Since selling Lucasfilm to Disney for $4.05 billion, George Lucas has mostly walked away from the Star Wars franchise.
That said, he has served as a creative consultant on The Force Awakens and even dropped by the set of Solo: A Star Wars Story during Ron Howard’s first day on the job.
Howard, whose relationship with Lucas goes back over 50 years, was not the original choice to direct Solo, but when Christopher Miller left the project due to creative differences, he took over. Ultimately, he received the support from George Lucas.
“He came by to visit the first day that I picked up shooting,” Howard told Entertainment Weekly. “George and his wife, Melody, came by to pay a little set visit. It made me feel great. He told me just trust my instincts, you know? I know he kind of fundamentally feels like, first and foremost, [these films are] sort of for 12-year-old boys, and yet even he knows that it’s grown so far beyond that, and the fans have grown with the series in a great, important way.”
Lucas even “directed” a scene in the movie.
“He had intended to just kind of stop by and say hi, and he stayed five hours,” [producer Kathleen Kennedy] says. “There’s even one little moment in a scene that — I can’t tell you what, sorry — but in the scene on the Millennium Falcon where George said, ‘Why doesn’t Han just do this.’ It actually is a funny little bit that will probably get a laugh. And Ron happened to be by the monitor and not inside the Falcon and he goes, ‘Oh that’s a great idea,’ and ran in and said, ‘George wants us to do this.’ So that was pretty cool. I think George felt pretty great about that. He could revisit these characters, and I think he felt so comfortable, obviously with Ron being there, that it was just fun for him. (Via)
Related:
- ‘Star Wars’ Casting Director is Giving a Free Acting Class for Aspiring Actors
- Disney is Planning on Making Multiple ‘Star Wars’ Movies and TV Shows
-
LucasFilm Reveals The Plot Summary for ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’
What do you think? Discuss this story with fellow Project Casting fans on Facebook. On Twitter, follow us at @projectcasting.