Solo: A Star Wars story is like a gangster movie, says new recruit Paul Bettany

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Paul Bettany is a busy man. Not content with starring as Vision in Marvel's massive Avengers series, he's also a recent recruit to the Solo: A Star Wars Story movie. In a recent interview with Total Film, he shared what he could about the standalone adventure. 

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"It's Han Solo's story, and of course his story would be a caper," says Bettany in the latest issue of the magazine, on sale now. "On one level it's a gangster movie. That's really interesting, because it's within the canon but really different. It's fucking Han Solo!"

"Suddenly, I'm an intergalactic gangster and I'm walking down some stairs and an R2 unit goes by with some champagne, and I'm like... [drops jaw] I had that feeling that I hadn't had since I was first on a film set - I was a little boy doing the best job in the world."

He also had nothing but love for director Ron Howard, who has shared snaps of the two on set on Instagram. Howard joined the production late after the original team, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, left the project in June because of creative differences. 

"His staging ability is so fucking brilliant," says Bettany of Howard. "I think he went in and he was like a laser, working out what needed to be done when he looked at the footage. And then, as things moved on, everybody felt so secure with him. And they gave him more. He reshot a lot more than was originally intended."

For more on the project - including what Bettany thinks of the new Han Solo, Alden Ehrenreich - grab the latest issue of Total Film. 

(Image credit: Total Film/Warner Bros)

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Image credit: Getty - Axelle/Bauer-Griffin / Contributor

Rachel Weber
Rachel Weber
Contributor

Rachel Weber is the former US Managing Editor of GamesRadar+ and lives in Brooklyn, New York. She joined GamesRadar+ in 2017, revitalizing the news coverage and building new processes and strategies for the US team.