Woody Harrelson Confirms Han Solo Character Name

It is hard, if not impossible, to get anything past the avid fans of the Star Wars franchise. Especially following the news that Woody Harrelson himself would be taking part in the stand alone and yet to be titled Han Solo movie. Putting two and two together, it was put to the Natural Born Killers star if it would be Garris Shrike that he would be playing in the feature.

Shrike was the mentor who groomed and guided Solo as a bounty hunter. Teaching him the tricks of the trade and shaping his craft to be what we would see for Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope in 1977 with Harrison Ford's portrayal. Promoting his latest flick Wilson alongside the cast and colleagues at the Sundance Film Festival, Harrelson was quizzed about his connection to the character. He held his own, but ended up spilling the beans.

“Yeah, I am,” responded a reserve and somewhat sheepish star.

Who Exactly Is Garris Shrike?

Woody Harrelson Han Solo

Han Solo was not formed all on his lonesome. With the character being introduced to the world of intergalactic crime by Shrike. Long before he crossed paths with Skywalker or Princess Leia. Peter Sciretta from /FILM outlined what the man who Harrelson will play is all about.

"Garris first appeared in A.C. Crispin’s novel The Paradise Snare, (check out that beautiful Drew Struzan cover art above)," started Sciretta. "The character was a bounty hunter-turned smuggler who raised the orphaned Han Solo as part of a group of children he used in confidence tricks and thefts, based aboard the decommissioned troopship Trader’s Luck in orbit over Corellia. Shrike rescued the young Han Solo from the streets, raised him, trained him, and beat him profusely when aggravated.”

Bold Gamble Pays Off For Woody In UK

Woody Harrelson for Han Solo Film

Never before has a filmmaker embarked on shooting a live action flick broadcast in real time to 500 theaters. Especially given the profile of someone like Woody Harrelson. To top it off, it is his first ever directorial effort. Lost in London received a warm 4/5 star review from Ryan Gilbey of The Guardian, arguing the picture offered the best of Harrelson's quirky personality in a unique setting.

"Even at its liveliest, cinema can only ever be a refrigerated medium, relaying images to us that were shot months, years even decades earlier," explained the reviewer. "But this week there was an exception to that rule."

Outlining a few bumps and missteps that were the natural conclusion of shooting a movie without any edits or retakes, Gilbey said this was something to behold.

"Nothing, though, will quite match the sensation of having watched the messy but miraculous birth of a genuine oddity: part celebrity satire, part mea culpa, part site-specific, one-night-only art installation."

Source: /FILM, The Guardian

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