Reverse Angle: What will Ron Howard bring to the young Han Solo movie?
‘Star Wars’ shocker
In a move that came without warning. the movie about the young Han Solo has switched out directorial team Chris Miller and Phil Lord for Oscarwinner Ron Howard.
The movie, starring Alden Ehrenreich in the role made famous by Harrison Ford, is surprising for three reasons: Lord and Miller (“21 Jump Street,” “The Lego Movie”) are one of the hottest gets in Hollywood; the movie was five months into filming; and though Howard has made comedies (“Splash”), action/adventure movies (“Willow,” “Far and Away”) and a realistic space movie (“Apollo 13”), he represents an extreme departure from Miller and Lord’s hipper, meta-humorous style.
Miller and Lord said there were “creative differences,” reportedly with Lucasfilm head and producer Kathleen Kennedy and “Star Wars” scripter laureate Lawrence Kasdan. The Hollywood Reporter also cited the firing of an editor and late hiring of an acting coach for Ehrenreich.
Perhaps the sensibility that had “22 Jump Street” dialogue openly mocking the concept of sequels or the compulsive punning of “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” might have been too much for the new Disney-era approach that allows for a darker entry such as “Rogue One.”
Howard has made some excellent films — such as Oscar winner for best film and director “A Beautiful Mind,” and “Frost/Nixon” (nominated for best director) — and may be better suited to the more traditional, less improvisatory approach favored by the “Star Wars” universe.
Still, fans excited about new blood will be left to wonder what might have been.
Trivia question
Howard has a connection to “Star Wars.” What would that be?
Agents of change?
Data from another study examining the box office viability of diverse casting shows that films with diverse appeal average almost three times the haul of those drawing more homogeneously white audiences.
As reported in the Los Angeles Times, talent representative Creative Artists Agency took note when a Motion Picture Association of America study found the rising tide of nonwhite moviegoers had reached 49 percent of all tickets sold in 2016. That compares with 38 percent of the American population considered nonwhite.
As part of its Amplify event to “accelerate the growth, value and visibility of diversity in business” last month in Laguna Beach, the agency analyzed more than 400 top-grossing films from 2014 to 2016, cataloging ethnicities for top-billed cast (more than 2,800 performers).
Those numbers supported the association’s — and found that “truly diverse” films (casts made up of at least 30 percent nonwhite performers) consistently outstripped less-diverse films in the important metric of opening weekend grosses.
This study seems to contradict many claims like Ridley Scott’s that he couldn’t finance “Exodus: Gods and Kings” if “my lead actor is Mohammad so-and-so from such-and-such.” Even Don Cheadle complained that he couldn’t fund labor-of-love “Miles Ahead” without a white principal character.
Trivia answer
George Lucas was working on the original “Star Wars” story while making “American Graffiti,” in which Howard starred. Howard recently told a Cannes Film Festival audience that when Lucas told him the story line, Howard thought it was “crazy.” However, the actor was so excited after seeing the 1977 film at a theater that he and his wife immediately got back in line to see it again.