Jennifer Lawrence On The Idea That She Should Play A Young Han Solo

By David Wharton | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

New Star Wars casting rumors are damn near a daily thing here at GFR, and they range from the exciting to the downright stomach-churning. Still, nothing we’ve heard so far is quite so preposterous and yet simultaneously awesome notion of Jennifer Lawrence playing a young Han Solo in one of those spinoff movies Disney’s been talking about.

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Never tell her the odds.

Now I’m not saying there should be a gender-swapped Han Solo origin movie. I’m just saying if there was a gender-swapped Han Solo origin movie, and it starred Jennifer Lawrence, I would totally buy a ticket to that. And during an interview to promote The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the cheeky folks at /Film decided to ask the young actress to comment on the latest in a long line of silly internet ideas. Her response is emblematic of why she’s earned a reputation of one of the most genuine and down-to-earth starlets out there.

When asked the question, Lawrence unsurprisingly laughed it off, saying, “I can’t play a young Han Solo. That’s awful.” But after the reporter explained that she’d been praised for having the “swagger and charisma” to play the cocky smuggler, Lawrence added, “Oh my God, that’s awesome. Can I do that?” You’ve got my vote, lady!

The whole “Jennifer Lawrence as Han Solo” thing was birthed by Screen Crush writer Britt Hayes, who was bemoaning the fact that there doesn’t seem to be a young, male actor out there who would be able to fill the striped pants of Harrison Ford as Han Solo. Sure, there are plenty of talented young male actors out there, but another Han Solo? It doesn’t seem likely. Well, you know what they say: when the going gets tough, the tough swap genders.

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Here’s Screen Crush making the case:

Han Solo has swagger. He’s witty, sarcastic, quick-thinking, and adventurous. He has a wry smile and he’s awfully full of himself for good reason. He’s mischievous and daring and masculine without being muscle-headed. Every lady wanted to be with him and every guy wanted to be him. There’s only one actor under 30 who I think could play Han Solo with the same je ne sais quois of Harrison Ford, and that’s Jennifer Lawrence.

Not only is she athletic enough to run from bad guys, but she can convincingly wield weapons in a way that feels like someone might actually get hurt. Her roles are often women who are confident (bordering on cocky), determined, quick-witted, and smart, and she can lob one-liners like no one’s business. She has that mischievous twinkle in her eye, just like Harrison Ford’s Han Solo. Her resilience in Winter’s Bone, her action heroine antics in ‘The Hunger Games,’ and her witty banter with Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook combined could make for an excellent intergalactic hero in the vein of young Han Solo.

And damn it if I can find a flaw in that argument. Except for the elephant in the room, and by elephant I mean penis (or lack thereof). Han Solo is, of course, a dude. Sure, that may not be his most important quality, but it is one of his more noticeable ones. If George Lucas were writing the first Star Wars movie today, rather than in the ‘70s, there’s no compelling reason Han Solo couldn’t be Hana Solo instead. Except for the fact that my puberty would cry at the thought of the gold bikini being replaced by a gold codpiece. But it’s too late, what’s done is done, and what’s done is Han Solo sporting a Y-chromosome. I mean, assuming that’s how it works in that galaxy far, far away.

Still, you never know. Maybe Han used to be a girl, but there was some sort of crazy incident involving midi-chlorians or something. Maybe that famous line was originally supposed to continue as “the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs, back when I was totally a lady for a while.”

Stranger things have happened. More importantly, much, much worse things have happened, and those things were named Jake Lloyd, Hayden Christensen, and Jar Jar Binks. At the very least I’m sure Lawrence-as-Solo fan-fic is happening right this very minute. Quick, somebody get me a Harrison Ford/Jennifer Lawrence team-up, STAT. We can call it Han Duo. See, I already did the heavy lifting for you.

As for Lawrence, she says, “Yeah, it’ll probably be male, but I have always wanted to play a man.”