Disney film will delve into backstory of iconic Han Solo character
By Jake Coyle, Film Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Laugh it up, Fuzzballs: Han Solo is getting his own movie, and it's going to be helmed by "Lego Movie" directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord.
The "Star Wars" spinoff will be released on Memorial Day weekend in 2018, Disney announced Tuesday. It will focus on how Han Solo became the smuggler first encountered by Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi at the Mos Eisley cantina.
Lord and Miller have been among the most sought-after writer-directors in Hollywood following their well-received "21 Jump Street" and its sequel, "22 Jump Street," and the popular "The Lego Movie."
"This is the first film we've worked on that seems like a good idea to begin with," the pair said in a joint statement. "We promise to take risks, to give the audience a fresh experience, and we pledge ourselves to be faithful stewards of these characters who mean so much to us."
Lord and Miller said the movie is a dream come true, "and not the kind of dream where you're late for work and all your clothes are made of pudding."
The announcement sets off what's sure to be among the most closely watched casting decisions in Hollywood. While Harrison Ford reprises the role in the upcoming "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," the spinoff will be seeking a new captain of the Millennium Falcon.
The script will be written by Lawrence Kasdan, who co-wrote "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi," and his son Jon Kasdan. They called Solo "one of the coolest characters in the galaxy."
In addition to a new "Star Wars" trilogy to begin with J.J. Abrams' "The Force Awakens" in December, Lucasfilm and Disney are planning several spinoffs from George Lucas' space epic.
"Rogue One," directed by Gareth Edwards, is planned for December 2016. Filmmaker Josh Trank was earlier hired to direct another "Star Wars" anthology film, but he departed the project earlier this year.
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
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