Meet the Man Who Is – and Should – Play Han Solo

You’ve likely seen Jamie Costa’s Vines and video compilation’s pop up at some point on your Facebook feeds or Tumblr dashboards. His celebrity impressions from Gandalf to Matthew McConaughey to Robin Williams are all spot on. When Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out, Costa was right there displaying his skills as different characters from the franchise.

With a young Han Solo film in the works from Hollywood, speculation rises as to who will take on Harrison Ford’s iconic mantle. They need to have the looks, the voice, and above all else – Ford’s charisma.

From viewing Costa’s work, he may be one of the top contenders. Oh yeah, and tie in the fact that he is working on his own fan-made Han Solo film project. The fan film is an original story where Han Solo seeks out a lost Chewbacca (not like that Christmas special…). Costa and his crew hope to raise $20,000 to cover the filming costs. They hope to begin shooting in June.

We chatted with Costa about his career, his love of Star Wars and his Indiegogo campaign. You can follow him out on Facebook, Vine, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and Snapchat.

 

How did you discover you could do impersonations/impressions?

When I was young I used to quote my favorite movies and the characters with my friends and family and eventually people told me I sounded like them.

But it wasn’t until I won an impressions contest on Vine did I start publicly pushing out content revolving around my impressions and trying out new ones. That was when I realized people actually thought they were good.

 

What do you love about Star Wars and how did you get into the franchise?

I’ve loved Star Wars since I was very young. I remember watching the original trilogy on VHS for the first time when I was being babysat at five or six.

 

How did the fan film idea come to fruition?

After networking with other notable Youtubers and filmmakers at this past years Vid Con two fan film ideas I came into discussions about producing and acting in several fan films since I have acted as Wolverine in a now viral vid. One was a Han Solo and the other (which is next in line) is a Legend of Zelda fan film.

 

Your IMDb says you went to military school, did that hinder or help your comedic leanings?

Helped in all kinds of ways! I loved military school. Learned a lot from other people and also adopted a better sense of discipline and leadership into my life, which has helped me in this industry.

 

How did you get involved with working with you collaborators Dark Pixel, David Oakes, Nathaniel Nauert and Keith Allen?

All different places! Keith and I met at Vid Con. Met Dark Pixel at Salt Lake City Comic Con. Nathaniel Nauert casted me in a 48hr film fest here in LA. And David Oakes and I met through Keith.

 

What would it be like for you to play Han Solo in the Star Wars young Han Solo film?

Well just to clarify we aren’t trying to push the whole “young” thing. But we are placing this story before the events of A New Hope. 

This will be a blast! It’s a whole new adventure that has our favorite space smuggler doing things we’ve never seen before. It will be an honor to play such an iconic character and celebrate more of Star Wars!

 

Can you tell us about the Indiegogo campaign, why you chose to crowdfund and when your deadline is?

Well I don’t personally have the funds to do what we want to do with it so I’m turning to the people to see if they think this is worthy of being made.

We hope to be fully funded by April 14th.

 

On top of your Han Solo impression (and a plethora of others) we’ve heard you do quite the Chewbacca expression that could give Peter Mayhew a run for his money – will we be hearing your Chewbacca in the fan film?

Haha nope I’ll be leaving that one alone for the film.

 

What other projects are you currently working on/would like to promote?

I have a few personal projects I’m working on but the biggest thing on the radar is my acting career. Audition, audition, audition!

 

Is there an official title for the film or is it simply Han Solo Fan Film?

No official title. Yet…

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=41&v=kiWy_AjSjMM