Empire Australasia August 2017

WORDS IAN FREER

Empire contributing editor Ian
Freer on why we should have faith
in Han Solo’s new shooter

But in a lot of ways he is simply continuing

a lineage of Star Wars directors. Howard is

a craftsman in the same way Irvin Kershner,

director of The Empire Strikes Back, was. Like

Lucas and Kershner, Howard studied film at

USC School Of Cinematic Arts.

Recently his touch has been a little off

(In The Heart Of The Sea, Inferno), but over

his career he has delivered strong performances

(Chris Hemsworth’s James Hunt in Rush is

a model of Solo-esque swagger), developed

a classical style that suits Kennedy’s reference

point of Frederic Remington’s Wild West

paintings (look at Far And Away’s land rush),

and knows how to juggle comic relief and — that

oft- forgotten Solo quality — sincerity. Think of

IN 1969, 14-year-old Ronny Howard made a
two-minute movie called Cards, Cads, Guns, Gore
And Death. It’s about a gambler who goes all in,
then comes out firing, killing, among others,
Howard’s brother Clint in a blood (well, ketchup)
bath. Shooting first, it seems, is in Howard’s
genes, which is just as well — the director of
Frost/Nixon is now helming Solo/Greedo.
Announced on 22 June, Ron Howard’s
takeover of the so-far untitled Han Solo film,
following Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s departure
over “creative differences”, is rumoured to be
built on producer Kathleen Kennedy and
Lucasfilm’s feeling that the tone was too flip, not
Star Wars-y enough. Their choice of replacement
comes with a long history with the Lucasverse.
Learning of Lucas’ idea to combine Flash
Gordon and 2001: A Space Odyssey on the set of
American Graffiti in 1972, Howard saw A New
Hope twice on its opening day, directed fantasy
Willow from Lucas’ idea and had preliminary
discussions about directing a prequel. “I
immediately said, ‘George, that is your universe,
your galaxy,’” he recalled in 2015. “‘You should
be doing it.’”
Following the departure of Lord and Miller,
Howard’s appointment sent the Twittersphere
into apoplexy, deriding it as retrograde and safe.

the moment in A New Hope when Solo, watching

Luke go off to blow up the Death Star, says,

“Hey, Luke... may the Force be with you.”

It’s straight-faced, corny, perfect Star Wars —

and pure Ron Howard.

So, will Howard stretch the very fabric of

what Star Wars could be? Probably not. With

eight weeks of shooting and a genius Oscar-

winning editor in JFK and Gladiator’s Pietro

Scalia (himself a replacement for Chris Dickens)

to seamlessly stitch disparate footage together,

can he deliver a perfectly tailored Solo-esque

waistcoat? Never tell him the odds.

THE ‘UNTITLED HAN SOLO FILM’ IS IN CINEMAS

FROM 24 MAY 2018

Above: Ron Howard,

a Han-dy bet.

Left: Former directors

Chris Miller (bottom

left) and Phil Lord

(second from right)

on set with cast

members Woody

Harrelson, Phoebe

Waller-Bridge,

Alden Ehrenreich,

Emilia Clarke,

Joonas Suotamo

as Chewbacca and

Donald Glover.

ALAMY, LUCASFILM