Ron Howard returns to direct WILLOW

Ron Howard has stepped up to replace Jon M. Chu as the director-producer of the upcoming Disney+ series Willow, based on the 1988 fantasy movie of the same name.

Chu, the director of Crazy Rich Asians and Now You See Me 2, is stepping away from the project after repeated delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic caused scheduling conflicts. Ron Howard, who directed the original movie, has agreed to take on the project at short notice. It marks the second time that Howard has stepped in to help out a Disney project that had lost its directors, after his work on the 2018 movie Solo, although this time around at least shooting had not already commenced.

The new Willow TV series is set thirty years after the original movie and once again stars Warwick Davis as Willow Ufgood. Jonathan Kasdan, the writer of Solo, has written the pilot and is working as showrunner with Wendy Mericle (Arrow).

Howard will now direct the opening episode and potentially several more instalments of the first season. It is unclear if the other surviving stars of the original film, Joanne Whalley or Val Kilmer, will appear in the series, although Kilmer has suffered extensive health issues in recent years which may preclude an appearance.

Willow is expected to start shooting in the UK in the coming months and will debut on Disney+ in 2022.

WILLOW sequel TV series in development

In a surprising move, Disney and Lucasfilm have confirmed they are currently discussing producing a sequel the 1988 fantasy movie Willow for streaming service Disney+.

The original movie saw the diminutive title character, played by Warwick Davis, take custody of a young human baby upon whom the fate of the world depended. Willow teamed up with a group of heroes to safeguard the child and ensure the defeat of the evil villain, Queen Bavmorda (Jean Marsh). Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley also starred, whilst George Lucas produced and came up with the story. Ron Howard directed.

The film was only a modest financial success but gained a greater following on home video, and has become regarded as a cult classic over the years, along with fellow 1980s fantasy movies Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, Dragonslayer and Conan the Barbarian. Lucas planned a larger and more epic sequel at one time (essentially a Lord of the Rings to Willow's The Hobbit) but never fulfilled these plans. Instead, he developed a sequel novel series with X-Men writer Chris Claremont, under the title Chronicles of the Shadow War. Three books were published in this series between 1996 and 2000: Shadow Moon, Shadow Dawn and Shadow Star.

The new project came about after Ron Howard and Warwick Davis were reunited during the filming of Solo: A Star Wars Story. Davis discussed ideas for a sequel with Howard and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. Solo co-writer Jon Kasdan was also intrigued by the idea of developing a sequel to the original movie. Kennedy didn't think there was mileage in a film continuation, but felt it might be a better fit as a TV series or mini-series at Disney+.

Although not formally greenlit, development of a script is continuing with Davis having already agreed to return in the title role. Val Kilmer has also expressed interest in returning.

Star Wars: Solo

Han and Qi'ra are two slum-rats living in the industrial hellhole that is Corellia, a planet whose proud people have been reluctantly turned into shipbuilders for the Galactic Empire. Han manages to escape, but vows to return one day to save the woman he loves. Three years later he's been bounced from the Imperial Academy, served as a grunt in a confusing war and then defected to join a criminal gang looking for a big score. Han still wants to get home, but first he needs a crew, a ship and a co-pilot.

In 1972, during the shooting of his second feature film, American Graffiti, George Lucas turned to his young lead actor Ron Howard and told him about the plans he had to make an exciting, Buck Rogers-riffing space opera franchise, a story of rip-roaring space adventures with scoundrels as heroes, blasters and lots of action. Forty-six years later, in a plot twist few could have seen coming, Ron Howard finally made that film.

Solo: A Star Wars Story is certainly not the best Star Wars movie, but it may be the purest. This is a film about a roguish hero who sets out on a quest to pull off a heist to get the girl and it all goes a bit sideways and he learns some lessons and the audience has a huge amount of fun along the way. This is Star Wars with an alternate take on the hero's journey, without the space wizards or magic or laser swords or prophecies, but plenty of blasters, quips and explosions. It's also a surprising Star Wars movie: almost any nerf herder who's seen the Empire Strike Back incarnation of Han Solo could write a version of this movie which was safer, duller and very predictable. It fell to the movie's bizarre gestation period (including a change of directors two-thirds of the way through production) and formidable writing team (including Lawrence Kasdan making his farewell to the franchise that made his name) to turn it into a more surprising and interesting beast.

Solo is relentless. It's a film that lands with a massive bang - a chase through the tunnels of Corellia - and then does not let up for over two hours. Set piece after set piece rains down on the viewer, but the Kasdan team and the directors (I'm not even going to guess who directed what scenes here) keep the movie buoyant, not allowing it to get too bogged down in exposition. Dialogue sparkles and the action is very well-handled, with the fights and chases being easy to follow. There's a surprising physicality to the film, with a reliance on actual stunts and sets rather than CGI, which is good to see. The fast-moving flow of the film also sometimes masks some dubious plot twists - one coincidental meeting is so far beyond implausible it's not even remotely credible, but hey, the Force or something - but it's not like Star Wars hasn't had a few of those before.

There's also a fortunately strong reliance on the actors. Alden Ehrenreich won't be nominated for an Oscar, but is mostly effective at channelling the spirit of Harrison Ford (and he's better at doing that than trying to do an outright imitation), albeit a younger and even more cocksure version. Emilia Clarke is great as his love interest Qi'ra, and the movie takes her character in a very surprising (and welcome) direction that goes beyond being just a motivational force for Han's journey. But the real plaudits will be awarded to Woody Harrelson, whose grizzled scoundrel-mentor character of Beckett is way more Han than Han himself, and particularly Donald Glover. His take on Lando Calrissian is the highlight of the film, with formidable comic timing, surprising emotional depth and a performance that channels the spirit of a pre-1980 Billy Dee Williams. Even better, Lando isn't allowed to be too dominant a force in the movie: he has his role to play and departs once that is done. Paul Bettany also has a small but significant role as the film's erstwhile antagonist, a criminal overlord who first Beckett and then Han get indebted to and have to pull off a dangerous heist to appease.

Hardcore Star Wars fans will also enjoy the film for its numerous call-outs to the defunct Expanded Universe (particularly a nod to the Maw Installation and the dangerous approach to Kessel) and one particular moment that will blindside the 90% of the audience who hasn't seen The Clone Wars or Star Wars: Rebels, leaving the other 10% feeling particularly smug as they nod to one another across the cinema and say, "Ah, of course" in a probably insufferable manner. After seeing the Marvel Cinematic Universe go to some lengths to avoid mentioning its TV spin-offs as canon in the films, seeing Star Wars just breezily and casually do it in the most unexpected manner possible is terrific, if extremely geeky. More casual Star Wars fans will appreciate the nods to other Star Wars films and stories (C3-PO asks a question in The Empire Strikes Back which never gets answered, but it does here), with the film having some fun in giving us very brief answers to questions that no-one ever asked ("Where did Han Solo get his blaster?") but occasionally getting rather silly in giving more in-depth answers to questions no-one ever asked ("Where did Han Solo's name come from?").

The movie does have several significant flaws, however. The first is that towards the end of the movie it goes a bit too obviously in the direction of sequel-bait. Solo is directed towards a new mission, several side-characters are revealed to have unexpected agendas and a new villain is unveiled. With rumours circulating that Disney are considering two sequels to this movie, they clearly leave enough on the deck to facilitate that. However, the film does hit most of the beats you expect and if those sequels don't happen - Solo's incredibly low-key release, mixed word of mouth and the massive juggernaut of Infinity War still commanding the box office could result in this being one of the lowest-grossing Star Wars movies to date - there's enough closure here not to make the absence of a sequel hurt too much (they can also rather cleverly tie those elements into the Obi-Wan movie instead, if necessary). The second problem is that the movie is definitely too long. This film works best as a pulpy space adventure, a rip-roaring, fast-paced adventure. The two hour-and-ten-minute run time isn't entirely compatible with that and the film does feel like a set piece or two could have been yanked out to get this movie down to a brisker ninety minutes or so.

For a film with as tortured a development process as this one, Solo: A Star Wars Story (****) ends up being surprisingly focused and enjoyable, with great performances and a fun storyline that isn't as predictable as you'd think. Of the new generation Star Wars films, this one views with The Force Awakens as the best: The Force Awakens is better-cast with a far stronger villain, but Solo is far less predictable and manages more genuine surprises. The movie is on general release now.

Ron Howard steps in to save the Han Solo STAR WARS movie

Veteran director Ron Howard has rolled into town to take over the next Star Wars movie. The Solo Han Solo movie (apparently shooting under the working title Solo) was mostly done with shooting when "creative differences" led to directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller departing/being fired/being exiled to the spice mines of Kessel.

Ron Howard and George Lucas, who have collaborated several times.

Howard will be completing principal photography on the picture as well as helming reshoots later in the summer. Howard and producers Kathleen Kennedy and Lawrence Kasdan will be reviewing the footage shot by Lord and Miller to see what material can still be used and what will have to be reshot.

The film is still on track for release on 25 May 2018, just five months after Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi hits cinemas in December, although delays are likely if the production team decide more significant reshoots are needed.

Although Howard hasn't been involved in a Star Wars project before, he did star in George Lucas's 1973 movie American Graffiti (alongside a young Harrison Ford) which led to his casting in the sitcom Happy Days and kickstarted his Hollywood career, including collaborating on the movie Willow with Lucas, so there is some synchronicity involved in this news.

Rumours that Howard has said, at any point, "Hold my beer," and "I got this," have yet to be confirmed.

Rush

1976. Two racing drivers are competing for the Formula One World Championship. Racing for Ferrari is Niki Lauda, a studious, restrained, methodical and logical driver. Racing for McLaren is James Hunt, a flamboyant British playboy who prefers partying to doing homework about downforce and aerodynamics. Their radically different styles of driving are put to the test in a season-long showdown that will leave one of them physically scarred for life.

Rush is the movie dramatisation of the events of the 1976 Formula One championship season. This season is infamous for its nailbiting, year-long battle between Hunt and Lauda. The showdown is often cited as being the transformative moment for F1's popular appeal, turning it from a niche sport into a global phenomenon as a result of the sale of TV rights for the whole season, allowing motor sports fans across the world to see every race rather than odd highlights.

It's also noted for another shocking event: at one of the races Lauda's Ferrari spun out and burst into flames. It took a minute for Lauda to be pulled from the car, during which he suffered burns to his entire body. He was rushed to hospital and was not expected to survive, even being given the Last Rites by a priest. Unbelievably, Lauda survived and recovered. Even more unbelievably, he was back in the racing seat just six weeks after the accident, determined to take the championship to the last race, which he did.

If director Ron Howard had made up this story, people would be howling to the rafters about its contrived nature. However, the fact that it is true adds an air of authenticity to the drama which really helps sell the tension.

As well as its story and tension, Rush also does very well with its actors. Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl play Hunt and Lauda to perfection, with Bruhl in particular going to some lengths to nail Lauda's very precise and distinctive way of speaking, familiar to hundreds of millions of people around the world from almost forty years of working in F1 (as a driver and more recently as a team executive for Mercedes). Other actors tend to fade a little in less-prominent appearances, but Alexandra Maria Lara brings dignity to the role of Lauda's wife, Marlene, and Natalie Dormer has a small but memorable role as a nurse treating Hunt for a crash injury early on in the movie.

Where the film falters is its treatment of the races. Millions of people watch F1 every year all around the world and faking the races with CGI was never going to work (you can tell straight away). Indeed, the few scenes where CGI is clearly used are distracting. At the same time, Howard was never going to get a budget large enough to accurately rebuild 20+ 1976 F1 racing cars and race them at the real circuits, where they have survived (in fact, the $38 million budget is rather small for such a film). The result is a compromise: several real cars are built and raced around, enhanced with CG where necessary, with the distracting use of full-CGI scenes and backgrounds kept to a minimum. This all works reasonably well, but it means that the actual racing is kept to a minimum, with the focus on the drama.

This is where the film comes unstuck. Howard establishes early on that Hunt is the playboy who lives on the seat of his pants and loves partying and women, whilst Lauda is the serious technician who knows the engineering of F1 cars better than several of his dedicated engineers. And that's really it, neither of them change or evolve through the film. Hunts gets married because he thinks it's good for his image and this doesn't work out, which we could guess. Lauda is arrogant and opinionated and is sometimes proven wrong, teaching him occasional moments of humility which never seem to last. A frequent problem of adapting real events into stories is that real life is too disorganised and people too varied to fit into the boxes required by drama, and in this case there isn't enough meat to the story arcs to justify the amount of time that is spent on the non-racing segments.

As a result, Rush (***) feels a little bit lightweight. The racing scenes, where they actually exist, are good. The battle on track and the off-track battle of wills between the two drivers is well-handled, driven by excellent performances. But there isn't enough actual character development to justify the amount of time spent on the non-racing segments, and there isn't enough money or practical ability to focus on the racing segments more successfully than they do here. It all ends up being fun, but with a sense of also being underwhelming compared to some of the actual documentaries covering the events. The film is available now in the UK (DVD, Blu-Ray) and USA (DVD, Blu-Ray).