A Female Han Solo

A female Han Solo? What? I know, you're confused, it's ok. Grab a hold of your Ewok stuffed toy, sit back and let me regale you with this awesomeness. So, a few nights ago, there was a live read of Star Wars The Empire Strikes back in LA at the Ace Hotel Theater. The live read was part of a series of live-readings arranged by Jason Reitman. The idea behind the live reads is for different actors to read scripts from famous movies without reading the script first, so doing the performance cold. He's arranged several movie live reads so far but this is the first one that has caused a stir with his casting of a female Han Solo.

The female in question is talented actress Ellen Page who you will remember from such movies as Juno and Inception. She read the famous response to Leia's confession of love opposite equally talented actress Jessica Alba, and from what sources say she nailed it. Sadly, the video footage of the live read is down and has been since Friday (the day after the performance). I didn't get to see it but based on the cast of actors chosen, I am inclined to believe the entire thing was quite awesome. Mark Hamill was involved but not as you would expect. While he is reprising his famous role for the Star Wars movie due out next year, in this live-read Hamill took on the roles of Palpatine and the ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi while Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad fame took on the role of Luke Skywalker. Chewbacca was read by The Office's Rainn Wilson and Darth Vader was read by J.K. Simmons (Law & Order, Oz, Spiderman 1, 2 & 3).

One can only hope that video of this event will surface again in the future. If not, I say we start a petition to get a short film made because this is the type of stuff that should be shared with the world. It could certainly be something to hold fans over until the new Star Wars movie premiers. It's just a thought.