Ron Howard to Direct Han Solo Movie

Kathleen Kennedy, the Lucasfilm president, has made it official; Ron Howard is now the director for the unnamed Han Solo movie.

The official statement followed rumors that Howard would be stepping in. “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. Filming will resume the 10th of July," Kennedy said early Thursday afternoon.

This comes following Tuesday's firing of Chris Miller and Phil Lord. According to Entertainment Weekly writer, Anthony Breznican, this was either due to "creative differences" or because the directors had turned the film into more of a comedy than Kennedy had envisioned. “Lucasfilm and producer [Kathleen] Kennedy believed Lord and Miller were hired to add a comedic touch; Lord and Miller believed they were hired to make a comedy," Breznican said.

Howard has several ties to George Lucas, and it was rumored he was asked to direct Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Howard starred in Lucas' American Graffiti and directed Lucas' Willow. The director has also won an Oscar for his film, A Beautiful Mind."

The unnamed movie is set to continue filming for three and a half weeks, with reshoots following for five weeks.

Fans can expect to see the movie in May of 2018.

Announcement: Rogue One Cast & Crew Revealed

By: Justin Marsh

With all the news of the upcoming film as well as the latest announcements of EA, I think it's time to jump in more deeply into the latest within the Star Wars saga. Today LucasFilm announced that their first film in the new anthology Star Wars stories series titled Rogue One, has begun to get underway after it's first announcement back in April, during the yearly major Star Wars convention, Celebration. Gareth Edwards will be directing Rogue One, which tells the story of resistance fighters who have united to steal plans to the dreaded Death Star. The film is produced by Kathleen Kennedy and is set to release for a December 16, 2016 date.

This is what LucasFilm holder, Kathleen Kennedy had to share with us about the new film:

"Rogue One takes place before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope and will be a departure from the saga films but have elements that are familiar to the Star Wars universe,” says Kathleen Kennedy. “It goes into new territory, exploring the galactic struggle from a ground-war perspective while maintaining that essential Star Wars feel that fans have come to know. Gareth is such an innovative director and I’m so excited to be working with him and the extraordinary ensemble cast he’s selected for ‘Rogue One."

LucasFilm assembled a stellar cast, including Felicity Jones, nominated for an Academy Award for her leading role in The Theory of Everything; Diego Luna, who was featured in 2008’s Oscar-winning Milk and the critically acclaimed Killing Them Softly; Ben Mendelsohn, recently nominated for an Emmy for his leading role in Bloodline and co-starring in the upcoming Mississippi Grind; Donnie Yen, Hong Kong action star and martial artist who starred in Ip Man and Blade II; Jiang Wen, who co-wrote, produced , directed and starred in the award-winning Let the Bullets Fly and Devils on the Doorstep; Forest Whitaker, recently featured in the critically-acclaimed Lee Daniels’ The Butler and winner of an Academy Award for his leading role in 2006’s The Last King of Scotland; Mads Mikkelsen, who starred in The Hunt and was the memorable villain from 2006’s Casino Royale; Alan Tudyk, who plays a performance-capture character in Rogue One, stars in the soon-to-be-released Con Man series and Trumbo, which releases this November; and Riz Ahmed, who was recently featured in Nightcrawler and starred in the BAFTA-winning film Four Lions.

According to the article the official Star Wars website gave us, to create the lived-in, realistic feel of Rogue One, Edwards chose Greig Fraser (Zero Dark Thirty, Foxcatcher) to be his director of photography and Neil Corbould (Black Hawk Down, Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan) to be his special effects supervisor. Star Wars and Lucasfilm veteran Doug Chiang (Star Wars: Episodes I-II, Forrest Gump) and Neil Lamont (supervising art director for the Harry Potter series, Edge of Tomorrow) will be the production designers. Additional crew members will include stunt coordinator Rob Inch (World War Z, Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger), creature effects supervisor Neal Scanlan (Prometheus) and co-costume designers Dave Crossman (costume supervisor for the Harry Potter series, Saving Private Ryan) and Glyn Dillon (costume concept artist for Kingsman: The Secret Service, Jupiter Ascending)

I have great faith in this up coming film, but how about yourself? How do you feel about LucasFilms choices on the cast and crew? Give us your comments below, or head on over to Nerds Of The Force and shoot us your comments!