Even AI wants Harrison Ford to play Solo in new re-cut trailer

Youtube sensation, Derpfake, uses artificial intelligence to re-imagine Harrison Ford as a young Han Solo in recut Solo: A Star Wars Story trailer and the results are pretty impressive.

Is it an understatement to proclaim that Solo: A Star Wars Story had its share of hiccups? Besides all the calamitous hubbub in the background; the musical chairs of directing, the Solo poster design heist, and the obvious questions as to whether Solo: A Star Wars Story was a film that was truly needed, fans often wondered if anyone, not just Alden Ehrenreich, could pull off the legendary role who was not named Harrison Ford.

Whether Alden Ehrenreich did the swarthy space pirate justice is a question that is up for subjective interpretation, but it’s hard to not to imagine a young version of Harrison Ford flashing an overconfident toothy grin while watching.

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But, as humans we are only capable of so much, limited by our cognitive boundaries and the size of our reptile brains, try as we might, we may never have been able to see anything other than Ehrenreich, to our disappointment.

Step in, Artificial Intelligence or AI, for short.

In a few years we may be subjects to machine overlords but, for now, one AI has done us a solid. YouTube extraordinaires, Derpfakes, have been showcasing some of the amazing things AI can do. And, now, the idea of Ford as a young Han Solo is a thing of the past as this video shows:

The description on Derpfakes page goes on to explain:

"Using footage and stills of a pre-1977 Harrison Ford, I tried to make the most convincing young Solo I could, with the peak (in my opinion) being the final scene."

Obviously things aren’t perfect. Ehrenreich’s voice still spills out like a pubescent teen trying to cop an attitude with Dad and some of the pictures come off just plain weird. It’s just amazing that we are at a point where it may be possible to put a young Ford on-screen again.

Movies are now playing with the idea more and more. Disney and Marvel, themselves, have been toying with this concept somewhat. Grand Moff Tarkin was digitally recreated for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Marvel will feature a digitally de-aged Samuel L. Jackson as a young, two-eyed Nick Fury in the upcoming Captain Marvel.

So, maybe the human race has seen the end. As C3PO likes to put it, perhaps “we’re done for.”

But, at least, when we are fighting off metallic beasts in some hellscape futuristic nightmare, we’ll know it probably started back when Derpfakes made an innocent video plastering Harrison Ford’s image all over this trailer – just to see what it looked like.

That’ll probably a good reference point to travel back in time to try and stop this whole thing when it gets out of hand. Until then, might as well enjoy.

Solo: A Star Wars Story is currently for streaming, Blu-Ray and DVD.