STAR WARS Rumor Du Jour: Harrison Ford To Return As Han Solo?

If Disney is really serious about getting Star Wars: Episode VII into theaters by 2015,* then you should expect to get a deluge of news and casting announcements in the coming months.  Other than J.J. Abrams coming on board as director, information about the next trilogy has been surprisingly scarce so far.  Perhaps this little nugget is just the first in an oncoming avalanche...

Latino Review's superhero scooper extraordinaire El Mayimbe claims that Harrison Ford is officially signed on to reprise his role as Han Solo in Episode VII.  No official response yet from Abrams, Ford or Disney.

If it turns out to be true, this hardly feels surprising.  When news of the Disney deal initially broke, the first question on everyone's mind was, "Will Mark Hamill, Carrie Fischer and Harrison Ford be back?"  For his part, Ford was the first to say that he'd be willing to take up his blaster once again.  Of the three leads, it goes without saying that Ford has not only maintained the most star power, but he's also aged the most gracefully.  (Have you seen Mark Hamill recently?  Yeeesh.)  He also seems to be actively engaging in his career now after what amounts to a decade long nap.  Cowboys & Aliens doesn't really work as a movie, but Ford at least looks awake and alert.  He's also got the Jackie Robinson biopic 42 and the long awaited adaptation of Orson Scott Card's sci-fi classic Ender's Game hitting theaters this year, two movies genuinely worth getting excited about.

Add in the proposed "young Han Solo" standalone film in development and bringing Harrison Ford back into the fold as quickly as possible seems like a no-brainer.  I expect that when Disney makes an official announcement, it'll be a multi-picture deal that sees Ford appearing in more than just the new trilogy.  Remember that Disney is also the home of Marvel's connected cinematic universe.  I'm sure that the powers-that-be would love to duplicate that success by utilizing a similar approach to the Star Wars franchise.  If this young Solo film does happen, then it's practically a forgone conclusion that Ford would show up to bookend the movie and/or tie it into the events of the new trilogy.

I'm really hoping this thing actually pans out.  Ford's career is sort of a mystery; the guy's a genuine movie star who got bogged down by a bunch of truly mediocre films at the turn of the century and then essentially dropped off the map.  If we're lucky Ford could on the verge of a Bill Murray-like renaissance.

Then again, if this deal falls apart/turns out to be nonsense, I'd hardly blame the man for being gunshy about revisiting his other signature role after the clusterfuck that was Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull.




*This doesn't feel like a sure thing.  I've heard that Abrams has actually given Disney a bit of pushback, wanting to move the release back to 2016.  It's all going to come down to how quickly Micharl Arndt's script comes together.

Tiny Harrison Ford Is Very Disappointed In The First Image From ENDER'S GAME

Has Han Solo always been that short?

Here's your first look into Gavin Hood's adaptation of Orson Scott Card's incredible sci-fi novel Ender's Game.  Set in a future world where humanity barely managed to fight off invasion by a race of aliens called the Buggers, Earth is now counting the days until the Buggers return to finish the job.  Thus mankind begins to draft genius children from across the globe into an orbiting Battle School, where they relentlessly train to become the next generation of generals and military strategists in order to protect the planet from a seemingly unstoppable enemy.

In case you're unaware, the name of this blog is itself an Ender's Game reference, so to say I'm excited about this movie is an understatement.  Granted the last film Gavin Hood made was the abysmal X-Men Origins: Wolverine, so there's really no guarantee of quality here, but they've put together a great young cast and Hood is not wholly without talent.  At this point I'm essentially keeping my fingers crossed.

Granted there's not a whole lot to see in this image, but let's break down what we can:  We've got curmudgeonly old Dr. Jones as Battle School Colonel Graff, Asa Butterfield (star of Hugo) as the titular Ender Wiggin, and they're standing among the bunks and the other members of one of the student armies.

Now for some speculation: It's hard to tell, but I think that the blonde girl on the left is actually Hailee Steinfeld of True Grit fame, here playing the awesome Petra Arkanian.  There's a symbol on the back wall that looks like a Greek psi phi and there's a preponderance of yellow in the room.  Each of the different armies (named after animals) has different color codes, but I don't remember any of them featuring yellow.  I'm assuming that the Indian kid next to him Ender is his friend Alai, which would make this Rat Army, Ender's first assignment before being transferred to Salamander and eventually leading the Dragon Army.

Believe me when I say that the potential for awesome in the Battle School is virtually limitless.  A large portion of the book is dedicated to the children engaging in zero-gravity warfare, with each adolescent soldier flying around a room in space suits, harmlessly shooting each other with laser pistols.  But fear not, all you Hunger Games/Battle Royale fans; there is also some remarkable child-on-child violence throughout the story.

Speaking of which, Ender's Game will hit theaters next November, about three weeks before Katniss Everdeen returns to the screen in Catching Fire, so get ready for lots of press going to great lengths to compare and contrast the two franchises.  Personally I don't think they're very similar at all, but if it means getting more asses in the seats for one of my favorite stories of all time, then yeah.  They're totally the same.

Life, The Universe and Jackie Robinson: Trailer For Brian Helgeland's 42!

Here in Boston, we're not having what you'd call a good baseball year, so it's understandable that most of us have already set our attentions firmly on the still burgeoning football season.  But before we all put America's pastime in the rear view, let's take a look at the trailer for 42, the story of Jackie Robinson's rise as the first black player in Major League Baseball.

I really like what I'm seeing here from Chadwick Boseman, a TV actor who's done great work on shows like Fringe and Justified.  I think he's got the chops to give us something pretty special.  Plus it's nice to see Harrison Ford actually awake in a movie these days.  I wouldn't fixate too much on the modern music choice, as that reeks purely of marketing.

Most fascinating is the re-emergence of helmer Brian Helgeland after almost a full decade away from the camera.  The director of A Knight's Tale and Payback starring Mel Gibson (a movie who's epic post-production woes would have been enough to drive most men away filmmaking all together) has spent most of the millenium writing projects like Man On Fire, The Taking Of Pelham 1 2 3 and The Green Zone, but this looks like a tremendous tonal shift from much of his earlier work.  I'm more than a little curious to see how Helgeland's time away from directing has shaped his onscreen vision.

Amazingly, the Jackie Robinson tale has remained largely untouched by Hollywood, so here's hoping Helgeland does it justice.  Hell, it might even get me to root for the Dodgers for two hours...