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9 months ago
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Billy Dee Williams has been impressed by Donald Glover's acting talent, but stands behind the notion that "there's only one Lando Calrissian."
Williams, who played Lando Calrissian in the 1980s movie "The Empire Strikes Back," spoke to Radio Times about Glover's portrayal of the role in the "Star Wars" franchise.
"I had a nice little lunch with him. He’s a delightful young man. Extremely talented," he said. "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 told the outlet the advice he gave Glover ahead of the role. "I told him to be charming – two words! That’s all I needed to tell him. That’s all I could think of," Williams explained.
Glover took on the role as young Lando in the 2018 "Star Wars" prequel film, "Solo: A Star Wars Story." According to Variety, a Disney+ series was announced in 2020 for a limited series focused on the character.
The outlet reported that in July 2023, it was announced that brothers Donald and Stephen Glover took control of the "Lando" limited series as writers and the project is now being turned into a movie.
Billy Dee explained that Glover is taking the role in a new direction.
"He’s part of a whole new generation. He’ll create whatever he needs to create, to bring appeal to the character," he said of Donald. "He’s a very talented young lad and very imaginative. I mean, it’s not for me to say what he should do with the character at this stage."
Williams added, "I took care of the 20th century, now he’s got to take care of the 21st."
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When Billy Dee was asked if he would ever portray the rebel-turned-hero character in a "Star Wars" production again, the actor said, "Pay me a lot of money and I’ll sell my soul."
In February, Williams wrote a new memoir, "What Have We Here? Portraits of a Life," where he detailed his rise to stardom in Hollywood, what it was like making his mark in the film franchise, and how, for a time, he fell out of favor.
He also hit back after decades of being accused of betraying his friend, Han Solo, who was originally portrayed by Harrison Ford.
"One thing I liked about playing Lando was that he was a bit dubious," the 86-year-old told Fox News Digital at the time. "And I think that makes the character.… A good hero to me is a character that you’re not always quite sure of. And there was a certain uncertainty about Lando, which makes him a lot more interesting than just playing a straight good guy."
"But he was a good guy," Williams said.
In the film, Lando is depicted as making a deal with the Empire, which leads to Solo (Harrison Ford) being captured and frozen in carbonite. It’s a moment that stunned viewers, and the backlash was immediately felt.
"Lando was up against Darth Vader and Boba Fett," Williams explained. "He had to figure out how to prevent the complete demise of his friend Han Solo because they were buddies. Darth Vader and Boba Fett were on their tail. He was trying to buy time. But fans still saw it as a betrayal. And I had to deal with that. A lot of the fans had already fallen in love with Han Solo, Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker. They already had a huge following. Here I come along, and I create a situation that would conceivably create a problem for these people. I was seen as a problem."
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"I found myself having to deal with people," Williams continued. "When I would pick up my daughter from school, kids would come running up to me and say, ‘You betrayed Han Solo!’ Whenever I got on a plane, the flight attendant would also accuse me of betraying Han Solo. I ran into a great deal of that for quite some time."
Williams wrote that wherever he went, he was met with dirty looks. Some would approach Williams and publicly scold him. One man shopping with his teenage son looked at him and sneered in disgust, "I should put you in the deep freeze." His son nodded in agreement. Parents at his daughter’s school didn't think twice about scowling at him in front of their children.
Eventually, Williams got "fed up with it."
"I finally said, ‘Look, did anybody die?’" he recalled. "I was trying to do the best I could.… And I became part of the Force. I think that the character ultimately wasn’t a betrayal but a winning personality. And people just couldn’t resist him."
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Fox News Digital's Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this report.
