Christian Bale Was In Talks For Solo, Still Wants To Do A Star Wars Film

Solo: A Star Wars Story is quickly approaching and we still haven’t seen anything from it. Should we be concerned? Probably, especially because of all the troubling stories we’ve heard about the movie’s production. But then again, Lucasfilm hasn’t let us down yet and we’re trying our best to remain cautiously optimistic that Ron Howard will be able to pull through for the studio and deliver another thrilling Anthology movie.

Rumor has it that the first trailer could actually be here as early as next week, but as we wait for that to be confirmed, an interesting bit of trivia has surfaced today. Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Christian Bale revealed that he was actually in talks for the project at one point, but had to pass.

“Yes, [it was] very tempting. I not only love the films going back to my childhood but also have a very long relationship with Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall because they did Empire of the Sun many years back. There was discussion, [and] I hope there will be future discussions.”

While he wouldn’t say why it didn’t work out, he did note that he’s a big fan of Star Wars, and coupled with his previous comment of him hoping that there will be future discussions, it leads us to believe that he could still appear in that galaxy far, far away.

“Star Wars I’m a huge fan. Yeah Star Wars really interests me. I’ve still got the Millennium Falcon, I’ve got the AT-AT. My daughter, her first love was Darth Vader. She absolutely adored Darth Maul. [She] stood near him at Disneyland and he growled and he’s got those teeth and he stayed in character, really wonderful performance, and she was teeny and I thought, ‘This is gonna scare the crap out of her, this is such a bad idea.’ And then she stopped and she said, ‘Daddy, I’m in love.’”

So, it definitely seems like Bale is interested in one day joining cinema’s second biggest franchise, and with Rian Johnson now plotting a whole new Star Wars trilogy, there are tons of opportunities for the actor to climb on board. Who he could play and what film he’d appear in is obviously something that fans will no doubt be debating now, but if you’ve got any thoughts of your own, be sure to share them in the usual place.

Circling back to Solo, though, and it’s understood that story-wise, the pic chronicles Han Solo’s journey between the ages of 16 and 24, though given that Ron Howard reshot a lot more of the film than was originally intended, it’d be wise to discard any and all story rumors you’ve heard about Lucasfilm’s second Star Wars anthology movie.

Said to be influenced by old-school Westerns and heist films, Solo: A Star Wars Story has been pitched as a space-faring caper – fitting, really, given the titular character at its core – and it’ll be with us on May 25th, 2018. Stay tuned to WGTC over the coming weeks when we’ll have full coverage of the long-anticipated spinoff and, presumably, its maiden trailer.