Lawrence Kasdan Discusses The Search For A Young Han Solo

By Dan Woburn / December 17, 2015

Lawrence Kasdan, Star Wars luminary and writer of the upcoming untitled Han Solo spinoff prequel, has had a chat with Vulture to discuss the search for a young actor - a search which is said to have seen 2,500 aspiring rogues audition for the part. Kasdan spoke of how hard it is to nail the overall acting caliber and charisma of Harrison Ford;

"You want someone who isn€™t going to be exactly like Harrison, you want someone who suggests him... With Harrison, though, it€™s not easy to find someone with those kinds of qualities. He€™s like Spencer Tracy, and what does a young Spencer Tracy look like?"

I disagree with Kasdan's statement that you shouldn't get someone who's exactly like Harrison Ford in the role; if whomever is performing their best Han Solo impression is actually a great actor in doing so, surely that can't be harmful to the picture? If anything it makes it feel more like a legitimate part of the film canon, and lends itself to one day being able to watch this prequel and then jump into the original trilogy without feeling too jarring. Kasdan was also asked about this current age of internet spoilers and Twitter leaks, to which he had an interesting response;

"The big thing is that you used to put out a trailer, and people would only see it if they went to the right movie. Now, you put out a picture and the entire world has it in five minutes! You put out a trailer, and there are 80 million views! A rumour or a spoiler can have 200 million views. That didn€™t exist in the past."

The state of the industry has changed immensely over the last few years, with studios and creatives trying desperately to keep the actual content of their movies a secret, in order to preserve them in the form they are supposed to be enjoyed. I say, hats off to 'em. The more surprises saved for the cinema, the better. The Untitled Han Solo Anthology Film will be released sometime in 2018.