The latter’s appearance caused a bit of a stir, not only because the main hero of the entire Star Wars franchise showed up, but because of the technology used to recreate a younger Luke Skywalker. Some fans and critics weren’t happy with Luke here, particularly as he had significantly more screen time and lengthy talking scenes. Many noted that Luke felt unnatural, particularly due to his voice, despite the improved deepfake look of the character which was significantly better than the last time he appeared on Disney+. Ultimately, Lucasfilm and Disney are clearly heading down this CGI, deepfake route with Star Wars for the foreseeable future, and the reason why might be the flat box office performance and overall lack of interest in the second spin-off film, Solo: A Star Wars Story.
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Solo was a film that had many issues leading up to its release, so much so that a poor box office intake (less than $400 million worldwide, the first in the franchise to lose money) wasn’t that much of a surprise. Lord and Miller, the original directors of the film, were removed close to the end of shooting, and Ron Howard replaced the duo and reshot the vast majority of the movie. There was also talk of some actors needing help in their portrayal of a younger version of a famous character, including the star Alden Ehrenreich, who played Han Solo. Ehrenreich has since attempted to set the record straight by denying any notion that he needed an acting coach to help with his performance as the iconic smuggler originally played by Harrison Ford. Still, even if not all of the rumors are true, the rough shoot for the film alone arguably was enough to put some doubt in the minds of Disney, and could be a reason for their moving towards deepfakes and CGI when it comes to these iconic characters.
Solo was also a film that many fans needed to be convinced by, as the interest in the title character was so closely tied to Harrison Ford. Therefore, the idea of a new actor coming in to play the character was perplexing to many audiences, and Lucasfilm and Disney needed to get fans on board prior to the release.
Due to the presence of Avengers: Infinity War releasing just a few weeks prior, and the latest Mary Poppins film coming in December (when all previous Disney Star Wars films released), then CEO Bob Iger opted to hold Solo to its May 25 release date against the wishes of many at Lucasfilm. At the same time, Iger opted not to advertise Solo extensively, as he didn’t want to take away from Marvel’s big event film. Iger admitted he was at fault for Solo’s poor performance in his recent autobiography, but the whole ordeal of simply making Solo and releasing it in theaters like this was so chaotic that it just might have put a bad taste in the mouths of Disney executives.
Interestingly, Solo was a film that needed more advertising than most other Star Wars projects, as audiences needed to be convinced by Alden Ehrenreich in the role, or at least intrigued enough to pay for a ticket to the movie. The marketing campaign was especially crucial for the success of the movie, meaning that Iger’s decision had detrimental effects to its box office performance and may have largely contributed to the current path that the franchise is on now when it comes to these famous characters.
Ultimately, it seems less divisive to just use CGI or deepfake technology to recreate these iconic characters. Some discourse came out of Luke’s appearance in The Book of Boba Fett, but it was nothing compared to the constantly arguing about The Last Jedi, for example. Similarly, this discourse didn’t result in a wave of negative publicity like Solo: A Star Wars story did, which garnered a lot of attention for being the first film in the franchise to lose money as well as the troubled production and the overall direction Disney was taking Star Wars in. Disney and Lucasfilm reacted to this by saying they were taking a break from live action films and reevaluating spin-offs. It seems that they simply moved these spin-off plans to Disney+ on large part, as demonstrated by Obi-Wan Kenobi, which was originally set to be a film and was in development for this medium for years.
Of course, projects like Obi-Wan Kenobi are easier to approach than Solo because there is an established actor ready to reprise his role, whereas Solo needed to prove itself more. Ultimately, it seems to be quite an extensive and work-intensive project to make something like Solo, as it requires so much convincing to buy into Alden Ehrenreich as Han without actually seeing the movie. Other factors like Bob Iger’s poor decision making complicate matters and hurt this film’s chances even more, but it still seems like an ordeal to go down this route, and definitely played into Disney’s thinking for the future.
To play devil’s advocate, it seems Lucasfilm are also sticking to and adhering to canon when it comes to these casting decisions. If Han Solo were to appear after Return of the Jedi, it seems a given that they would deepfake Harrison Ford to do this. Yes, they set a precedent for this with Luke on Disney+, but it seemed likely that they would do that anyway even prior to Solo, as they are always intent on keeping canon intact. It would confuse many audiences to recast Han or any other iconic characters after the actors associated with these roles had already played them in the timeline. Given that, fans haven’t yet seen a prequel version of a character like Solo had, so it remains a possibility that they return to the recasting route for a future movie.
Still, it’s a shame that Solo seems to be the reason for this deepfake direction that Star Wars has gone in. The deepfake and technology used to recreate Luke is incredible, and it makes sense that they went down this route as the technology improves, but Solo arguably doesn’t deserve to be the reason for this as it is an enjoyable film. Alden Ehrenreich has a different portrayal of Han than Ford did, but he still captures the essence of the character in the same way. Ultimately, though, it’s exciting to see characters like Luke on screen again, as are the possibilities of seeing other iconic characters like Han, Leia, and more return as well.
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