Posted on 01/27/2024 9:28:43 PM PST by nickcarraway
"You betrayed Han Solo!"
Billy Dee Williams has recalled having to defend Lando Calrissian after catching heat from Star Wars fans for betraying Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back.
Appearing on EW's Dagobah Dispatch podcast, the actor, who played Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars saga, spoke of the backlash he received following the release of The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, after his character made a deal with Darth Vader that led to Solo being captured and frozen in carbonite.
Fans were upset about Lando selling Solo out, and made their feelings known to the actor whenever he was out in public. "I would pick my daughter up from school, the kids would run up to me and say, 'You betrayed Han Solo!'" Williams said. "I'd go on an airplane, and the airplane stewards would say, 'You betrayed Han Solo!'"
'Did anybody die? Nobody died!' “ He continued: "I got that for a lot of years. So finally, I said, 'Look, think about the whole situation. You're up against a pretty formidable character in Darth Vader. And then there is, of course, Boba Fett. And these people were invading my space, and I had to bargain with them. But the bargain at least prevented the complete demise of Han Solo and his friends. But I had to hold on to my whole situation."
After trying to reason with the fans, Williams decided enough was enough. He pointed out that Solo could have ended up in a far worse situation if Lando didn't negotiate with the Empire and that his friend not only lived to see another day, but also forgave him, so maybe it's time Star Wars fans did the same.
"I found myself explaining all this stuff to a point where I finally said to people, 'Look, I'm tired of explaining all of this.' I said, 'Did anybody die? Nobody died!'" Williams emphasized. "I think that was a clear indication that Lando was trying to figure something out, and he was trying to figure out primarily how to hold onto his situation without the complete demise of his friend."
While some Star Wars fans are still sore about director Rian Johnson's decision to kill off Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi, things may well have gone that direction even if George Lucas were behind the camera. Hidalgo points to Lucas' 2012 story treatment for Episode VIII and reveals that Lucas' vision of the sequel also involved Luke meeting his end.
That's not the only similarity between Lucas' sequel trilogy plans and the one we actually got. Hidalgo also reveals that Lucas' trilogy would have revolved heavily around the hero's journey of a young Force-sensitive woman. Lucas originally wrote her as a 14-year-old girl named Taryn, with later treatments changing the name to Thea or Winkie(?!?). Hidalgo even hints Lucas' sequels may have revolved around this heroine seeking out a missing, disillusioned Luke Skywalker, with Lucas apparently drawing comparisons to Captain Willard's hunt for Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now (a film Lucas was once attached to direct, as it happens).
The phrase "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" is an indelible part of the Star Wars mythos, but the story wasn't always set in the distant past. According to Hidalgo, a very early draft of the Star Wars screenplay from 1973 instead placed the timeline as "the 33rd Century, a period of civil wars in the galaxy."
One page reveals that, because The Force Awakens and the animated series Star Wars Rebels entered production around the same time, Lucasfilm considered linking the two projects through a common planet. While that idea was eventually abandoned, the original plan was for Jakku and Lothal to be the same world. Hidalgo also reveals Lothal was inspired by Sice, a grassy planet Lucas once envisioned as being the homeworld of the Rebel Alliance in Return of the Jedi.
Screenwriter Leigh Brackett featured a very unusual back-story for Lando Calrissian in her first draft of The Empire Strikes Back. As Hidalgo reveals, the draft features Lando introducing himself as a clone and a member of the Ashardi family. Apparently Lando's great-grandfather was so vain he created many perfect duplicates of himself rather than start a family the old-fashioned way.
Williams reprised the role of Lando in Return of the Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, with Donald Glover playing a younger version of the character in Solo: A Star Wars Story. Glover is now teaming up with his brother to develop a Lando feature film, so his galactic adventures are far from over (but hopefully, the Solo taunting is).
Well, just that once.
I missed when it first showed on TV. Next day everybody was talking about it. Only until the internet was I able to finally watch it. Recommended
Yeah, what a drama queen.
anything Hildago says about laccases un-shot trilogy cannot be trusted.
It is amusing that he complains about people confusing him with his character while he himself repeatedly does as well.
That was before he shot John Wayne. (The source of your nickname?)
I see that you’re still among the living.
24 years ago, I used to work with David Prowse’s brother in law, here in Colorado. He told me how Prowse and his wife’s sister would stay at their house once a year. The 57 year old coworker, a big fan of STAR WARS, had a hard time reconciling the person from the character. He’d say “Billy, it’s just surreal to see the large shadowy frame of Darth Vader crossing my hallway into my guest bathroom at 2am!”
Made me laugh through my nose!
Margaret Hamilton
So true...even when she was selling Maxwell House coffee back in the day, you half expected her to say “Drink this, my pretties!”
“I’ve never thought an actor is the character they play.”
Then you’re probably not a woke fed kid through every outlet there can be and you grew up understanding it is just a movie, not gaza.
wy69
Haha! Good question! The people yelling at Billy are idjits!
Star Wars Fans that live with a picture of Star Wars in their heads and not the real world ,LOL
BDW is the idiot for engaging them.
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