Lando Calrissian is the smoothest character in the Star Wars universe and Donald Glover had to be just as smooth when it came to keeping his role as the young version of the scoundrel in Solo: A Star Wars Story a secret.
“I stopped talking to friends,” Glover told Page Six during a screening of Solo Monday. “I had a friend who’s super into Star Wars and I think it was out that I auditioned and he was already like, ‘Oh my God, you’re Lando,’ before I’d gotten the part.”
Glover admitted he had to lie to his friends in order to keep the casting secret prior to Disney’s official announcement, which was the hardest part. He even told his Star Wars -loving buddy he did not get the part despite still being in the middle of auditions.
There was one person the actor let in on the secret, however. His father.
“I told my dad immediately. I know I wasn’t supposed to, but I told him immediately just because it was a big deal to him,” said Glover. “He’s a huge fan and Lando was, like, my first toy he gave me. It was just a big deal.”
It’s impressive that Glover was able to keep his role as Lando a secret given the tumultuous production Solo: A Star Wars Story went through. Variety covered the film’s bumpy ride to theaters in a behind-the-scenes look released today on how shooting for the film ground to a halt after four months under the direction of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller ( The Lego Movie ).
There were reports of extended shoots and chaos on set as the director pair allegedly clashed with the vision of producer Kathleen Kennedy. Glover called this a “miscommunication in the artistic vision” when talking with Variety , but the end result was the ouster of the director duo as Ron Howard ( A Beautiful Mind , Apollo 13 ) was brought on board to helm Solo: A Star Wars Story .
Howard’s lengthy resume as director gave Solo a firm hand to get production back on track with one crew member claiming the director got shots done while using less space and completing them in a fraction of the time than what was the norm under Lord and Miller.
While there were tensions between the original director partners and producer Kathleen Kennedy, Glover told Variety he was largely unaware until the directorial switch to Howard. Solo: A Star Wars Story was originally scheduled to be finished filming in July 2017. The production troubles and director shuffle extended shooting to October 2017.
[truvid id=”e38ef307fef577950fee9b780c93e35285bea712?]
Solo: A Star Wars story will land in theaters on Friday, May 27. It stars Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo, Emilia Clarke as Qi’ra, Paul Bettany as Dryden Vos, and Woody Harrelson as Beckett in addition to Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian.
