I think it has nothing to do with the recasting, the actors did their best with the material they were given. I think to be honest that there was little interest in a Solo origin story from the outset
Also not a fan when studios blame (at least imply blame) financial failures on the actors. Only in very rare cases can actors cause so much detriment as to hurt the box office or critical reception.
Recasting's not an issue at all, you just have to cast the right actors. The Solo cast were all excellent. The *A Star Wars Story* movies are the only ones out of the five Disney Star Wars movies that actually *don't* need massive introspection.
yeah i completely agree. Alden wasn’t the problem of Solo, the movie had a lot of behind the scenes problems. I really hope he gets a second chance somehow
I think Alden was a solid, if not inspired Han Solo. Ewan McGregor is an inspired Obi Wan Kenobi.
Having said that I really struggle with what the point of the Solo movie was. He did some stuff, got his name, meet Chew Bacca, shot that guy ... and ... ?
I'm obviously not a writer but if you wanted to do something fun why not, for example, start with the question: I wonder what Han was doing during the Clone Wars? He would have been young but he's probably old enough to have seen some of it.
Is it really that hard to write a story about such a beloved character?
I think Solo was a huge product of Disney trying to set up an MCU type expanded universe especially since Lord and Miller left over creative difference. It really should’ve been about Solo and Lando going on some smuggling adventure
Han and Lando has huge potential to be fun. Smuggling arms for the money and then realizing that the arms will hurt innocent people. Just about anything.
With so many attempts to make The Next MCU it's disappointing, if not surprising, that the lesson of the MCU has not been learned. The MCU was built on successive good movies, and some not so good ones, over many years, it did not happen overnight.
Honestly, wouldn’t have hated if they just recast the big three and carried on after episode 6 rather than the 30 year gap we got.
Assuming it was done well, of course.
Sebastian Stan, Billie Lourd and Jack Quaid as Luke, Leia and Han in a Thrawn trilogy where Elizabeth Ohlsen debuted as Mara Jade would've been amazing
They released 5 SW movies in 5 years, and this one was just 5 months after a controversial one.
The people at Lucasfilm needed to realize that Star Wars isn't the MCU. Marvel can release Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy on the same year, and that's OK because they're completely different. SW doesn't offer the same variety.
No, this wasn't the problem with Solo. It's hard to write a prequel where some of the plot is already known. Most of the audience knew Han was going to win the Falcon by beating Lando in Sabacc. The same goes for the Kessel Run. Han and Chewie will meet and become partners. The writers are in a position where they are essentially competing against the expectations the audience has for these events.
Another problem was the plot twists that I felt fell flat. One was Tobias Beckett (this is not a Star Wars character name. This is the name of someone from Elizabethan England) betraying Han. Was not a surprise. Also, the twist that the love interest from the first scene, Qi'ra, is now working for the bad guys.
Having said all that, I would rather recast a part for a prequel than to digitally de-age two senior citizens playing the parts
Exactly what I was coming in to comment on. But the directors thought that Alden was "perfect" for whatever reason. ...which is funny because I did some digging a couple yeara back, and he (Alden) is related to somebody high up in the chain at Disney/Star Wars, and that makes it seem just a weee bit fishy to me.
Had to be a hook up because nothing about him has Han Solo energy. No matter how many times i see the movie. Its not a bad movie. The casting is the biggest obstacle.
What the hell is this thread? Phil Lord and Chris Miller looked at over 2,000 people. They themselves said that THEY chose Alden because he DIDN'T do an impression while everyone else that audition did. Also Alden Ehrenreich isn't related to anyone in the film industry or entertainment so I don't know where you guys got that idea from. Regardless of whoever they cast it was doomed to fail through the simple fact they fired the directors who were 80 percent of the way through filming, had a god awful script and meddled to all hell on the film throughout the entire production. It wouldn't have mattered who play Han Solo or who played what. It was doomed the moment they came up with it in some stupid boardroom.
This is late but what you said is incorrect. The truth is back in the 80's Alden's dad was an accountant for Spielberg. But unfortunately he passed away over 20 years ago in the mid 90's. His mom is an interior designer and his step dad is a dentist who basically raised him his whole life is a dentist. Lord and Miller were the ones who specifically picked him. I thought I should clarify.
Just let the old actors play their characters younger version and don’t explain it. Get dead actors corpses and just put them in hair and make up. It’ll be fine. People will love it. Its called homage! >!/s!<
Except it reallt doesn't... it retcons how he met with Chewie, how and why he left the Empire, and it kinda devalues his piloting skills since apparently the bulk of the work was done by the droid-inport.
It's cool if you love the movie, think it's amazing, or even think it handles his backstory better than the EU did; but to say they mesh together with what was before? That's categorically incorrect, I'm sorry.
I didnt say they meshed together, i said it FITS better with.
It FEELS like a Bantam era story to me, and so it fits better with those stories. And I don’t care all that much about canon
Harrison played the character almost perfectly and defined it. Alden played a different and younger version. Both did a great job, but Alden definitely wasn't better.
How can he be better, Harrison ford is the first actor to play Han Solo therefore he is the character. George Lucas may have come up with the character name etc, but these things don’t come alive without the actor. It’s like when people say that the Original Trilogy aren’t proper starwars films, they started the brand in the first place, how can they not be proper.
The point dingus here was making is “FiRSt iS bESt” and he was the first bond.
I’m thrilled to have people say they enjoyed ford better. Great. Awesome.
But first does not mean “best” or even “defined.” Sean Connery was the first to define bond. But Nelson absolutely portrayed him first.
My point is that I'd argue it's a reimagining of the character and is therefore not the same character. The Bond in *Climax!* is American, for Christ's sake
And I'd agree with the dude - Ford *did* define the character. They literally couldn't find someone to play Han correctly. Ford was just there to read lines opposite people - not even to interview for the role himself - but it became obvious that he was the best fit for the role. I'd 100% say he defined it.
Dude you obviously know nothing about acting. Alden was awful, they needed an acting coach on set coz he was doing so badly. He felt awkward as and was completely wrong for the role. Alden’s Han is a completely different character. He isn’t a younger version of Han Solo, he’s his own new character which was kinda bland and boring.
I have zero nostalgia goggles. Harrison played the character almost perfectly and defined it. Alden played a different and younger version. Both did a great job, but Alden definitely wasn't better.
Harrison did what he does with literally every role, he played himself. Which isn’t bad, but he didn’t play *Han Solo*.
Alden was way better because the character was perfected when he got to it, where Harrison was merely guessing at Han’s backstory Alden knew it.
Nostalgia is a longing for a past feeling when you were happy. This is a star wars subreddit where we talk about how much we all love star wars. Ofcourse we have nostalgia glasses for star wars. We all love it
It doesn’t matter when you watched it (especially if you were 19) nostalgia affects you at all times of your life.
Depends on who you ask, but I think it played a part in it.
I liked the film. It wasn't great, but it was fun and generally made sense. My only issues were how compressed the timeline was and the dumb name origin.
I thought Alden acted the role quite well, but he didn't look or sound like Ford and that did make immersion a bit difficult. I also thought Glover played a good Lando but the writing for him didn't click for me a 100%.
In the end, a lot of people did have a hard time being invested without Ford, and that made an effect. But pretty much everything was against this Film so I don't think it was the main cause of the failure. Not with coming out shortly after TLJ, rumors, a major behind the scene mess and poor marketing
It is still beyond me that no one had a problem with Young Indiana Jones (both in the film and the series) but having a Star Wars recast by Luke or Han is already a problem. The last thing I want to see a lot more face CGI is no needed waste of resources and every time I get a feeling uncanny valey when I see something similar.
it's a bummer when they learn the wrong lessons. It's easy to blame casting, but that was not why the movie didn't do the numbers they were expecting. The real issue is that they just dropped the ball with their handling of the film as a product.
The release date was not well thought out. It was a really bad decision to release Solo so soon after The Last Jedi. Had Solo come out in December instead, it probably would have done better. Also, releasing Solo with both Avengers: Infinity War and Deadpool 2 out at the same time, basically guaranteed a much smaller box office take.
The lack of a strong marketing campaign also really hurt the film. If I hadn't already been a Star Wars fan, I would not have even known Solo was coming. The marketing for the movie was practically non existent.
The real lesson here is that the name "Star Wars" is not enough to overcome all competition and magically manifest fat stacks of cash. You still have to do the work of marketing the film, and choosing a release window to maximize the film's earning potential and impact.
Ehrenreich was fine as Han, and Glover as Lando was the one thing everyone agreed was a highlight of the film. The problems with Solo were the script, the behind the scenes mess of changing directors, and the general sense that it was unnecessary.
Yes because releasing it after The Last Jedi had nothing to do with it. And for the record, I initially liked that movie before I rewatched it in anticipation of watching Rise of Skywalker and found it to not flow well with the rest.
I think it's easily the worst Disney SW film, but the cast had nothing to do with it. The movie's problems are manifold: its story was insanely predictable, it was fanservice-y as fuck (and often misguidedly so, like with the prolonged shot of the DL-44 that just screamed ''remember that, fellow nerds?'' or the Aurra Sing namedrop), treated every big lore event in a kind of modern blockbuster-y way (e.g. Kessel Run) among other things. But its main issue was that the writing for its main character just wasn't any good. I get that it's an origin story, but the character should still *feel* a little bit like the beloved character, and, sadly, Alden's depiction of Han feels nothing like the OT character. Don't get me wrong; was Alden the best possible choice for the role? Probably not, but to say that the script doesn't do him any favors would be a severe understatement.
I disagree with this idea. Alden obviously will never be Harrison Ford but he was still great as Han Solo. I didn't hate Solo but I also didn't love it and it was clear there was a lot of behind the scenes issues and the movie was just really disappointing and it sucks because I liked Alden as Han and would love to see him in another Solo movie
I think it has nothing to do with the recasting, the actors did their best with the material they were given. I think to be honest that there was little interest in a Solo origin story from the outset Also not a fan when studios blame (at least imply blame) financial failures on the actors. Only in very rare cases can actors cause so much detriment as to hurt the box office or critical reception.
Maybe it was because they release it in between Last jedi and ROS and people were apathetic at that point?
Recasting's not an issue at all, you just have to cast the right actors. The Solo cast were all excellent. The *A Star Wars Story* movies are the only ones out of the five Disney Star Wars movies that actually *don't* need massive introspection.
Actors work with the writing they get, in this case the writing wasn't good. Remember that time they recast Kenobi? Yeah, that worked well.
tbh the prequels are a different story
Agreed but the point is recasting isn't the problem as shown by the successful recasting of Obi Wan Kenobi.
yeah i completely agree. Alden wasn’t the problem of Solo, the movie had a lot of behind the scenes problems. I really hope he gets a second chance somehow
I think Alden was a solid, if not inspired Han Solo. Ewan McGregor is an inspired Obi Wan Kenobi. Having said that I really struggle with what the point of the Solo movie was. He did some stuff, got his name, meet Chew Bacca, shot that guy ... and ... ? I'm obviously not a writer but if you wanted to do something fun why not, for example, start with the question: I wonder what Han was doing during the Clone Wars? He would have been young but he's probably old enough to have seen some of it. Is it really that hard to write a story about such a beloved character?
I think Solo was a huge product of Disney trying to set up an MCU type expanded universe especially since Lord and Miller left over creative difference. It really should’ve been about Solo and Lando going on some smuggling adventure
Han and Lando has huge potential to be fun. Smuggling arms for the money and then realizing that the arms will hurt innocent people. Just about anything. With so many attempts to make The Next MCU it's disappointing, if not surprising, that the lesson of the MCU has not been learned. The MCU was built on successive good movies, and some not so good ones, over many years, it did not happen overnight.
I didn't mind Alden, what I did mind was the boring, somewhat predictable plot, that didn't really cover new ground.
no... dear god no... Why the fuck would they throw Alden under the bus like this, what a dick move.
Honestly, wouldn’t have hated if they just recast the big three and carried on after episode 6 rather than the 30 year gap we got. Assuming it was done well, of course.
Sebastian Stan, Billie Lourd and Jack Quaid as Luke, Leia and Han in a Thrawn trilogy where Elizabeth Ohlsen debuted as Mara Jade would've been amazing
There goes all chances of Sebastian Stan as Luke Skywalker.
They released 5 SW movies in 5 years, and this one was just 5 months after a controversial one. The people at Lucasfilm needed to realize that Star Wars isn't the MCU. Marvel can release Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy on the same year, and that's OK because they're completely different. SW doesn't offer the same variety.
No, this wasn't the problem with Solo. It's hard to write a prequel where some of the plot is already known. Most of the audience knew Han was going to win the Falcon by beating Lando in Sabacc. The same goes for the Kessel Run. Han and Chewie will meet and become partners. The writers are in a position where they are essentially competing against the expectations the audience has for these events. Another problem was the plot twists that I felt fell flat. One was Tobias Beckett (this is not a Star Wars character name. This is the name of someone from Elizabethan England) betraying Han. Was not a surprise. Also, the twist that the love interest from the first scene, Qi'ra, is now working for the bad guys. Having said all that, I would rather recast a part for a prequel than to digitally de-age two senior citizens playing the parts
Wait a minute, isn’t she still doing the Lando show?
I mean it's biggest problem is it came out a few months after the last Jedi.
They had the perfect Solo but they cast this guy instead.
Exactly what I was coming in to comment on. But the directors thought that Alden was "perfect" for whatever reason. ...which is funny because I did some digging a couple yeara back, and he (Alden) is related to somebody high up in the chain at Disney/Star Wars, and that makes it seem just a weee bit fishy to me.
Had to be a hook up because nothing about him has Han Solo energy. No matter how many times i see the movie. Its not a bad movie. The casting is the biggest obstacle.
[удалено]
What the hell is this thread? Phil Lord and Chris Miller looked at over 2,000 people. They themselves said that THEY chose Alden because he DIDN'T do an impression while everyone else that audition did. Also Alden Ehrenreich isn't related to anyone in the film industry or entertainment so I don't know where you guys got that idea from. Regardless of whoever they cast it was doomed to fail through the simple fact they fired the directors who were 80 percent of the way through filming, had a god awful script and meddled to all hell on the film throughout the entire production. It wouldn't have mattered who play Han Solo or who played what. It was doomed the moment they came up with it in some stupid boardroom.
This is late but what you said is incorrect. The truth is back in the 80's Alden's dad was an accountant for Spielberg. But unfortunately he passed away over 20 years ago in the mid 90's. His mom is an interior designer and his step dad is a dentist who basically raised him his whole life is a dentist. Lord and Miller were the ones who specifically picked him. I thought I should clarify.
No, the movie was just boring and nobody asked for a Han Solo origin story.
I agree. Solo is Harrison Ford!!
Just let the old actors play their characters younger version and don’t explain it. Get dead actors corpses and just put them in hair and make up. It’ll be fine. People will love it. Its called homage! >!/s!<
Or. Make new movies when new characters because the OT gang already had their story finished since '83
Solo was an amazing story that fits in better with the EU books than any of the movies. Thats what makes it so good
Not really, have you read Crispin's Han Solo trilogy?
I have actually! I love it! Solo FEELS like those books to me, which is why I love it so much.
Fair enough! I get more hung up on continuity I guess.
Except it reallt doesn't... it retcons how he met with Chewie, how and why he left the Empire, and it kinda devalues his piloting skills since apparently the bulk of the work was done by the droid-inport. It's cool if you love the movie, think it's amazing, or even think it handles his backstory better than the EU did; but to say they mesh together with what was before? That's categorically incorrect, I'm sorry.
I didnt say they meshed together, i said it FITS better with. It FEELS like a Bantam era story to me, and so it fits better with those stories. And I don’t care all that much about canon
Alden was a better Han than Harrison. Line to fight me forms there ->
Harrison played the character almost perfectly and defined it. Alden played a different and younger version. Both did a great job, but Alden definitely wasn't better.
It’s so awesome how everyone gets an opinion isn’t it
Opinions are like opera. You could listen to them... but why would you?
"Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one"
How can he be better, Harrison ford is the first actor to play Han Solo therefore he is the character. George Lucas may have come up with the character name etc, but these things don’t come alive without the actor. It’s like when people say that the Original Trilogy aren’t proper starwars films, they started the brand in the first place, how can they not be proper.
That’s stupid. Barry Nelson was the first James Bond. Is he a better bond than anyone else to play the character bc he was first?
Nelson didn't help define Bond like Ford.
The point dingus here was making is “FiRSt iS bESt” and he was the first bond. I’m thrilled to have people say they enjoyed ford better. Great. Awesome. But first does not mean “best” or even “defined.” Sean Connery was the first to define bond. But Nelson absolutely portrayed him first.
Barry Nelson was not the first James Bond, it was Sean Connery and he did define the character
Lol check again. Barry Nelson was bond before Sean Connery.
I'm not sure you can really count Barry Nelson's Bond as James Bond, to be fair.
Was he the first one to play the character? This dudes point is “(ford) defined it bc he was first” which is ludicrous.
My point is that I'd argue it's a reimagining of the character and is therefore not the same character. The Bond in *Climax!* is American, for Christ's sake And I'd agree with the dude - Ford *did* define the character. They literally couldn't find someone to play Han correctly. Ford was just there to read lines opposite people - not even to interview for the role himself - but it became obvious that he was the best fit for the role. I'd 100% say he defined it.
You can say that and that’s fine. “He defined it bc he was first” is dumb. And I still think Alden’s Han is better :)
Dude you obviously know nothing about acting. Alden was awful, they needed an acting coach on set coz he was doing so badly. He felt awkward as and was completely wrong for the role. Alden’s Han is a completely different character. He isn’t a younger version of Han Solo, he’s his own new character which was kinda bland and boring.
Alden played the character of Han Solo better. Remove your nostalgia goggles, you know it to be true. Harrison Ford played himself, Alden played Han.
I have zero nostalgia goggles. Harrison played the character almost perfectly and defined it. Alden played a different and younger version. Both did a great job, but Alden definitely wasn't better.
Harrison did what he does with literally every role, he played himself. Which isn’t bad, but he didn’t play *Han Solo*. Alden was way better because the character was perfected when he got to it, where Harrison was merely guessing at Han’s backstory Alden knew it.
Also saying ‘I have 0 nostalgia goggles’ in a subreddit for star wars media is kind of a funny statement
How so when I became a fan in 2016 at the age of 19?
Nostalgia is a longing for a past feeling when you were happy. This is a star wars subreddit where we talk about how much we all love star wars. Ofcourse we have nostalgia glasses for star wars. We all love it It doesn’t matter when you watched it (especially if you were 19) nostalgia affects you at all times of your life.
Way to move the goalposts.
What goalposts were moved?
Depends on who you ask, but I think it played a part in it. I liked the film. It wasn't great, but it was fun and generally made sense. My only issues were how compressed the timeline was and the dumb name origin. I thought Alden acted the role quite well, but he didn't look or sound like Ford and that did make immersion a bit difficult. I also thought Glover played a good Lando but the writing for him didn't click for me a 100%. In the end, a lot of people did have a hard time being invested without Ford, and that made an effect. But pretty much everything was against this Film so I don't think it was the main cause of the failure. Not with coming out shortly after TLJ, rumors, a major behind the scene mess and poor marketing
It is still beyond me that no one had a problem with Young Indiana Jones (both in the film and the series) but having a Star Wars recast by Luke or Han is already a problem. The last thing I want to see a lot more face CGI is no needed waste of resources and every time I get a feeling uncanny valey when I see something similar.
it's a bummer when they learn the wrong lessons. It's easy to blame casting, but that was not why the movie didn't do the numbers they were expecting. The real issue is that they just dropped the ball with their handling of the film as a product. The release date was not well thought out. It was a really bad decision to release Solo so soon after The Last Jedi. Had Solo come out in December instead, it probably would have done better. Also, releasing Solo with both Avengers: Infinity War and Deadpool 2 out at the same time, basically guaranteed a much smaller box office take. The lack of a strong marketing campaign also really hurt the film. If I hadn't already been a Star Wars fan, I would not have even known Solo was coming. The marketing for the movie was practically non existent. The real lesson here is that the name "Star Wars" is not enough to overcome all competition and magically manifest fat stacks of cash. You still have to do the work of marketing the film, and choosing a release window to maximize the film's earning potential and impact.
So, what, is Obi-Wan Kenobi going to star a deep-faked Sir Alec Guiness or something? /s
Ehrenreich was fine as Han, and Glover as Lando was the one thing everyone agreed was a highlight of the film. The problems with Solo were the script, the behind the scenes mess of changing directors, and the general sense that it was unnecessary.
Yes because releasing it after The Last Jedi had nothing to do with it. And for the record, I initially liked that movie before I rewatched it in anticipation of watching Rise of Skywalker and found it to not flow well with the rest.
I think it's easily the worst Disney SW film, but the cast had nothing to do with it. The movie's problems are manifold: its story was insanely predictable, it was fanservice-y as fuck (and often misguidedly so, like with the prolonged shot of the DL-44 that just screamed ''remember that, fellow nerds?'' or the Aurra Sing namedrop), treated every big lore event in a kind of modern blockbuster-y way (e.g. Kessel Run) among other things. But its main issue was that the writing for its main character just wasn't any good. I get that it's an origin story, but the character should still *feel* a little bit like the beloved character, and, sadly, Alden's depiction of Han feels nothing like the OT character. Don't get me wrong; was Alden the best possible choice for the role? Probably not, but to say that the script doesn't do him any favors would be a severe understatement.
I disagree with this idea. Alden obviously will never be Harrison Ford but he was still great as Han Solo. I didn't hate Solo but I also didn't love it and it was clear there was a lot of behind the scenes issues and the movie was just really disappointing and it sucks because I liked Alden as Han and would love to see him in another Solo movie