'Solo' Screenwriters Reveal Chewbacca's Lines Are Written Out, And More 'Star Wars Story' Details
Solo screenwriters Lawrence and Jonathan Kasdan sat down for a new interview and dished on some interesting Star Wars Story tidbits. Most surprising of all: the father/son screenwriting duo confirm they actually write lines for Chewbacca, even if we can't understand them.Solo: A Star Wars Story looks like a lot of fun, and much of that fun could be the result of the script courtesy of father/son screenwriting team Lawrence and Jonathan Kasdan. The elder Kadsan has a long history with Star Wars – he wrote The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. So it makes sense that Disney and Lucasfilm would turn to him to help resurrect the franchise with the script for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. But Force Awakens wasn't the end of Kasdan's Star Wars involvement – he was also brought on to write Solo. In fact, Kasdan was actually hired to write a Han Solo-centric script before Disney bought Lucasfilm.
Kasdan talks about this, and more, in the new Star Wars Show interview below.
Solo Screenwriters Interview
There's not a fountain of information in the above video, but there are some interesting tidbits.
– As previously mentioned, Lawrence Kasdan re-confirmed that he was writing a Solo script before The Force Awakens, and before Disney bought Lucasfilm. In the past, Lawrence Kasdan said:
"When I was done, I was sort of burned out. And I said, 'I don't know, do we still want to do this Han thing?'...And they said, 'Yeah! We really want you to go ahead with Han.' And I said, 'Well, my son, Jon, is very enthusiastic and full of ideas about the saga.' And he had directed two movies and had done other things. 'What if he came on and worked with me? Because, that would give me a shot in the arm.' And so, that's exactly what happened. They made a deal with Jon, and he and I have been writing since for three years."
– Lawrence Kasdan says that the real Han Solo would never want this movie to be made, because he wants to remain a mystery. Sorry, real Han Solo, wherever you are.
– The Kasdans say writing Solo "wasn't about filling in the backstory" but rather about making a good Han Solo movie. At the same time, the film also tries to explain how Han became so cynical.
– Jonathan Kasdan reveals that they wrote every one of Chewbacca's lines for the film. We may never know what those lines are, but they were written in order to help new Han Solo Alden Ehrenreich know what was being "said" to him so that he knew how to play off that.
Other info from the interview: the Kasdans have nothing but nice things to say about Donald Glover as Lando and Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Lando's droid side-kick L3-37. They also reveal that the supporting cast is meant to be Han's "make-shift family."
Solo: A Star Wars Story opens on May 25, 2018.