Jar Jar Begs Ron Howard for ‘Han Solo’ Screentime in New Funny or Die Video
The news that Ron Howard would take the directorial reins on Han Solo from Chris Miller and Phil Lord was met with a mixed reception by the ardent Star Wars fanbase. Some remembered Howard as the director behind Apollo 13, a movie partially set in outer space (the same location as much of Han Solo, presumably!), and figured he’d be right for the job. Others had fresher recollections of Ron Howard’s Inferno, a.k.a. Bad Tom Hanks Hairpiece 3, and expressed some misgivings. But today, one ardent supporter of Howard‘s has made a statement from the shadows on why he’s a perfect fit for the franchise, though he may have some rubbery, alien skin in the game.
In a new video from Funny or Die, an unnamed figure speaks out on Howard’s appointment to the franchise with the safe anonymity of silhouette and voice-garbling. But something about that outline, and the odd vernacular tic of referring to himself in the third person as “meesa” — the figure is clearly Jar Jar Binks, which explains why he spends the entire video smoothly suggesting that Jar Jar score some supporting-role screen time in the upcoming Han Solo spinoff film. Or, hey, why not just pivot and make it a full-blown Jar Jar: Origins film? The bumbling Gungan is his own PR team, ending on a sad note when he suggests that he’d be just as happy befriending Howard and riding whatever the space version of tandem bikes are.
It’s kinda funny, kinda sad, but mostly revealing with regards to how Jar Jar has stuck in the fanbase consciousness ever since premiering in the prequel trilogy. It has been years — over a decade! — since we had to deal with the irritating alien manservant, and he’s still a constant object of ridicule. At what point does it become faintly impressive that George Lucas could create such a powerful magnet for hatred?