Donald Glover celebrated being cast as Lando Calrissian in 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' by eating a "whole pizza" and watching 'The Empire Strikes Back'.
Donald Glover
The 34-year-old actor plays a younger version of the original trilogy character in Row Howard's spin-off film and when he got the news from Disney and Lucasfilm that he had got the job he decided to watch Billy Dee Williams' first outing as the character in 'Episode IV'.
Glover said: "The day I found out I got [the role] I bought a whole pizza and went home and watched 'The Empire Strikes Back'."
Glover met with Williams - who also portrayed Lando in 'Episode V: Return of the Jedi' - to get his insight into the iconic sci-fi role but he made the decision early on that he didn't want his portrayal to be an "imitation" of the 81-year-old actor.
The younger star explained to Star Wars News: "I was also watching a lot of '70s stuff that I thought would be his kind of style. You don't want an imitation in this sort of thing. You just want somebody to exude that feeling currently."
The plot focuses on the early years of Han Solo - who is played by Alden Ehrenreich - as he and his co-pilot Chewbacca become established space smugglers.
Glover is a huge fan of the 'Star Wars' franchise and has previously admitted that the action figure of Lando Calrissian that his parents got him was the first toy he ever had.
As a child, he would watch the films over and over again and he hopes that he and Ehrenreich have recaptured some of the chemistry that it existed between Williams and original Han Solo Harrison Ford in the classic trilogy in their films.
Glover said: "You tend to do a better job of things when you're a fan, you have standards a little bit. You just know what you would hate a little bit more. I like seeing Han and Lando beforehand because it allows you to know that, yeah, people aren't perfect. People have to grow. Especially with Lando's clothing and facial hair choices, you can tell he's not quite there."
'Solo: A Star Wars Story' hits cinemas in May.
Tagged in Ron Howard Donald Glover Alden Ehrenreich