Friday, September 7, 2018

Ray Park Talks About Returning As Darth Maul In 'Solo'

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By: Dominic Jones
 
After the release of Solo: A Star Wars Story, the moment that had everyone talking was the surprise reveal that the real leader of Crimson Dawn is truly Darth Maul.  Maul's voice was provided by Sam Witwer, who had played the character in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, while his physical presence was performed by Ray Park, who first played the character in 1999 in The Phantom Menace.  Park spoke about what it was like the find out he would be playing Maul again in a new interview with Forbes.   


Park explained he got the call from the producers in June 2017, saying,

"I got the phone call from Lynne Hale from Lucasfilm. And it was really nice of her, because she said to me 'Ray, we're just calling to see if you would like to do it.' And I went [inhales slowly] 'Yeah. Do you want me on the plane now?'"

Forbes also released a reference photo of Park as Maul from Solo, giving us our first non-hologram look at the character's new costume (including his robot legs and new lightsaber).  Check it out below,
Maul's return was a big surprise for several reasons, not the least of which being that he seemingly died at the end of The Phantom Menace.  However, the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars revealed that he survived and sought to establish himself in the galaxy once more by amassing power in the criminal underworld.  Maul would also later appear in the subsequent animated series Star Wars Rebels, which takes place chronologically after the events of Solo.

The decision to include Maul in Solo, came relatively late in the game.  The filmmakers considered multiple options for characters that Qi'Ra could call after killing her boss, Dryden Vos.  It was co-screenwriter Jon Kasdan who first pushed for the idea, however it was kept out of the script until the decision was finalized.

One of the people who supported this push, was director Ron Howard. Howard explained the situation back in May, saying,

"It was sort of initially written in a rather generic way.  It just sort of said 'Boss'.  And I thought when I came in, I assumed they knew who it was and they were just keeping it under wraps.  And they didn’t.  But Maul was listed as one of the candidates.  And I lobbied hard for that.  I thought that made a lot of sense to me.  I found that character to be really effective."

Solo: A Star Wars Story is set to hit digital HD on September 14th, as well as DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD on September 25th.  You can see more previews for the film's home media release here.

Source: Forbes

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