Kathleen Kennedy says they learned from ‘SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY’ getting new actors to replicate any of the OG characters is near impossible

[Ambient80]

Maybe they should leave the old cast and characters behind and make some new ones? I mean, there's *literally* an entire galaxy in this story.

Nah, who am I kidding, that'll never happen. [cuts another trailer fading to black with Vader breathing in the background]

 

[DiipuSurotu]

I really hope what she means is that they will move away from using the old characters altogether if the original actor/actress has passed or is not the right age for the role anymore.

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Book of Boba Fett has already shown they won't. Young Luke was played by a body double and his lines used synthesized speech.

 

[Biske]

Maybe just tell new god damn stories

 

[CupOfDoom]

Sure Alden wasn't amazing as Han but, the movie's premise was so bad. We didn't need backstory for every throw away line and every piece of set dressing from the OT. Like, even Harrison Ford in his prime was not going to make that movie good.

 

[Jedi2016]

That's... not why that movie got panned.

If it's just a one-off cameo or whatever, fine. But I'm in the group that believes that if you're going to do a bunch of appearances or a whole show based on a OT character, just recast it. Go for someone that can both look and act the part, and go from there. I'd much rather see that than a CGI Luke Skywalker for the next ten damn years.

 

[ryan299]

Movie just wasn't needed. No one asked for It and that was the big thing. Ewen as young Obi Wan wasn't an issue. Sebastian Stan as Luke wouldn't have been poorly received if the show or movie was good.

 

[WrenchNinja]

Solo was garbage and this is the wrong lesson.

 

[Quinton]

I'm bummed she went out of her way to phrase it like this. Really diminishes my hopes that we see some sort of TV continuation.

 

[Chumunga64]

yeah Kathleen, the actor was the problem and not the dogshit movie telling the origin story nobody asked fore

 

[Tavernade]

That phrasing is bad but I get it. Like, if this was a Solo movie starring Harrison Ford I think it would have done great (the plot would have had to change, obviously). A lot of character appeal is from the actors, so just doing other stuff with them isn't going to have the same level of interest. It might have done well as it stood if it was released right after TFA too, but a prequel with a different case answering questions no one had wasn't a great bet.

I'm really curious what their end game is with CGI Luke. The more they use him the more I think they have big plans but, like, I'm not sure how scalable that is. Feels like it'd be easier if they got a show out that was set when Kylo was young, they could just have Mark then with some de-aging tech.

(For the record I adore Solo and would have loved a sequel)

 

[AaronD]

I think we should bring back Dirk Richter. Kids will want to see the original Radioactive Man.

 

[El Bombastico]

I think we should bring back Dirk Richter. Kids will want to see the original Radioactive Man.

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This joke isn't funny anymore now that DeepFakes exist.

 

[ZeroX]

Solo was decent

Darth Maul when (without watching a cartoon)

 

[Gustaf]

Solo was decent

Darth Maul when (without watching a cartoon)

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next week

 

[ZeroX]

next week

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Didn't he get cut

 

[Wubby]

it was following the TLJ trainwreck.

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This and not releasing in December are really what did the movie in.

Personally I thought it was great! I agree with the others that said Rogue One and this are the best two of the Disney era SW films.

 

[ArkkAngel007]

Didn't he get cut

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Not even cut. He wasn't a part of the show at all. There may have been something in the script for when Kenobi was going to be a film, but that's it.

 

[Snake Eater]

I feel bad for the actor, to be the younger version of one of the most charismatic Hollywood stars of all time was just set up for massive disappointment

 

[Fj0823]

I fucking hate that CHUDS poisoned the well in regards to criticizing Kennedy. I'm as fucking sick of the awful "She's about to be FIRED for making Woke Star Wars!" videos as any.

But if there's something to say about her is that she's extremely reactionary to whatever the internet says. And that just keeps backfiring, she is not handling that well, at all.

 

[FlaygletheBagel]

The SW universe seems rife with storytelling opportunity but they can't seem to write anything that isn't banking on nostalgia or mining the same OT/PT characters that have been explored ad nauseum a billion times over.

If they're really looking at that movie and reducing the problem down to recasting old characters as new actors then they've got the wrong takeaway.

 

[Ushojax]

It wasn't the actor that doomed the movie, there just weren't enough people who cared about a Han Solo prequel. We already got the complete Han Solo story and didn't need more. It doesn't matter who was playing him, there was nothing new to show us. If Solo had starred Deepfake Ford it would still have bombed.

Just move onto new characters already, how does Lucasfilm not get this?

 

[TheRed]

Solo was pretty good and I liked Han though, better than Lando actually.

 

[Hound]

Imagine getting paid millions of dollars to keep taking away the wrong lessons from your fuckups.

The casting was fine to great (Lando was excellent), the movie overall was really good. The problem is nobody wanted an origin story for Han Solo.

 

[DemonCarnotaur]

recasting a character like Han Solo is a lose/lose, but they could have done a better job there, and likewise this feels like the wrong message to take away to a degree

 

[Surakian]

Maybe make focus on new characters. I feel like Visions and that book series during the High Republic or even stuff like the Mandalorian when it focuses on Din or the animated shows prove people like when they do fresh things with fresh, new characters.

 

[Saifu]

They did Alden dirty, fuck this shit.

 

[Abaddonn]

Maybe just don't give us movies about stuff no one asked for or showed any interest in? I did not need to know anything about Han Solo before we see him in ANH, also it seems like they did not even try to find someone who atleast looked a bit like a younger Harrison Ford.

 

[F2BBm3ga]

The irony is shes right about the character han solo, but then donald glover proved her wrong as Lando.

 

[DanSensei]

Solo is good tbh

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Agreed. I was kinda hoping for the sequel to see Darth Maul get some more character, but apparently people didn't like the movie...

My other hot take is that I didn't like Rogue One very much. The tone was far too dark for Star Wars, which, even when the story got serious, still always felt like a fun adventure.

 

[TooFriendly]

Getting the old actors to reprise their roles wasn't great either.

 

[Bizazedo]

This seems poorly timed given Obi-wan and highly questionable in general. It's really making her look....incompetent.

 

[Fj0823]

This seems poorly timed given Obi-wan and highly questionable in general. It's really making her look....incompetent.

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She hasn't handled the extreme criticism Star Wars fans well, she responds with extreme reactions to directly address it

 

[guiloahhhhh]

Kathy you dumb dumb Solo was one of your good movies. Maybe people don't want Star Wars every 6 months and don't launch it near Infinity War?

I'd like her gone. People will say this is sexist so literally give it to any other female and I trust they'll do a better job

 

[Surakian]

Kathy you dumb dumb Solo was one of your good movies. Maybe people don't want Star Wars every 6 months and don't launch it near Infinity War?

I'd like her gone. People will say this is sexist so literally give it to any other female and I trust they'll do a better job

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Maybe don't call women "female" to avoid people thinking you are sexist. I agree with the sentiment because I feel like her and Disney's execs are half the reason why the franchise feels so dissonant and it is in spite of her and them that the franchise is doing well.

But like, say "women". It's a better word and is way less demeaning than "female".

 

[Alvaro]

Hiring an impressionist wouldn't have made things any better. In fact it would have probably made the whole project worse.

I think in general what this seems to mean is that they won't tackle prequels of this type anymore, so don't expect, say, a Young Leia movie, or a Disney+ series about Luke's time between Episodes 5 and 6 or whatever.

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Not quite an impersonator. Hes an actor and potrays a young Harrison Ford in the Age of Adeline.

Anthony Ingruber in Age of Adaline(young Harrison Ford) 1080p HD

youtu.be

 

[JonesiiiFromtheMoon]

Tell new stories with new characters. For the love of fucking god

 

[Sulik2]

Kathleen Kennedy continues to completely not understand the franchise she is shepherding. Yeesh. Solo was a perfectly fine movie, but it paid for the backlash TLJ caused. If people hadnt been so divided on that film Solo would have done fine. Recasting Han wasn't the issue and Donald Glover was actually fantastic as Lando. Releasing it so close to infinity war and only six months after tlj we're unforced errors as well.

 

[sfedai0]

Solo cant be bad because that word would lose meaning given that "bad" is what the ST is. That entire trilogy is complete dogshit and it was Solo and Rogue One that kept my interest in SW.

 

[Doran]

I really enjoyed Solo and Rogue One, I think they were better than the sequel Trilogy. Force Awakens I guess was pretty good too.

I agree with others though, the real lesson shoudl be write more original characters / stories in the universe that aren't as attached to the originals.

Let the creative juices flow.

 

[AlexFlame116]

I agree with what others have been saying here. While I don't dislike any of the ST movies, I did not like the direction they went. But I absolutely loved Solo and Rogue One myself. So its a shame to see this response by Kathleen.

 

[matrix-cat]

For all the talk of "we want new stories with new characters", I feel like the fawning reactions to Deepfake Luke have proved just the opposite. Star Wars fans want the same stories with the same characters. Forever. Literally beyond the lifetimes of the actors who played them, even if it means replacing them with a ghoulish Siri-voiced automaton, because it's not about the performance it's just about seeing your favourite guy's face. Deepfake Luke sucks and all the lines they write for him to recite are dreadful, nothing recognisable as Human Luke's personality, but nobody cares because he looks like Luke. Alden Ehrenreich did a fine job but people didn't like it; he couldn't be Han Solo because he didn't have Harrison Ford's face. It's deepfakes all the way down from here on.

 

[thediamondage]

so much for my pitch of Star Wars: A Greedo Story where we learn an imperial officer, having stayed up all night watching Godfather 1, names a passing orphan rodian boy Greedo because he is green and looks like Fredo

it was gonna be awesome too, where over multiple heists gone wrong Greedo learns that shooting first always leads to tragedy

 

[Prine]

Good. Solo was shit. Deserved to bomb. And that guy was not Solo, in any form. Never did i think at any point i was watching a young Han.

 

[iHeartGameDev]

Not even cut. He wasn't a part of the show at all. There may have been something in the script for when Kenobi was going to be a film, but that's it.

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Maul spoilers:
Might wanna reread the quote

edit: unless I'm reading too much into it as a rebels fan :P

 

[Aztechnology]

Maybe move the fuck on and make new shit ffs

Honestly to me the most egregious thing about the film, which I didn't hate by any means. Was that they basically retconned him into starting the rebellion which is insanity.

 

[KodaRuss]

I really never understood the hate for Solo. I liked it more than 7 and 9 for sure.

 

[Zeliard]

For all the talk of "we want new stories with new characters", I feel like the fawning reactions to Deepfake Luke have proved just the opposite. Star Wars fans want the same stories with the same characters. Forever. Literally beyond the lifetimes of the actors who played them, even if it means replacing them with a ghoulish Siri-voiced automaton, because it's not about the performance it's just about seeing your favourite guy's face. Deepfake Luke sucks and all the lines they write for him to recite are dreadful, nothing recognisable as Human Luke's personality, but nobody cares because he looks like Luke. Alden Ehrenreich did a fine job but people didn't like it; he couldn't be Han Solo because he didn't have Harrison Ford's face. It's deepfakes all the way down from here on.

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This is all 100% true and it will never stop amazing me that people pretend otherwise.

Rise of Skywalker was a direct response to fan outrage. Everything they did there that was shit the fans kept screaming for, endlessly. You want mindless fan service, while pretending you don't. You want lore dumps to be tied to the familiar and for everything to be an endless Skywalker story - exactly what Rian Johnson was trying to get away from. You want all this shit and then they give it to you and you start screaming that it's terrible. Yeah, obviously. Your ideas are terrible.

Maybe you should stop openly begging for them to make the movies bad, and chasing a guy like Rian Johnson away who actually had something to say and has easily been one of the best writers this goofy franchise has seen.

If KOTOR 2 came out now the morons would be memeing that it was "subverting expectations" and was somehow bad because of that.

Star Wars fans deserve shitty stories, because they're a shitty fanbase.

 

[TAJ]

For all the talk of "we want new stories with new characters", I feel like the fawning reactions to Deepfake Luke have proved just the opposite. Star Wars fans want the same stories with the same characters. Forever. Literally beyond the lifetimes of the actors who played them, even if it means replacing them with a ghoulish Siri-voiced automaton, because it's not about the performance it's just about seeing your favourite guy's face. Deepfake Luke sucks and all the lines they write for him to recite are dreadful, nothing recognisable as Human Luke's personality, but nobody cares because he looks like Luke. Alden Ehrenreich did a fine job but people didn't like it; he couldn't be Han Solo because he didn't have Harrison Ford's face. It's deepfakes all the way down from here on.

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The sequel stuff had already established that he turned into a prequel Jedi. It makes no sense, but that's what they had to work with.
Once you're on that prequel Jedi road being any flavor of believably human is off the table.

 

[Tovarisc]

Like several people have pointed out they should just move on already. New locations, new characters and new story arcs that aren't handcuffed to Skywalker saga. For being galaxy far, far away they have managed to make it feel tiny with just 10 or so people existing / mattering in it.

 

[MisterHero]

For all the talk of "we want new stories with new characters", I feel like the fawning reactions to Deepfake Luke have proved just the opposite. Star Wars fans want the same stories with the same characters. Forever. Literally beyond the lifetimes of the actors who played them, even if it means replacing them with a ghoulish Siri-voiced automaton, because it's not about the performance it's just about seeing your favourite guy's face. Deepfake Luke sucks and all the lines they write for him to recite are dreadful, nothing recognisable as Human Luke's personality, but nobody cares because he looks like Luke. Alden Ehrenreich did a fine job but people didn't like it; he couldn't be Han Solo because he didn't have Harrison Ford's face. It's deepfakes all the way down from here on.

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We could have had authentic charismatic Luke interacting with new characters but Lucasfilm threw any significant future use of Mark Hamill away forever. He's a ghost in a bad wig now.

Lucasfilm walked themselves into that corner