Star Wars Bits: The Chinese Title for ‘Solo,’ Poe Dameron Becomes a Meme, and Rian Johnson Gets Starstruck

In this edition of Star Wars Bits:

Rian Johnson gets starstruck
The Chinese title for Solo leaves out some key words
Marvel directors reveal their feelings on Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Peter Dinklage wants to be in Star Wars
An exciting job opportunity at Lucasfilm
And much more!.

First up, here’s some very cool art by Adam Schickling, who remade Drew Struzan’s classic poster for the special edition re-release of A New Hope using the cast of the new trilogy. You can find more of his work on Instagram at @adamschicklingillustration.

Everyone has opinions about The Last Jedi, which has garnered the clickbait-worthy title of “most divisive” Star Wars movie. Even the directors of Avengers: Infinity War have gotten in on the action. During an episode of MTV’s Happy Sad Confused podcast (via Comicbook.com), they revealed they’re huge fans of Johnson, and thought his take was “exciting.” The pair also denied rumors that they’d been asked to direct Episode IX, stating that the Avengers were taking up all of their time right now…but they’d love to direct a Star Wars movie at some point in the future.

During a chat with Kevin Smith and IMDB at Sundance, Domhnall Gleeson appeared to take credit for one of The Last Jedi’s defining moments. Though the actor seemed like he created the tense stand-off between Kylo and Hux in Snoke’s throne room, he has since clarified that it was actually all writer/director Rian Johnson with a little collaboration.

Another of Kevin Smith’s little chats saw director Reed Morano, Elle Fanning, and Peter Dinklage sit down to talk about their new movie I Think We’re Alone Now and get on the topic of Star Wars. After all, there have been rumors that Morano might be the next director to take on the classic franchise. Though she denied that’s the case, we did learn that Dinklage is apparently very eager to become a part of the galaxy far, far away. He began an impromptu audition as a droid before stating “I just want a part!”

The death of Han Solo was obviously a monumental moment in Star Wars canon, but some fans felt it wasn’t properly addressed in the newest installment. If you’re one of those fans, fear not. In a recent interview with The Star Wars Show, Rian Johnson let slip that Han Solo’s funeral will be covered in the upcoming novelization of The Last Jedi. So get those tissues ready as the galaxy mourns our fave scruffy looking nerf herder.

???? https://t.co/7ysmwHbLos

— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) January 26, 2018

It’s rare that the director of one of the highest grossing movies on Earth gets starstruck, but that’s exactly what happened this week. In a strange confluence of events, Stormy Daniels – the adult filk star who allegedly had a weird affair with Donald Trump – tweeted her hate for The Last Jedi. She professed a rather blunt statement about something rude that Rian Johnson could partake in, to which Johnson replied *starry eyes emoji*.

Looks like Dame Helen Mirren had a horrible realization about the Empire during The Force Awakens, as she revealed during an interview with the LA Times. “There was this lovely young actor [John Boyega] – which means one of the Stormtroopers is a human being. And if he’s a human, they’re all human. And you have been indiscriminately killing Stormtroopers for the last [six] Star Wars movies without any consideration to their humanity!”

According to local media Mtime, Official Chinese title of Solo: A Star Wars Story is Ranger Solo(????). And STAR WARS(????) is abandoned in Solo’s local title after Star Wars: The Last Jedi flopped in China. pic.twitter.com/FsOTZcxENW

— Gavin Feng (@weier1231997) January 26, 2018

We’ve reported on Star Wars: The Last Jedi’s poor performance in China, and it looks like this has had an impact on the upcoming Solo: A Star Wars Story – the film will undergo a name change. The troubled prequel will be released in China as Ranger Solo, a title that doesn’t feature the words “Star” or “Wars.”