George Lucas Gives Solo: A Star Wars Story His Seal of Approval

CBR

By Nicholas Friedman

Published May 20, 2018

George Lucas has a good feeling about Solo: A Star Wars Story, according to director Ron Howard.

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George Lucas has a good feeling about Solo: A Star Wars Story, according to director Ron Howard.

In an interview with ComicBook Howard said Lucas has been very supportive of the film and its exploration of a younger Han Solo, despite his lesser involvement with Lucasfilm these days.

"He doesn't get down in the weeds on the movies anymore," Howard said. "He did come by and visit the set, which is a pretty rare thing, but he did it as a show of support which was really cool. And he was really complimentary. But he was also really confident when I came in that I would get the feel of it and understand how to maximize the entertainment value of these characters and this world."

Lucasfilm was purchased by Disney in 2012, but Lucas said Solo had been in the works for a while. Lucas even brought Star Wars scribe Lawrence Kasdan onto the project.

"George and [Kathleen Kennedy] had decided that, as the company went on without George, and Kathy would run it, that part of what they were going to do was continue the Star Wars movies, and they had an idea for a bunch of 'em," Kasdan said. "When they called me up there, I said, 'I don't know if I'm up for a fourth Star Wars movie,' and they said, 'Well, what if it was Han?'

That seemed to seal the deal, and Solo entered active development. After the departure of the film's original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, Howard stepped in to finish the project. Howard and Lucas had been working together for a while, with Howard starring in Lucas' 1973 hit American Graffiti.

Solo releases this Friday and is set to take the box office by storm. The movie currently sits at a 71 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. In its review, CBR said "Solo isn’t the scrappy come-from-behind victory story Han fans have been anxiously hoping for. It’s not quite as bad as the rumors and the changes made us fear, but that’s not a high hurdle to jump."

Opening May 25 nationwide, director Ron Howard’s Solo: A Star Wars Story stars Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo, Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, Emilia Clarke as Qi’ra and Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca. They’re joined by Thandie Newton as Val, Phoebe Waller-Bridge L3-37, Paul Bettany as Dryden Vos, and Woody Harrelson as Tobias Beckett.