While there were plenty of new and familiar faces at the Solo: A Star Wars Story premiere this past Thursday, there was one very noticeable absence: Harrison Ford.
The original Han Solo actor was a conspicuous no-show at the red carpet premiere in Los Angeles for the Star Wars prequel detailing the origins of the iconic character he first brought to screens in 1977. This didn’t seem to put a damper on the evening’s celebrations, fortunately, as everyone from the new cast, including new Han Solo actor Alden Ehrenreich, mingled with Star Wars personalities from old including Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams, and George Lucas.
At the premiere, Ehrenreich mentioned he had lunch with Ford shortly after being cast in the role of Han Solo taking all the advice he could from the veteran actor.
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Early reactions for Solo have been positive with particular praise falling on Ehrenreich and Donald Glover’s performances as younger incarnations of Han Solo and Lando Calrissian, respectively. The Last Jedi filmmaker Rian Johnson wrote his own review for the new Star Wars film complimenting the movie overall and declaring that Ehrenreich “brings his own charm and swagger to the character” rather than merely imitating Ford.
Directed by Ron Howard from a script by Lawrence and Jon Kasdan, 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. The film opens May 25.
(via The Hollywood Reporter)