Oh god, I’m so sorry, everyone. I wished so hard that we could have had Solo: A Star Wars Story featuring an actual young Harrison Ford, and it seems only the darkest forces in the universe heard me. Now, I must inflict this on all of you: an insta-nope version of the Solo: A Star Wars Story trailer with Harrison Ford’s face placed over Alden Ehrenreich’s.
OK, I didn’t actually wish for it all that hard, but it does kind of feel like this is what everyone who’s been trying to compare the two actors (myself included) deserves. I will say this, though: It at least looks like Nick Acosta, who put this video together and posted it on Vimeo, probably did the best anyone could’ve with the available resources. It’s not quite on the (still unsettling) level of Tarkin or Leia in Rogue One, but for a personal project with limited Ford footage to work with—from pre-Star Wars movies, TV, and still photos to get that Young Solo look—rather than expensive CGI, the best parts of it do work reasonably well.
Acosta explained in the video’s description, “Watching the trailer featuring new actor Alden Ehrenreich in the titular role it’s hard to get used to. By all accounts Alden seems like great actor and good guy. But I couldn’t help wonder what would this movie would look like if you could magically transport a young Harrison Ford to play his iconic character. So using a variety of digital compositing software and some editing tricks I tried to make that happen.”
Honestly, it’s all kind of fitting, what with Star Wars’ history with after-the-fact digital edits. Somewhere, Hayden Christensen’s Force Ghost is laughing. Smugly.
(via io9, image: Lucasfilm/Nick Acosta on Vimeo)
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