entertainment
Billy Dee Williams played Lando Calrissian in Return of the Jedi (1983).
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Talk about your backhanded compliment.
Billy Dee Williams, famous for playing Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars film series, gave some praise to Donald Glover, who took over the role, in comments to the British Radio Times. did.
“I had a little lunch with him. He's a delightful young man. Very talented,” Williams, 86, told Radio Times.
“But I don't see him…I mean, when it comes to Lando Calrissian, there's only one Lando Calrissian.
“I created that character.”
Williams played the smuggler and rebel hero in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and reprized his role in 2019's The Rise of Skywalker.
Glover ('Atlanta', 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith') played a young Calrissian in the 2018 Star Wars prequel film, Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Ms Williams told the Radio Times that she had only one piece of advice for Ms Glover, 40, about taking on the role. “I told him to be charming, two words!” he said. “That's all I needed to tell him. That's all I could think of.”
More Calrissians could be coming down the pike.
An exclusive Calrissian series for Disney+ was announced in 2020. Then, in July 2023, news broke that Glover and his brother Stephen would be writing for the Disney+ series, which is currently being developed as a film, replacing the original series' writer (Justin Simian). According to Deadline).
“He's part of a whole new generation,” Williams said of Glover and his Calrissian portrayal. “He creates whatever it takes to make the character appealing.”
“He's a very talented young man, very imaginative,” he told Radio Times about Glover. “So it's not my place to say what he should do with the character at this stage.”
He added: “I was in charge of the 20th century, now he has to be in charge of the 21st century.”
Williams was then asked if he would ever play the character again, and his answer left no room for imagination.
“If you pay me a lot of money, I'll sell my soul,'' he said.
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