It was only a matter of time, really, but production on Disney’s Han Solo origin story is officially underway – and the first set photo has arrived to prove it.
Coming to us by way of Chris Miller’s Twitter feed, the image below showcases the film’s clapperboard along with the tongue-in-cheek working title, Red Cup – a play on the Solo branded plastic cups. Above all else, it’s the caption that really piqued our curiosity, given Miller’s status report came tethered with the message “Han first shot.” Yes, if there was every any doubt that Miller and directing partner Phil Lord weren’t up to the task of wrangling a Han Solo anthology movie into shape, let it be known that both creatives are well versed in the character and his enduring legacy.
Per Twitter:
Starring Alden Ehrenreich as the iconic, smooth-talking smuggler, Lord and Miller’s Han Solo movie has since recruited Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover (Lando Calrissian) and War for the Planet of the Apes star Woody Harrelson as dubious mentor, Garris Shrike. That’s a character pulled from the now non-canon Star Wars expanded universe, but Disney brass is yet to confirm whether Harrelson is really playing the criminal mentor known as Shrike, or another character entirely.
Behind the scenes, Arrival cinematographer Bradford Young will call the shots as DP, and has already teased the ways in which the Star Wars movie of 2018 is a “dirty sci-fi” film that is both “unexpected” and “dramatic.”
Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s Han Solo anthology movie is without an official title at the moment, but it will have a “heist or Western type feel,” according to Lucasfilm head honcho Kathleen Kennedy. A 2018 release is the target, though it appears the Mouse House will hold fire until December of next year as opposed to the film’s original May release window.