college with at the time pretty much hated it (although we had to see it twice, just to be sure).
Looking at the domestic totals now, I see it lags well behind stuff like The Avengers and The Dark Knight (although not on the inflated scale). This is weird to me because it certainly seemed like a much bigger EVENT to me at the time, although perhaps that was just the circles I did (and still do) travel in, I suppose.
In its own way, it seemed like almost as big of a deal when it was released as Avatar, and in my own personal memory probably only behind Titanic and maybe Jurassic Park* in terms of EVERYONE you knew having had seen it (I’m sure E.T. was probably like this, too, but I was really too young to have any sort of larger societal context to put this in).
* The Lion King and Forrest Gump are probably in this conversation in this era, too, maybe even Batman and Independence Day if you want to stretch the overall # in my lifetime to an even 10 (I was also surprised how much Home Alone made relative to T2 — I realize that it was R vs. PG, but if you would have switched those figures, I would have almost found that to be more instinctively believable).
If I remember, I think the gaps were supposed to be something like one year between Star Wars and Empire, then three years between Empire and Jedi. But who knows — maybe I’m misremembering an old “Starlog” or something. – @Mr. F.
It took them 3 years to devise that awful plan to rescue their buddy Han? What a bunch of assholes…
“One of the top-three reasons all of the Supermans since Christopher Reeve have failed is lack of the Williams score.”
Look — I love Williams as much as the next guy, but top-three? Isn’t there a strong case to be made for “the scripts” being reasons #1-3?
Also: one of the sneakier things about the Superman property that doesn’t get mentioned too much outside of the comic-dork circles is just how weak and incredibly shallow that pool of villains is (esp. compared to Spider-man or esp. Batman, the all-time king of this aspect).
It’s a good thing they’re going with Zod this time around — and nailed the casting — because that’s one less uncinematic villain they’ll have to finesse to fit into these flicks (I’m just assuming they’re going to want to save Doomsday for the final installment; I certainly would).
“If I remember, I think the gaps were supposed to be something like one year between Star Wars and Empire, then three years between Empire and Jedi. But who knows — maybe I’m misremembering an old “Starlog” or something. – @Mr. F.
It took them 3 years to devise that awful plan to rescue their buddy Han? What a bunch of assholes…”
Well, Mr. F had it the other way around (close, though!), so it was only one year in that particular instance.
To be fair, though, there was a massive galactic war going on. How long did it take us to kill Bin Laden (nevermind, don’t answer that — I don’t really believe it was 10 years, either…)?
Oh yeah — 3 years, then 1 year. (After all, you have to fit the events of the “Star Wars Holiday Special” in between movies, and that took at least two years’ time…)
I dyslexia my blame.
Just watching the SWHS felt like it took at least two years’ time…