Even though George Lucas is no longer the driving creative force behind the world of Star Wars, that doesn't mean he's fully separated himself from the franchise that he sold to Disney in 2012 for over $4 billion. Lucas has popped by the sets of all the Star Wars movies made under the Mouse House banner, including the days-away Solo: A Star Wars Story. But while he was seeing how Solo was coming along, Lucas also suggested how one of the scenes could be altered. As director Ron Howard recalled, there's a romantically charged moment between Alden Ehrenreich's Han Solo and Emilia Clarke's Qi'ra in Lando Calrissian's cape closet aboard the Millennium Falcon. Originally Han was going to hang up Qi'ra's cloak, but Lucas believed it was better to go in a different direction. Howard continued:
[Lucas] said, 'You know, Han wouldn't bother to hang it up.' And then he sort of did it. George became Han Solo for a second. The body language was there and the attitude. Not only was it a nice accent on the scene, but it was also a reminder that George created this character and really understood him. He was so reluctant [to offer his opinion], and yet the choice was so right that it was fun to use it.
Solo: A Star Wars Story was written By Lawrence and Jon Kasdan, the former of whom also co-wrote The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, so needless to say that he was already quite familiar with writing Han Solo before this Star Wars spinoff. But it never hurts to have the person who created a character give their take on how a particular scene or moment should be handled, and as Ron Howard told Variety, he was reminded how deeply George Lucas understood Han. Obviously Han deciding not to hang up Qi'ra's cloak is small in the grand scheme of things, but it ended up being a minor improvement to what was originally written. While on the Solo set, Lucas also gave Howard (who replaced Phil Lord and Chris Miller) a simple, but key piece of advice for helming a Star Wars movie: "Just enjoy this."
Taking place approximately a decade before he met Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Mos Eisley Cantina, Solo: A Star Wars Story follows Han trying to make a name for himself in the galaxy far, far away's criminal underworld. Along with Alden Ehrenreich playing Han, the movie's main cast includes Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca, Emilia Clarke as Qi'ra, Woody Harrleson as Tobias Beckett, Thandie Newton as Val, Phoebe Waller-Bridge as L3-37 and Paul Bettany as Dryden Vos.
Solo: A Star Wars Story finally arrives in theaters this Friday, May 25, but you can read CinemaBlend's review of the movie now. Keep checking back for more updates about the Star Wars franchise, and look through our 2018 release schedule to find out what else is hitting the silver screen this year.
