*Michael Kenneth Williams shot scenes for the new Star Wars stand-alone “Han Solo” movie, but his role has been cut out of the film completely amid the reshoots currently underway with new director Ron Howard, according to Deadline.
Williams had been cast by original directing duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller, but they exited in June, and the revamped production schedule under Howard ended up conflicting with Williams’ commitment to spy drama “The Red Sea Diving Resort,” his new movie currently shooting in South Africa with Ben Kingsley and Chris Evans.
“When Ron Howard got hired to finish out the film, there were some reshoot issues that needed to be done in regards to my character, in order for it to match the new direction which the producers wanted Ron to carry the film in,” Williams told Deadline. “And that would have required me on a plane a month ago to London, to Pinewood, to do reshoots. But I’m here, on location in Africa.
“It’s scheduling. I’m not going to be back on the market until the end of November after [his SundanceTV series] ‘Hap and Leonard,’ and for them to wait that long for me, that would have pushed back the release date, which I believe is in May 2018. They wanted me now; I couldn’t go. So they had to clip-clip-clip.”
Speaking about the work he put in, “I felt great about what I created with the directors that I worked with,” said Williams. “It is what it is.”
Although plot and character details have been kept under wraps, Williams said he played a half-human, half-animal in the film and that “we created a kick-ass character, in my opinion. I’m proud of it.”
