The Wire and Boardwalk Empire star Michael K. Williams was finished with principal photography on Solo: A Star Wars Story, but then directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were axed. By the time Ron Howard came in to significantly re-shoot the film, Williams had moved onto filming The Red Sea Diving Resort, and his character of crime lord Dryden Vos, who was fully motion-captured, was replaced by Paul Bettany. Now we’re here, with a Williams-less Solo movie.
Fans came so close to having Omar in a Star Wars story (like the world deserves), but sadly, due to circumstance and a film with reportedly the incorrect tone, it simply wasn’t meant to be.
Williams dropped by EW’s Sirius XM show EW Morning Live to discuss his Star Wars role that will probably never see the light of day, and stress that he’s not only proud of his work on the film, but he can’t really do much about being a major actor cut from a huge movie like Solo. In fact, he seems like he’s taking it in stride:
“There are some things in life, you just gotta laugh at it. That was such an odd turn of events. That’s not the norm. As crazy a town as Hollywood is — I like to be the one that says I’ve seen a little bit of everything in this town — that was one for the textbooks. What are the odds of that happening? There comes a point, you just gotta throw your hands up and, you know what, it just wasn’t meant to be.”
“I will tell you this much though. What saddens me most is I was very proud of the work that I did. What I believe I have created with Emilia Clarke and Woody Harrelson and Alden… I thought it was some great work. We was on the spaceship, and we all had these amazing scenes together, and I thought it was a great opportunity, and I thought it was some great stuff. It’s unfortunate the world won’t get to see it.”
Considering the expectations of a yearly Star Wars movie for the foreseeable future, there’s no reason why Williams wouldn’t be able to be cast in Episode IX, or perhaps an Obi-Wan movie.
You can listen to the full interview here:
https://soundcloud.com/ewradio/michael-k-proud-of-work-cut-from-solo-a-star-wars-story
(Via EW)