Solo: A Star Wars Story

[GeneChing]

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The Man Who Would Be Han Solo (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/06/fashion/mens-style/alden-ehrenreich-actor-hollywood.html?_r=0)
Meet Alden Ehrenreich, the actor who was discovered by Steven Spielberg,
and is a favorite of Warren Beatty, George Clooney and the Coen brothers.

By MATTHEW SCHNEIERMAY 6, 2016

The most repeated story about the career of Alden Ehrenreich, an actor whose name is worth committing to memory now, is a story of discovery, a miracle of luck and circumstance not unlike Lana Turner’s at the soda fountain.

But because Mr. Ehrenreich, 26, is a young Jewish prince of the Palisades and our story begins in the early aughts, the soda fountain is a Los Angeles bat mitzvah and the discoverer is Steven Spielberg.

Mr. Ehrenreich is used to retelling the details, he said, though over the years, people have become more and more apologetic about asking for them again.

The broad strokes are these: At the age of 13, noodling around with a video camera, he and a friend made a funny video for the bat mitzvah of a friend of a friend. It was a surreal and haphazardly plotted love story, which began in the present and eventually cut to 20 or 30 years later, with Mr. Ehrenreich, in a kimono, screaming to stop a wedding.

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Mr. Ehrenreich as Hobie Doyle in “Hail, Caesar!” Credit Universal Pictures

“When we showed it to our parents, they said, ‘You look like a moron, you can’t let anyone see this,’” Mr. Ehrenreich said.

He was not even at the bat mitzvah where it was screened, but Mr. Spielberg was. A call from DreamWorks, the studio Mr. Spielberg helped found, and a meeting with its casting director followed.

Mr. Ehrenreich’s progress has been slower than that overnight-sensation story would suggest.

After the video, he spent years auditioning, bagging stray cameos on procedurals and in teen-friendly TV shows. He built himself up by gradual persistence, and though his name is not yet immediately familiar to you, it is to a handful of Hollywood heavyweights: Francis Ford Coppola, Woody Allen, the Coen Brothers, Warren Beatty.

“I think you’ve chosen a good person to be writing about,” Mr. Beatty said when a reporter called, citing Mr. Ehrenreich’s “unusual combination of sensitivity and intelligence and humor.” “My feeling is that he is going to be a major player in movies.”

That may happen sooner than later. Mr. Ehrenreich is suddenly being discussed all over Hollywood, as trade papers and gossip columns on both coasts trumpeted this week that he has landed the role of Star Wars’ Han Solo in the coming Solo standalone movie, scheduled for 2018, rumors of which have circulated for weeks. When asked, Mr. Ehrenreich said he could not say anything about it, though he did cop to being a Star Wars fan. (“Who isn’t?” he said. Star Wars vs. Star Trek? “Probably both.”) A representative for Disney, which distributes the Star Wars films and owns Lucasfilm, which produces them, declined to comment.

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“When you watch a lot of movies as a kid, the stories do shape a little bit how you view the world,” Mr. Ehrenreich said. Credit Jake Michaels for The New York Times

Before then — most likely — Mr. Ehrenreich will star in Mr. Beatty’s long-gestating film about two young strivers who arrive in Hollywood to work for the mogul Howard Hughes. (Mr. Beatty has had it in mind since the 1970s.) In April it was reported that the film would be released this fall, though Mr. Beatty said that a date had not been chosen.

Mr. Ehrenreich’s rise comes after a few starts that stalled. “Tetro,” a modest family drama by Mr. Coppola, was warmly received but played at only 16 theaters in the United States at its widest release. “Beautiful Creatures,” a big-budget supernatural teen romance, fizzled.

Then came Joel and Ethan Coen’s back-lot comedy, “Hail, Caesar!,” with a star-making turn for Mr. Ehrenreich.

“Hail, Caesar!” is a loving sendup of old Hollywood, a jaunty caper of kidnapping and Communist intrigue set at Capitol Pictures, a fictional studio. Its plot functions mostly as a way to cram a variety of 1950s studio-system genre flicks and scenery-chewing actors into a dizzy pastiche.

George Clooney does his best Charlton Heston in “Hail, Caesar!,” a “Ben-Hur”-ish film within the film. Scarlett Johansson vamps as an Esther Williams-style mermaid. Channing Tatum tap-dances a ****erotic homage to Gene Kelly.

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Mr. Ehrenreich, center, with Rodrigo de la Serna, left, and Vincent Gallo in “Tetro.” Credit Alicia Schemper/American Zoetrope

Even in such company, Mr. Ehrenreich stood out. As the cowboy crooner Hobie Doyle, a Western actor shoehorned into a prim drawing-room comedy called “Merrily We Dance” (another film within the film), he made off with entire scenes.

He went nose to nose with Ralph Fiennes in what may be the film’s most endearing bit of shtick: a painstaking elocution lesson in which a country boy butchers a line (“Would that it were so simple!”) in attempted mid-Atlantic English.

“Hail, Caesar!” — the Coen brothers’ film, rather than the Capitol Pictures one — was met with mixed response (though it was a hit with many critics, wise to the countless Hollywood in-jokes). But Mr. Ehrenreich in particular, who took lessons in rope tricks (with both lasso and spaghetti), horseback riding, guitar and gun slinging to prepare, earned raves.

“Charming,” The New York Times wrote. “Superb,” Variety wrote.

“Alden is the kind of actor that steals every scene he’s in,” Mr. Clooney wrote in an email. “It’s so much fun to watch how hard he works and how effortless it seems.”

Hobie Doyle would seem an odd choice for Mr. Ehrenreich, a kid from Los Angeles (he attended the Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences, in Santa Monica, Calif., where Jonah Hill and Jack Black were also students). He campaigned for an audition and won the role — in part, one suspects, because he has such an affinity with old Hollywood himself.
continued next post

[GeneChing]

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/05/06/fashion/06ALDEN3/06ALDEN3-blog427.jpg
Cotton shirt by 3x1, $265 at Saks Fifth Avenue, Beverly Hills, 9634 Wilshire Boulevard, 310-275-4211; silk, cotton and linen pants by Brunello Cucinelli, price on request at Brunello Cucinelli, 136 Greene Street, 212-334-1010; belt by Barneys New York, $105 at select Barneys New York stores and barneys.com; calfskin sneakers by Louis Leeman, $750 at Louis Leeman, 793 Madison Avenue, 212-879-0538. Styling by Ilaria Urbinati. Grooming by Barbara Guillaume for Art Department. Credit Jake Michaels for The New York Times

Unlike many of his contemporaries vying to be X-Men or rom-com heartthrobs, Mr. Ehrenreich resembles the stars of an earlier era. At 26, his hair is already silvering, as if by force of will. Raised by movie-buff parents, Mr. Ehrenreich speaks worshipfully of Paul Newman and Jimmy Stewart, Frank Capra and Elia Kazan.

“When you watch a lot of movies as a kid, the stories do shape a little bit how you view the world,” he said.

Mr. Ehrenreich spent a few years at New York University but left in 2011, without completing a degree. Film was always the goal. “I just had a feeling of ‘I know what I want to do, and I want to start doing it again,’” he said.

In effect, he put himself through his own film school with Mr. Coppola, with whom he lived for weeks while preparing for “Tetro.” “I was young enough that I didn’t know not to pepper him with questions all day long, so that’s all I did,” Mr. Ehrenreich said. “All day long, I’m like, ‘What was Robert Duvall like? What was Pacino like?’ It was the greatest mentorship I could have ever imagined from essentially my favorite director of all time.”

He repeated the process with Mr. Beatty, over hourslong meetings and lunches at the Musso & Frank Grill in Hollywood.

When Mr. Ehrenreich got the “Tetro” role, he had appeared in zero films. But he impressed one of its executive producers, Fred Roos, who has worked with Mr. Coppola on casting and production since “The Godfather.”

“I think he can be a real star,” Mr. Roos said. “You will build movies around him. I think he’s talented enough to bring off anything. One of my oldest friends in the business, who’s a movie star that never fit any mold, is Jack Nicholson. Alden kind of has the Jack personality from the get-go.”

Mr. Ehrenreich is not a star, yet. Despite the accolades for “Hail, Caesar!” his day-to-day life is not radically different. He still goes most days to the one-room office he rents in West Hollywood to read scripts and write, on the lot where, by coincidence, “Hail, Caesar!” was shot. (It is the site of the original United Artists, the studio founded by Mr. Chaplin and others.)

The office is so sparsely furnished as to be Kafkaesque, bare but for a cheap desk and two office chairs, an AM/FM radio and a college-dorm mini fridge plugged into one wall. The only bit of décor, balanced facedown against one wall, is the oversize prop poster for “Lazy Ol’ Moon,” a Hobie Doyle western glimpsed in “Hail, Caesar!”

Mr. Ehrenreich walks to work. The paparazzi have not yet noticed.

“Things changed a little bit, maybe, professionally, but I’m learning how much you are always ignorant of what the life of something is outside of it,” he said. “It starts from zero every time. Every time you finish, you’re unemployed.”

But whether he is aware of it, people are watching, inside the industry and outside of it. He has already shot the Iraq war drama “The Yellow Birds,” and Mr. Beatty’s film, whenever it arrives, will likely bring Mr. Ehrenreich even more attention. “I think it’ll be a real step up for him, as far as things being offered to him,” said Mr. Roos, who saw it in a private screening.

So for now, he is adjusting to life on the cusp of stardom.

“You get used to it, though I don’t think you ever really get used to it,” he said of seeing himself onscreen. “I remember the first time with ‘Tetro.’ It’s like when you look in the mirror at the end of a long day: That’s who I was all day? And it’s that, times 10.”

They should have got the kid who played Young Indiana Jones. Ok, not, just kidding. I don't even remember who that kid was (and I'm not bothering with IMDB to find out).

[GeneChing]

I keep reading Donald Glover as Danny Glover and then try to imagine him as Lando. :o


'Atlanta' star Donald Glover to play young Lando Calrissian in 'Star Wars' spin-off (http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Atlanta-star-Donald-Glover-to-play-young-Lando-10061943.php)
By Alyssa Pereira Updated 3:36 pm, Friday, October 21, 2016

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IMAGE 1 OF 32 ATLANTA, GA - AUGUST 25: Actor Donald Glover attends the 'Atlanta' Atlanta screening at Georgia Aquarium on August 25, 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia.

"Atlanta" creator and star Donald Glover has been cast as a young Lando Calrissian in a forthcoming "Star Wars" spin-off alongside Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo.
Glover grew to fame on television while starring in NBC's "Community" and in the music world rapping under the moniker Childish Gambino. Today he stars in and executive produces "Atlanta" for FX.
Not much is known yet about the as of yet untitled "Star Wars" flick, but an announcement on StarWars.com offers some clues.
"This new film depicts Lando in his formative years as a scoundrel on the rise in the galaxy's underworld," the post reads, noting that the plot takes place "years before" the events involving Han, Leia, and Darth Vader in "Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back."
"We're so lucky to have an artist as talented as Donald join us," said Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the film's directors. "These are big shoes to fill, and an even bigger cape, and this one fits him perfectly, which will save us money on alterations. Also, we'd like to publicly apologize to Donald for ruining Comic-Con for him forever."
The new Han Solo film featuring Glover will hit theaters in 2018.

Read Alyssa Pereira's latest stories, and follow her on Twitter at @alyspereira.
Send her news tips at apereira@sfchronicle.com.

[GeneChing]

That's kind of funny.


Star Wars: Red Cup Han Solo Working Title Logo Revealed, And What It Tells Us (http://comicbook.com/starwars/2017/01/30/star-wars-red-cup-han-solo-working-title-logo-revealed/)
Lucas Siegel- 01/30/2017
Newsletter

In a twitter post announcing the official start of principal photography for Han Solo: A Star Wars Story (not official title), director Chris Miller, who is directing alongside Phil Lord, also revealed the logo for the working title: Red Cup (it's a pun on red plastic cups by the company... Solo). Yes, even the working title gets its own Star Wars logo, though it's uncertain whether it indicates anything about the film.


The logo, like the first logo revealed for Episode VIII, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, is in red - something analyzed quite a bit last week when that logo was revealed, but here likely just indicative of the "red cup" moniker. The fonts chosen tell a little more of a story, though; while "Star Wars" is in the typical font for those words, the words "Red Cup" are in big, blocky bold letters that look like they belong in the title card of an old Western. Fans of those films, which were frequently cited as a major influence for George Lucas on the original Star Wars movies, can no doubt picture titles like "Fistful of Dollars" or "High Noon" written in this exact font.

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(Photo: Chris Miller / Lucasfilm)

While we don't know much at all about the plot of Han Solo, we do know that the time it takes place, the "Dark Times" period between the prequel and original trilogies, featured a Han Solo that was an all-out outlaw, making his way across the galaxy as a smuggler, long before he'd joined up with any kind of Rebellion. With the focus being on high-flying adventure, and with characters like Han and Lando involved meaning there has to be at least one major heist, it makes sense that it would also lean much more heavily toward a Western influence than the typical mix of Westerns, war serials, and Samurai epics that Star Wars is known to derive from.

The Star Wars film currently iin post-production, The Last Jedi, filmed under the production title "Space Bear: Episode VIII" and also had its own working title logo, which featured a panda bear face in the word Episode as the O.

More Star Wars News: How New Naming Structure for Episode Movies May Reveal Secrets of The Last Jedi | Star Wars: The Last Jedi - The Other Times The New Movie Title Has Been Used | Star Wars: The Last Jedi Director Rian Johnson Teases Opening Crawl in New Still | Who is The Last Jedi? | Major Luke & Rey Reveals Coming | Does Snoke Know About The Last Jedi? | Is Tom Hardy in The Last Jedi? | Reddit User Guessed the Episode VIII Title | Star Wars: Episode VIII title revealed | Star Wars: Episode VIII Title Was Decided Long Ago | Teaser Photos

Han Solo: A Star Wars Story is filming now under directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller for a 2018 release (no specific date has been officially announced). Alden Ehrenreich stars as a young Han Solo in the era before Star Wars: A New Hope, before he met Leia and Luke and embarked on a galaxy-saving adventure. Donald Glover also stars as Lando Calrissian, with Woody Harrelson and Emilia Clarke in as-yet-unrevealed co-starring roles.

[GeneChing]

This is interesting when you consider Howard's connection to Ford and Lucas through American Graffiti.


JUNE 22, 2017 7:20am PT by Borys Kit, Kim Masters
Ron Howard Steps in to Direct Han Solo Movie (Exclusive) (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-han-solo-movie-ron-howard-steps-direct-1015674)
Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were let go from the project after creative differences over style and tone came to a head.

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Amanda Edwards/Getty Images
Ron Howard

Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were let go from the project after creative differences over style and tone came to a head.

The Millennium Falcon has a new pilot.

Ron Howard has been named as the new director of Lucasfilm and Disney's untitled Han Solo movie, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter exclusively. The official announcement is expected Thursday morning.

The move comes two days after directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were let go from the movie they had spent over four-and-a-half months directing. Creative differences over style and tone came to a head between the duo and Lawrence Kasdan, with the studio backing the veteran screenwriter.

The firing sent shockwaves around Hollywood and beyond as the movie was about three-quarters through principal photography and the replacement of a director at that stage is near-unprecedented. The movie was scheduled to shoot for three and a half more weeks, with five weeks of reshoots built into the schedule — the latter a standard procedure on large franchise productions.

Howard, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter, will meet with the actors — Alden Ehrenreich is playing the iconic smuggler, Donald Glover is playing Lando Calrissian, with Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke and Thandie Newton also on the roll call — to soothe a rattled set and will pore over a rough edit to see what the project needs. Filming will resume on July 10.

Howard, who directed 1995's Apollo 13 and won an Oscar for helming 2002's A Beautiful Mind, comes to the Han Solo film with several connections to George Lucas and the worlds of Lucasfilm. He appeared in Lucas' 1973 breakout film American Graffiti and helmed Lucas' 1988 pet fantasy project Willow. Howard also revealed on a podcast in 2015 that Lucas had approached him to direct 1999's Star Wars prequel The Phantom Menace.

Though his recent movies, including Inferno and In the Heart of the Sea, have been costly ventures that underperformed at the box office, Howard is considered to be a safe choice to complete the task, someone who will ably finish the movie while being a calming presence on set.

"At Lucasfilm, we believe the highest goal of each film is to delight, carrying forward the spirit of the saga that George Lucas began 40 years ago," said Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm, in a statement. "With that in mind, we're thrilled to announce that Ron Howard will step in to direct the untitled Han Solo film. We have a wonderful script, an incredible cast and crew and the absolute commitment to make a great movie."

Howard is repped by CAA.

The untitled Han Solo film is slated for release on May 25, 2018.

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9izRKUMrfNY

[GeneChing]

JUNE 26, 2017 6:00am PT by Kim Masters
'Star Wars' Firing Reveals a Disturbance in the Franchise (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-han-solo-movie-firing-new-details-behind-phil-lord-chris-miller-exit-1016619)
New details emerge from the set of the troubled Han Solo movie (an editor fired, a last-minute acting coach hired) as insiders debate whether problems trace to directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, or if the Disney and Lucasfilm series can accommodate divergent styles.

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Courtesy of Fox
Chris Miller (left) and Phil Lord

New details emerge from the set of the troubled Han Solo movie (an editor fired, a last-minute acting coach hired) as insiders debate whether problems trace to directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, or if the Disney and Lucasfilm series can accommodate divergent styles.
Matters had already reached a boiling point in mid-June when Phil Lord and Chris Miller, co-directors of the still-untitled young Han Solo movie, were in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon but didn’t start shooting until 1 p.m. That day the two used only three different setups — that is, three variations on camera placement — as opposed to the 12 to 15 that Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy had expected, according to sources with knowledge of the situation. Not only was the going slow, but the few angles that had been shot did not provide a wealth of options to use in editing the movie.

This was hardly the first time Kennedy was unhappy with how the film was progressing. And as he looked at dailies from his home in Los Angeles, Lawrence Kasdan — screenwriter, executive producer and keeper of the Stars Wars flame — also was said to be displeased.

Meanwhile, Lord and Miller, the exceptionally successful team behind The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street, were chafing, too, according to a source close to them. There were "deep fundamental philosophical differences" in filmmaking styles, this person says, and the directors felt they were being given "zero creative freedom." They also felt they were being asked to operate under "extreme scheduling constraints" and "were never given enough days for each scene from the very beginning."

Shortly after the shoot in the Millennium Falcon, on June 20, the world learned that Kennedy — with the backing of Disney studio chief Alan Horn — had taken the extraordinary step of firing Lord and Miller. Obviously, Kennedy knew this would set off a storm of publicity that no one wants or needs in any movie — especially one in the Star Wars universe, where every move is closely watched by a gigantic audience with a sense of ownership. It's rare and undesirable enough to fire any director. Firing established players like Lord and Miller, who have a fan base ready to give them the benefit of any doubt? That shocked Hollywood's most seasoned veterans.

Anxious to avoid an outright rupture, Kennedy is said to have made attempts first to support and eventually to supplant Lord and Miller to some degree, as happened with Gareth Edwards on the troubled Rogue One. In that case, screenwriter Tony Gilroy took on significant duties with the cooperation of Edwards; in this case, sources say, Kennedy attempted to cast Kasdan in that role. Unsurprisingly, Lord and Miller were less accommodating than Edwards, still a novice, had been. Lord and Miller declined to comment, as did Kennedy.

As soon as shooting got underway, insiders say, it started to become clear that Kennedy’s stated intention of hiring directors who would put their own spin on Star Wars movies had led to a mismatch. Some insiders say that while the talent of Lord and Miller is undeniable, nothing in their background prepared them for a movie of this size and scope. These sources say they relied too heavily on the improvisational style that served them so well in live-action comedy and animation but does not work on a set with hundreds of crewmembers waiting for direction.

“You have to make decisions much earlier than what they’re used to,” one of these sources say. “I don’t know if it’s because there were two of them but they were not decisive.” Production department heads began to complain. While the pair appeared to listen when told of festering problems, this person says their approach did not change.

But the source close to Lord and Miller acknowledges they have always worked in an improvisational style and not just to add comedic elements. "They collaborate closely with their actors and give them creative freedom that, in their experience, brings out the actors' best performances," this person says. "Lawrence Kasdan would not allow this and demanded that every line was said word for word. To appease him and the studio, Lord and Miller would do several takes exactly as written and then shoot additional takes."

Matters were coming to a head in May as the production moved from London to the Canary Islands. Lucasfilm replaced editor Chris Dickens (Macbeth) with Oscar-winner Pietro Scalia, a veteran of Ridley Scott films including Alien: Covenant and The Martian. And, not entirely satisfied with the performance that the directors were eliciting from Rules Don't Apply star Alden Ehrenreich, Lucasfilm decided to bring in an acting coach. (Hiring a coach is not unusual; hiring one that late in production is.) Lord and Miller suggested writer-director Maggie Kiley, who worked with them on 21 Jump Street.

When Kennedy felt that these measures did not get the production on track, she asked Kasdan to come to London. Kasdan is said also to have been unhappy with the limited shots and displeased that Lord and Miller were calling out lines for the actors to try from behind the monitor rather than sticking with the script that he had written in collaboration with his son. (Lord and Miller had input on the script before shooting began.) “As a writer, producer and part of Star Wars world, you get on a plane when that happens,” says a person with knowledge of the situation.

continued next post

[GeneChing]

But Lord and Miller were not prepared to have Kasdan become a shadow director. With an impasse reached, Kennedy finally pulled the trigger.

Stepping in to replace directors who have been fired is not something that many filmmakers would want to do. Ron Howard is probably one of the few who could and would — at least, in this particular set of circumstances. Insiders say he was concerned about how Lord and Miller would react and has been emailing with them; another source says the two have been “very supportive, very elegant.” Howard arrives in London on June 26 and shooting, which began in February and was supposed to be completed in July, will continue into the first week of September as Howard captures new material. Still, an insider says much of what Lord and Miller shot will be “very usable.”

How credit will be determined is up to the Directors Guild of America. What will happen next for Lord and Miller isn’t clear, but they are in demand and have an open berth waiting for them to direct The Flash for Warner Bros., if they chose to take it. (They had left that film for the Han Solo movie but could return.)

While Kennedy declined to comment on the episode, just a year ago, THR did a Q-and-A with her that sheds light on her thinking. Kennedy discussed her belief that within major franchises, it is possible to “take artistic license and creative risks.” She added, “If all you're doing is playing it safe — trying to make the same movie over and over again — that's when the audiences say, 'Oh, this is just a moneymaking machine.’ But if it's genuinely in service to the art form, then the franchise concept is being used in a way that's exciting.”

But at the same time, Kennedy — speaking in the context of hiring young, relatively untested directors (as opposed to established filmmakers like Lord and Miller) — said these choices were “instinctual.” And she continued with a statement that seemed, perhaps presciently, to address what may have gone awry on the Han Solo movie: “One of the things I've come to realize since I've been in this position of keeping Star Wars going is that in addition to looking for somebody who can creatively have an impact, you're really looking for leadership skills. No one steps into these big movies without being able to genuinely lead the charge with hundreds of people and [handle] the relationship with the studio. That's a very difficult thing to do, and you don't know [a person can do] that until you get to spend time and watch somebody operate.”

There are some in the industry who see an emerging pattern suggesting that Kennedy’s appetite for creative license and risk-taking will have to be curbed. Josh Trank was dismissed from the second Star Wars stand-alone film before he even started based on problems with Fantastic Four; Edwards, who conceived of Rogue One as a dark war film, was shunted aside; and now this. For all the talk of hiring filmmakers with their own vision, observers say Kennedy and Disney may be learning that the franchise is defined by a particular set of parameters. “All of the films have been 'troubled,'" says a top executive at a rival studio. “J.J. [Abrams] was powerful enough to push back on an unrealistic start date [for the first movie], but that was a tug of war. The last one was reshot by Tony [Gilroy] for months and now this? This is a systemic problem.”

But an insider argues that Rian Johnson (Looper) shot Star Wars: The Last Jedi, set for release in December, seamlessly, proving that the right director can execute without major interference from Lucasfilm. The search for new and interesting filmmakers will continue and for many, perhaps, the siren call of Star Wars will be impossible to resist.

On the Han Solo movie, a high-level insider says Kennedy and Disney "were hoping for a meeting of the minds [with Lord and Miller] that never came." But if had Kennedy fired them earlier, another source says, “People would say, 'Why the hell didn’t you try to work it out?’ You’re ****ed if you do and ****ed if you don’t.”

June 26, 4:15 p.m. A previous version of this article stated that the crew of the Han Solo spinoff broke into applause following the announcement of Ron Howard as director. In fact, these sources say the applause came at the end of the meeting in which the departure of Lord and Miller was announced and they were informed a new director would be arriving. These sources say the mood at the meeting was somber but there was applause "in support of the movie" (not in support of Lord and Miller's departure).

Shadow Director or Phantom Menace? The Star Wars pun potential abounds.

[GeneChing]

Bummer. Reminds me of what happened to Bai Ling with her Star Wars role (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?60767-Bai-Ling-s-Next-Role&p=1280671#post1280671), only totally different. It must really suck for any actor to be kicked off the Star Wars ride.


AUGUST 22, 2017 2:27pm PT by Borys Kit
Han Solo Movie Loses Michael Kenneth Williams to Reshoots (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/han-solo-movie-loses-michael-kenneth-williams-1031757)

http://cdn5.thr.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/scale_crop_768_433/2017/03/gettyimages-631483146-h_2017.jpg
Greg Doherty/Getty Images
Michael Kenneth Williams

There was no choice but to “clip-clip-clip” his character from the 'Star Wars' spinoff, said the Emmy-nominated actor.
The effects from the director change for the Han Solo stand-alone movie continue to reverberate.

Michael Kenneth Williams, one of the film’s actors, is now a casualty of the reshoots, with his character no longer appearing in the untitled Star Wars spinoff, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Williams played a half-human, half-animal alien in the feature, but that was before Phil Lord and Chris Miller were replaced by Ron Howard in June. The move, almost unheard of so late in a film's production, caused shooting to cease and launched an evaluation of what was already shot, before restarting with Howard at the helm in July.

With Williams now shooting the Chris Evans spy thriller The Red Sea Diving Resort in South Africa, that proved problematic.

“That would have required me on a plane a month ago to London, to Pinewood, to do reshoots,” Williams told Deadline. “But I’m here, on location in Africa. It’s scheduling. I’m not going to be back on the market until the end of November after [his SundanceTV series] Hap and Leonard, and for them to wait that long for me, that would have pushed back the release date.”

There was no choice but to “clip-clip-clip” his character, said the actor, who is currently nominated for an Emmy in the outstanding supporting actor category for movie or limited series fo HBO's The Night Of.

The Han Solo movie has seen a few other changes in the reshoots, with both Willow star Warwick Davis and Howard’s brother, Clint Howard, added to the cast.

[GeneChing]

I'll update the thread title now. :rolleyes:


OCTOBER 17, 2017 9:15am PT by Ashley Lee
'Star Wars': Han Solo Movie Title Revealed (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-han-solo-movie-title-revealed-1015937)

'Solo: A Star Wars Story' hits theaters May 25, 2018.

The young Han Solo Star Wars spinoff finally has a name: Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Ron Howard is directing the movie and revealed the title via Twitter on Tuesday.

The Disney and Lucasfilm origin story stars Alden Ehrenreich as the iconic smuggler alongside Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian. Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke and Thandie Newton are also among the cast. Solo is Lucasfilm's second Star Wars stand-alone movie, following last year's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Howard took over directing duties in June after filmmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller were let go due to creative differences over style and tone between the duo and Lawrence Kasdan, the veteran screenwriter who penned the script with his son Jon Kasdan. Howard has been teasing set pieces and character hints on Twitter for the past few months, and on Tuesday he thanked the cast and crew for their hard work as production wraps up.

Solo: A Star Wars Story hits theaters May 25, 2018. Meanwhile, there's only two months left until the next Star Wars film when The Last Jedi opens on Dec. 15.

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Szts88zY4o

There's to be another longer one later today.

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNW0B0HsvVs

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPEYpryMp2s

[GeneChing]

Trying to figure a way to justify reviewing this, just in case we get offered a screener. :confused:


APRIL 19, 2018 6:05AM PT
‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ Set to Hit China on May 25 (http://variety.com/2018/film/news/solo-a-star-wars-story-release-china-may-25-1202758417/)
By Vivienne Chow

https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/solo-a-star-wars-story-15.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1
CREDIT: COURTESY OF LUCASFILM LTD.

“Solo: A Star Wars Story” has been set for release in China on the same day as in the U.S., giving the latest “Star Wars” installment a day-and-date opening in the world’s two biggest film markets.

According to Chinese movie website Douban, “Solo” will open in North America and mainland China on May 25, ten days after its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. The Chinese title refers to the maverick lead character as “Ranger Solo.”

Disney’s intergalactic franchise might be one of the biggest cinematic phenomena in history, but its reception in mainland China has been tepid. “The Force Awakens” (2016) grossed $124 million in the Middle Kingdom, but “Rogue One” (2017) took in just $69 million, despite having Chinese kung fu superstar Donnie Yen on board. “The Last Jedi” dropped to $42 million at the Chinese box office.

Chinese moviegoers do not seem to be impressed by the arrival of a new chapter. One wrote on Douban: “Two-star expectations only. Better safe than sorry.”

[GeneChing]

MAY 4, 2018 3:33AM PT
‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ Secures Day-and-Date China Theatrical Release (http://variety.com/2018/film/news/han-solo-day-and-date-china-theatrical-release-1202798624/)
By Patrick Frater
Asia Bureau Chief

https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/han-solo-china-crop.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1
CREDIT: COURTESY OF DISNEY

“Solo: A Star Wars Story” has been confirmed for a mainland China theatrical outing on May 25, giving the spinoff film a day-and-date outing alongside North America and most of the rest of the world.

The film has its worldwide premiere later this month, on May 15, at the Cannes Film Festival, before beginning its worldwide commercial career in a few markets from May 24. The film is directed by Ron Howard and produced by Disney’s Lucasfilm from a screenplay by Jonathan and Lawrence Kasdan.

The original “Star Wars” franchise was not screened in China until several years after its initial release in other territories. Contemporaneous screening of the newest episodes began in the new, modern era of Chinese cinema in 2016 with the release of “The Force Awakens.” That film earned a very respectable $124 million from its Jan. 9, 2016, release.

But without the traction and fan base that the series has elsewhere, the franchise has struggled in China to maintain those numbers. “Rogue One,” released on Jan. 6, 2017, grossed $69.5 million, and “The Last Jedi,” released on Jan. 5, 2018, slipped to $42.7 million.

“Solo” stars Alden Ehrenreich as Solo. It also has a cast that includes Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Thandie Newton, Paul Bettany, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and Joonas Suotamo.

The official Chinese poster released by Disney sports the title (in Chinese) “Knight-Errant Solo.” The artwork features the movie’s stars under the slogan: “Unbridled hero. Extraordinary partners.” In a move that slightly distances the new film from the main franchise movies, the new poster even uses a different Chinese font. It includes an English-language logo in the corner that simply reads “Solo: Star Wars.”

https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/solo-chinese-poster-low-res.jpg?w=731&h=1024


Knight-Errant. I guess that works.

[GeneChing]

... but it's next week and with 10th Tiger Claw Elite KungFuMagazine.com Championship (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?70463-10th-Tiger-Claw-Elite-KungFuMagazine-com-Championship-May-19-20-2018-San-Jose-CA) this weekend, we just can't make that happen.

Can't make this happen (https://vimeo.com/261938598) either. And it's local.

I find this lack of Star Wars disturbing.

[GeneChing]

We don't know if there will be lightsabers in SOLO but while we're on the subject of Star Wars, READ Lightsaber Combat and the Value of Myth in the Martial Arts (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=1424) by Dr. Benjamin N. Judkins and Chad Eisner

http://www.kungfumagazine.com/admin/site_images/KungfuMagazine/upload/6909_20182303-lightsabers.jpg

THREADS: Solo: A Star Wars Story (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?69496-Solo-A-Star-Wars-Story) & Jedi Academies

[GeneChing]

That was better than expected. Kinda sweet in that ‘awww Baby Han’ way. It answered a lot of questions that I didn't really have about Han, Chewie & Lando. One question that still bothers me - why doesn’t the name ‘Chewbacca’ sound like that in wookienese? That’s been bugging me since the very first film. Great droid, very different than previous droid and still a total scene stealer. Decent pacing and action overall. And I loved the reveal - if only no one had SPOILED IT. I did it to myself scanning reviews. I would definitely watch a sequel to this just to follow up on that reveal. If I didn't know that was coming beforehand, it would've rocked me. And to see his name in the credits just made me so happy. May the FORCE be with him. **** spoiler review - I think it was in a **** headline too - couldn't miss it on the **** newsfeeds.

No lightsaber fights tho. And the music wasn’t as good as usual. Nevertheless, I won’t deny it as canon-worthy.

[GeneChing]

This is a spoiler for anyone who hasn't seen Solo: A Star Wars Story (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?69496-Solo-A-Star-Wars-Story). But if you haven't by now, I doubt you care.


Star Wars: A Complete History Of Darth Maul (https://screenrant.com/darth-maul-star-wars-story-history-appearances/)
BY SARAH MORAN – ON SEP 13, 2018 IN SR ORIGINALS

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Solo: A Star Wars Story is a surprising movie for a lot of reasons, but it's the unexpected cameo appearance of Darth Maul that has people talking most. And for good reason, seeing as the last time most movie-goers saw Darth Maul he was cut in half and sent plummeting down a reactor shaft, leaving audiences to assume he died (he didn't).

For fans of Star Wars animation, Maul surviving his bisection at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi is old news, and in both Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, Maul reemerges from the shadows, seeking revenge. In fact, Maul's role in those series (as well as the comics) is where the bulk of his character's journey is explored, finally giving fans the look at the villain they've been wanting ever since he first shrugged off that cloak and ignited his double-bladed lightsaber.

With his cameo in Solo: A Star Wars Story, a new chapter is added to Darth Maul's story, but some viewers may still be unclear about when this cameo appearance falls in his personal timeline. For that, we've outlined Maul's history, explaining when this cameo falls and what it might mean for the character's film future.

MAUL: A DARTH IN TRAINING

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Well before he was a Darth, he was simply Maul. Born on Dathomir to Mother Talzin - leader of the Force-wielding witches, the Nightsisters - Maul and his brothers, Savage Opress and Feral, were trained from an early age to be warriors. Talzin was a close ally of Darth Sidious, and often the Sith Lord would come to Dathomir to learn new and dark Force powers from the witch. She had hopes of one day becoming his apprentice, but when Sidious noted the great potential in her son, he chose Maul instead.

Maul quickly became deeply entrenched in his Sith training, even visiting Malachor - home to an ancient Sith temple - where Sidious made him inhale the ashes of Sith warriors slain by the Jedi so he could experience their anguish and pain. From that moment on, Maul carried a deep hatred for the Jedi that was so powerful, Sidious needed to repeatedly reign him in lest he reveal the existence of the Sith too soon. To satisfy his bloodlust, Sidious sent Maul on a mission to kill pirates who were attacking Trade Federation ships, but Maul soon learned of a captured Jedi padawan and jumped at the opportunity. Hiring a group of bounty hunters (among them Cad Bane and Aurra Sing), Maul was successful in locating and killing the padawan in combat, satiating his revenge for at least a moment.

MAUL "DIES" IN THE PHANTOM MENACE

Come Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Sidious - or rather, Senator Palpatine of Naboo as he was known publicly - began putting his plan to bring down the Republic into motion. He secretly conspired with the Trade Federation to establish a blockade of Naboo, forcing then-Queen Amidala to seek assistance from the Senate. Palpatine manipulated Amidala into calling for a vote of no confidence in the Chancellor, enabling himself to then be voted in as the new leader, consolidating his power within the Republic.

While this political scheming was taking place, Sidious dispatched Darth Maul to eliminate the Jedi - Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi - who had been sent to accompany and safe-guard Amidala. Maul tracked the Jedi to Tatooine, where they had stopped to repair their ship (and coincidentally pick up a young slave boy and potential Chosen One, Anakin Skywalker), briefly fighting with Qui-Gon before they could escape.

Later, during the climactic showdown between the Trade Federation's droid army and the combined forces of Naboo, Maul got his chance to duel the Jedi in The Phantom Menace's now iconic "Duel of the Fates" sequence. It's during this duel that Maul kills Qui-Gon, but in retaliation, Obi-Wan gets the upper hand on Maul, slicing him in half and kicking him into the seemingly bottomless pit of Naboo's reactor shaft.

And, for years, the image of Maul's bisected body plummeting down that shaft was the last anyone saw of him - until Lucasfilm Animation found a way to bring him back.

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MAUL IS REBORN

Simply saying that Maul survived his injuries and fall wouldn't be enough. If fans were going to believe that Maul lived, there would need to be consequences from his failed duel with Kenobi. And there were, with Maul's subsequent exile bringing him to his absolute lowest.

Channeling his hatred for Kenobi, Maul was able to use the Force to escape the reactor shaft, landing in a trash container and eventually winding up on the junkyard planet, Lotho Minor. Giving his mind over to the dark side, his powers not only healed him, but forged his new lower spider-like body, but the pain, hatred, and years of exile took a toll on his mind. For years, Maul lived in the bowels of Lotho Minor, turning more wild and feral until one day, his brother, Savage Opress, came to find him.

MAUL JOINS THE CLONE WARS

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Savage Opress brought his brother home to Dathomir, where Mother Talzin used Nightsister Magik to heal Maul's body and mind, forging him new legs from the scraps of battle droids. Together, Maul and Savage became a new master and apprentice, a new Sith, and they set their sights on destroying the Jedi - especially, Obi-Wan Kenobi.

To lure out Kenobi, they began wreaking havoc across the galaxy. Maul would cross lightsaber blades with Kenobi on multiple occasions during the Clone Wars, but he was never able to finish what he started. Maul eventually forms an alliance with Pre Vizla and the Mandalorian terrorist group known as Death Watch. Alongside the group, they built a coalition of crime syndicates - the Shadow Collective - and used them to conquer Mandalore. This led to him confronting Obi-Wan but also drew the attention of Palpatine.

Sidious fought with the duo, eventually killing Savage but spaces Maul as part of a plot to lead him to Mother Talzin, hoping to kill the witch once and for all. Talzin is eventually killed, leading to a battle that sees Maul fight against Sidious, Count Dooku, and General Grievous before retreating.

At the same time, what remains of the Shadow Collective was in ruins, but Maul manages to escape with just enough loyal forces and return to Mandalore. There, he resumed control of the planet, if only for a short while. In the final days of the Clone Wars, Maul is ousted by Republic forces led by Ahsoka Tano and Captain Rex. Ahsoka and Maul duel briefly during the battle, before Maul escapes into exile once again.

continued next post

[GeneChing]

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MAUL'S CAMEO IN SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY

Maul's appearance in Solo: A Star Wars Story (played by Ray Park and voiced by Sam Witwer) is the newest piece of information we have about him. Very little is actually revealed in the scene, but it does suggest that Maul has been very busy in the years after he was overthrown on Mandalore.

In the film, after Qi'ra kills Dryden Vos and assumes his position of leadership within Crimson Dawn, she contacts the real leader of their criminal operation via hologram - Maul. He listens as Qi'ra relays to him what has transpired, placing the blame for Vos' death on Becket and Han. They then make plans to continue their work, signaling that either in future Solo movies or another Star Wars spinoff (possibly Boba Fett), Qi'ra and Maul are high up on the list as potential antagonists

Whether or not Crimson Dawn is the second coming of the Shadow Collective - which included such gangs as Pyke Syndicate, Black Sun, and the Hutt Clan - also remains unclear, but it's obvious Maul is continuing to ally himself with whomever he believes can help him achieve his goal: killing Obi-Wan Kenobi.

STAR WARS REBELS & THE END OF MAUL

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Maul was previously last seen in Star Wars Rebels, set a few years before A New Hope. He met the crew of the Ghost, a small Rebel cell, on the planet Malachor while they were searching for a weapon they believed capable of destroying the Sith. Maul had crashlanded on the planet years before, and immediately set about manipulating them; he befriended Jedi-in-training Ezra Bridger, who helped him find the Sith Holocron. Sensing a strong connection to the dark side within the boy, Maul planned to make the boy his apprentice, but his turn on the Ghost crew didn't go well: it was only when Darth Vader turned up that he's able to make his escape.

Later on, Maul visits the crew of the Ghost once again, wanting to combine the Sith and Jedi Holocrons and reveal their secrets. He manages to trick Ezra into doing just that and the pair of them experience visions: Ezra's reveals to him the key to defeating the Sith, showing him an image of twin suns, while Maul's vision reveals to him that Obi-Wan Kenobi still lives. Combining the Holocrons also left a mental link between Maul and Ezra, which the former Sith uses to manipulate the young Jedi into joining him on Dathomir. There, Maul employs the magic of the Nightsisters to give their visions some clarity, learning that Kenobi not only lives but he's on Tatooine.

Maul leaves to hunt is former nemesis, but is unsuccessful in locating Kenobi, so he again tricks Ezra, planning to use the boy as bait to lure out the old Jedi Master. It works, and sensing that Ezra is in danger of being attacked by Tusken Raiders, Obi-Wan reveals himself. Maul then confronts Kenobi and the two duel - though this is not the flashy, acrobatic fighting of their youth, but a very quick and measure fight of only a few strikes. In the end, Kenobi slashes Maul across the chest, delivering a fatal wound. Before he dies, Maul wonders why Kenobi has hidden on such a remote, barren world, asking him if the young farmboy he's watching over from far is the true Chosen One. Kenobi responds, "He is", and Maul dies, uttering with his last breath, "He will avenge us."

-

Though we now know how Maul truly dies, his cameo in Solo: A Star Wars Story makes it abundantly clear Lucasfilm isn't through with the character yet. After this appearance, there's an opportunity for Maul to reappear in a Solo sequel, a new spinoff, or possibly even his own movie. No matter what, it seems safe to assume that this cameo is not the last we've seen of him.

I reviewed some of Maul's story arc in my July+August 2016 (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?69484-July-August-2016) cover story Ray Park: The Force of Wushu (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=1302).

[GeneChing]

I feel like I've just had my Star Wars nerd card revoked. How did I miss this Easster Egg?


How ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ References the Most Awesomely Bad ‘Star Wars’ Video Game (https://www.slashfilm.com/teras-kasi-in-solo-a-star-wars-story/)
Posted on Friday, June 1st, 2018 by Ethan Anderton

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Solo: A Star Wars Story is chock full of winks and nods referencing future events in the Star Wars trilogy, almost to the point that it’s annoying. But there are also some obscure references for hardcore Star Wars fans that are a little more interesting. One of them comes from a single line of dialogue referencing one of the worst Star Wars video games every made…but it also has a place in the history of Star Wars and even sets up the major reveal everyone has been talking about.

Find out what we’re talking about below, but beware of spoilers for Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Qi’ra Shows Off Her Fighting Skills

In Solo: A Star Wars Story, part of the plan to hijack a bunch of coaxium begins with infiltrating a mining facility on Kessel. Our heroes accomplish this by having Qi’ra offer up Han Solo and Chewbacca as slaves, allowing them to get into the facility itself. While Han and Chewie are led through the mines closer to the coaxium, Qi’ra, Tobias Beckett and Lando Calrissian’s droid L3-37 are brought into the control room to finalize their business.

During this sequence, Qi’ra pulls off a couple unseen fight moves and takes down the facility supervisor. L3 is visibly impressed and even a little surprised as she asks, “What was that?” And Qi’ra nonchalantly says “Teräs Käsi.” That might not mean anything to the more casual Star Wars viewer, but for longtime fans, this was quite the obscure reference to throw into Solo. So what the hell is Teräs Käsi?

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Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi
The fighting style Teräs Käsi became well-known to Star Wars fans when a PlayStation game entitled Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi hit the market. Styled in the model of fighting games like Tekken or Virtua Fighter, it was a video game that featured Star Wars characters duking it out on polygonal environments in a galaxy far, far away. Since this is a first generation PlayStation game we’re talking about, the graphics were not great and the game mechanics were clumsy at best. But **** it, was that a fun game to play with friends as an adolescent Star Wars fan.

The fighting roster features Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia (in Boushh disguise), Chewbacca, Boba Fett, Thok (a Gamorrean guard), Hoar (a Tusek Raider) and a new character named Arden Lyn, a Dark Jedi with a mechanical arm. They all engaged in hand-to-hand combat, as well as weapon combat (which didn’t make much sense when characters like Luke with a lightsaber would fight Thok with an axe). But there was no signature fighting style between them to dictate what Teräs Käsi was. Instead, that came from Star Wars Legends.

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The History of Teräs Käsi

The first mention of Teräs Käsi comes from a major story arc called Shadows of the Empire. One of the more well-known Star Wars Legends titles, this was an interesting experimental sort of multimedia project that was intended to tell a story that took place in-between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, where no Star Wars novel had ventured before.

The goal at the time was to create anything and everything that might be associated with a Star Wars movie release, but without ever actually releasing a movie. This included a novel, a video game, action figures, trading cards, comics and even a soundtrack. And within the novel of Shadows of the Empire, the fighting style Teräs Käsi is mentioned as being used by the villains Sun and Zu Pike. And from there it went on to become part of the aforementioned video game that everyone loved to hate.

However, Teräs Käsi was only a blip in Star Wars until it came to be referenced in the novel Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter. You see, after Darth Maul’s acrobatic, fast-paced martial arts style debuted in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, many thought it would be interesting if his character was trained in the art of Teräs Käsi, mostly because his fighting style was unlike any we’d seen in the Star Wars universe up to that point. After Shadow Hunter made it canon (at the time), the fighting style was referenced on and off again until it finally was given a real origin story, made to be a fighting style that allowed non-Force sensitive warriors could engage with the likes of Jedi and Sith and still hold their own. Of course, that’s all Star Wars Legends, but…

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Teräs Käsi is Now Canon
With the mention of Teräs Käsi in Solo: A Star Wars Story, the fighting style is now canon. Funnily enough, since this was a fighting style that came to be associated with Darth Maul, the fact that Qi’ra learned it from Dryden works as a hint toward the reveal of the Sith warrior as the puppet master behind the Crimson Dawn in the film’s final act. It only makes sense that those working for Maul have been trained in a fighting style that makes them deadly enough to do his bidding.

The question is how much, if any, of the backstory that became associated with Teräs Käsi will be made canon. Will this fighting style continue to be mentioned in Star Wars stories now that we’ve seen it in Solo: A Star Wars Story? Maybe we’ll see it pop up in other comics, books and video games. And if we’re lucky (or unlucky, depending how you look at it), maybe we’ll get a new generation remake of the original game with even more characters. Because while Star Wars Battletfront II offers us a way to have Star Wars characters from all eras of the saga to fight against each other, there’s just something…special about Masters of Teräs Käsi. Awfully special.

thread
Solo (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?69496-Solo-A-Star-Wars-Story)
Mandalorian (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71066-Star-Wars-The-Mandalorian)
Teras Kasi (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71895-Teras-Kasi)