The trailers for Solo: A Star Wars Story have shown all sorts of interesting and exciting sequences the film will have in store for us, but one of them was significantly more difficult for one actor than the rest. In a recent Twitter Q & A, actress Thandie Newton, who plays the role of Val in the new film, revealed that for her, the train sequence, that we've seen some of in the advertising, required a lot of work from her over the course of several weeks in order to get right. According to Newton...
It seems like it's one scene, it's the train sequence which, I'm not giving anything away by saying that, and the stuff that Val had to do in that sequence was shot over a number of weeks and I had so much stunt work to do to train for it and it looks amazing, but, wow, it was hard work.
We've seen some of the sequence that Thandie Newton mentions on Twitter in the trailers for Solo: A Star Wars Story. We know that it is part of "the job" that Woody Harrelson is looking to put together a team for, though whether or not the train is the end goal, or a step in a larger plot, is not clear. It does look to potentially be the major action setpiece of the movie, which would explain why shooting it took several weeks to complete. Also, with train robberies being a classic part of many heist films, it makes some thematic sense for Star Wars to put its own particular spin on the trope. Rather than simply being a train, the vehicle is suspended above the ground and is flying past snowy mountains.
While certainly a lot of what we're seeing is CGI, that doesn't mean there isn't a lot of real stuntwork involved for the actors. From what we've seen of Val in the lead up to Solo, she's been working with Woody Harrelson's Beckett for some time, so she's supposed to be an accomplished criminal. This means that her stunt work doesn't simply need to be "good enough," it needs to look like she's been doing it for a long time and is an expert at breaking into moving trains.
While most of us have to wait to see the finished product, the world premiere of Solo: A Star Wars Story took place last week and the initial impressions of the movie are favorable. While not everybody loved it, it seems that most at least enjoyed it, which is good news for the film that went through more than its share of turmoil behind the scenes. The rest of us will get to see Val in all her glory starting May 25.
