Han - Solo Movie ** Spoilers ** — Page 32

Haarspalter said:

And that’s the reason why the GOTG movies stick out of the MCU - they work very good on their own without the necessity of watching/knowing the other ‘standard’ MCU superhero movies. I dare you, try to watch Captain America 3: Civil War without knowing the precursor movies. James Gunn is aware of that. Is it a coincidence that the third GOTG movie is supposed to take place approximately eight years after the Infinity War? Guess not - Gunn wants to keep the GOTG to be detached to a certain point of view within the MCU.

Let’s examine this shall we?

I dare you, try to watch Captain America 3: Civil War without knowing the precursor movies.

Let’s pay attention to the first half of the title, more specifically the numerical designation. It’s the third Captain America film. Good luck jumping into Return of the King without having seen the first two films. Guardians of the Galaxy is the first film in its franchise, of course anyone can jump right into it. The first entry of any of the MCU’s various series are easy to jump into. You don’t need to know anything about the other MCU films before jumping into Doctor Strange or Ant-Man either. How much is a viewer going to get out of GOTG Vol. 2 without seeing the first?

Is it a coincidence that the third GOTG movie is supposed to take place approximately eight years after the Infinity War? Guess not - Gunn wants to keep the GOTG to be detached to a certain point of view within the MCU.

GOTG Vol. 2 is set around six months after the first film which puts it around the year 2012. GOTG Vol. 3 is set to release in 2020, eight years after the original film was released. Both Infinity War films will have been out by this time. If Gunn is trying to avoid the repercussions of his heroes mingling with the greater MCU then why didn’t he set Vol. 3 before Infinity War?

Ryan-SWI said:
… Rogue One’s extensive reshoots and now this nonsense with Han Solo; these films are clearly being made by suits in a boardroom.

I feel the opposite is the case with Rogue One. If it were a play-it-safe film driven by a boardroom, we would have had more TFA-style nostalgia. As it is, we have a film that restores the force as a mystical energy field created by “the force of others”. We have Kyber crystals playing a role. The Whills are part of the universe. The cast of characters are unrelated to the incest of the OT/PT. Much of the story takes place in vast universe of unknown planets. Plus, every main character dies a fairly brutal death. It is most certainly not a fun, kids’ film with an eye toward marketing toys, bedspreads, and cookies.

I can’t speak to most of the apparent mess of the Solo film, but from what we know now, I get the feeling this major course correction may be what saves the film. It hasn’t sounded too interesting to this point. They were a weird directing choice for such a culturally significant character.

I understand TFA was a weird mix of good/bad, unknown/rehash, interesting/stupid, but (to me) they made up for it with Rogue One by taking chances and staying true to 1977.

Now would be the time to get this back in line with older EU versions of the less-than-trustworthy character we grew up admiring. At this point they are well down the rabbit hole of a very public & costly hiring mistake. They’ve thought enough to bring on a heavy-hitter to try and correct things. Here’s hoping they take the full hit and start over. Delay the release, rewrite, and start over. A year delayed could yield a much better film. A film befitting the character.

New in-depth article from THR:

New details emerge from the set of the troubled Han Solo movie (an editor fired, a last-minute acting coach hired) as insiders debate whether problems trace to directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, or if the Disney and Lucasfilm series can accommodate divergent styles.

Click Here to Read the Full Article

Notable excerpts:

Matters had already reached a boiling point in mid-June when Phil Lord and Chris Miller, co-directors of the still-untitled young Han Solo movie, were in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon but didn’t start shooting until 1 p.m. That day the two used only three different setups — that is, three variations on camera placement — as opposed to the 12 to 15 that Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy had expected, according to sources with knowledge of the situation. Not only was the going slow, but the few angles that had been shot did not provide a wealth of options to use in editing the movie.

This was hardly the first time Kennedy was unhappy with how the film was progressing. And as he looked at dailies from his home in Los Angeles, Lawrence Kasdan — screenwriter, executive producer and keeper of the Stars Wars flame — also was said to be displeased.

Anxious to avoid an outright rupture, Kennedy is said to have made attempts first to support and eventually to supplant Lord and Miller to some degree, as happened with Gareth Edwards on the troubled Rogue One. In that case, screenwriter Tony Gilroy took on significant duties with the cooperation of Edwards; in this case, sources say, Kennedy attempted to cast Kasdan in that role. Unsurprisingly, Lord and Miller were less accommodating than Edwards, still a novice, had been. Lord and Miller declined to comment, as did Kennedy.

Matters were coming to a head in May as the production moved from London to the Canary Islands. Lucasfilm replaced editor Chris Dickens (Macbeth) with Oscar-winner Pietro Scalia, a veteran of Ridley Scott films including Alien: Covenant and The Martian. And, not entirely satisfied with the performance that the directors were eliciting from Rules Don’t Apply star Alden Ehrenreich, Lucasfilm decided to bring in an acting coach. (Hiring a coach is not unusual; hiring one that late in production is.) Lord and Miller suggested writer-director Maggie Kiley, who worked with them on 21 Jump Street.