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| Ready for the next 'job': Thandie Newton as Val. |
MILD SPOILERS AHEAD!
It's been a great couple of years for Brit star Thandie Newton, entering an all-new phase of an already diverse career, what with the well-deserved acclaim she's received for her truly captivating performance as an android brothel keeper in the sci-fi nightmare of HBO's
Westworld, and now getting to play with even bigger franchise toys, as well as portraying an even more iconic and memorable figure in film history, inhabiting the fiery and efficient thief and crack shot Val, part of the game-changing rogue hero-shaping events of the upcoming
Solo: A Star Wars Story.
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| On the battlefield of Mimban. But are Val and Beckett really fighting for the Empire? |
Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsDdQwwF8-E
And as the next formidable female figure of the saga, Newton's action anti-hero-of-sorts in Val clearly doesn't suffer fools gladly, speaks her mind and readies her blaster when necessary, and trusts only a few key people- most notably the efficient and versatile Tobias Beckett- leader of the band of thieves and fortune hunters she's been long-time hooked up with. And when that young and feisty Han Solo turns ups with his own cocksure attitude and abilities, and wants in on their schemes of glory and plunder, you can bet things will be getting pretty tense!
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| Planning their unique heist on the cold world of Vandor. |
Always a fan of the saga, Thandie Newton talked to the UK's
Radio Times magazine (April 2018) on the importance of being in
Solo:
'I'm the first woman of colour to have a prominent role in the Star Wars legacy. There have been others with one line and Lupita Nyong'o was a computer generated character, but you didn't get to see the colour of her skin.
I'm the first. I'm going to have a toy and everything. It's exciting, but that's all I can say. It's a big deal.'
UPDATE: New UK interview:
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2018/may/19/thandie-newton-being-the-first-dark-skinned-woman-in-star-wars-is-great-and-awful
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| Val, prepared for heist action with her cable equipment. |
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| Thandie Newton and fellow Brit babe Emilia Clarke at the Solo premiere in Los Angeles. |
