Two Lovebirds Unaware of Their Surroundings: James Clyne's Breathtaking Rendering of Qi'ra and Han in the Streets of Corellia
Have you ever been to Corellia? It's gray and bleak. But between the hopelessness and dreariness, there's a breathtaking light surrounding two lovers in the cold streets, making time stand still.
Solo: A Star Wars Story occupies a special place in Star Wars. Not only is it one of the few films that is set outside the Skywalker saga and has virtually no connection to the Force and the Jedi. Alongside Attack of the Clones, it’s also the only other film that puts its love story front and center. A doomed love story to be precise: we know from the start that something is going to happen between Qi’ra and Han, as she was never mentioned in the original trilogy.
It’s an utterly tragic story that ends – at least as far as it’s told in the film – with one of the most heartbreaking Star Wars moments: Qi’ra leaves Han behind. Has she betrayed him? Or is she trying to protect him? Because she knows that they have no future together as long as they are hunted by other forces? Many subtle nuances are reflected in their faces. Qi’ra and Han look at each other in despair and agony, in disappointment and sadness, even though they are already miles apart. Pain lingers in the air. A devastating eternity. But it wasn’t always like this.
The reason this ending hurts so much is because of how real their live felt in the first act of the film. Solo: A Star Wars Story begins with two young people who are completely over each other and will not let their dreams be taken away from them, despite the fact that the world around them is anything but kind to them. Qi’ra’s radiant eyes, Han’s mischievous glances – they rush head over heels into adventure without thinking all too much about the consequences. Always in movement. Unresting. However, the most magical thing is when they’re just together.
Nothing captures this unconditional togetherness more beautifully than an early concept art by James Clyne, which you can see as the header image above these lines. Clyne, who had previously worked on The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi in the Star Wars universe, served as design supervisor on Solo and was therefore involved in the film’s creation process from the very beginning. The drawing above also dates from this early phase. Looking back to its origin, Clyne wrote on Instagram: “Early concept for Corellia’s urban landscape. Solo. Two lovebirds unaware of their surroundings.”
Here’s another exploration of this urban landscape (without the lovebirds):
I often return to this image. It’s one of my favourite pieces of concept art ever. Although it’s not even an image that appears in the film, for me it captures the essence of Qi’ra and Han's relationship at the beginning of Solo. Clyne’s description could hardly be any better. Two lovebirds unaware of their surroundings. There’s something truly mesmerizing about this intimate snapshot in the middle of an environment that never sleeps. The wheels are always turning. Corellia is an industrial planet full of workstations and giant structures. A place of metal and efficiency.
And yet it seems as if time is standing still. Suddenly, the gray, bleak shipyards turn into a frame of delicate lines enclosing Qi’ra and Han, from the uneven concrete slabs on the ground to antennas, machines and ventilation shafts, which ultimately merge into ever larger buildings. A soft, beautiful light falls through the archway at the end of the street, with colors that balance on the fine line between warmth and cold. It feels like the sun is setting after a long day. So gentle that all the sweat and dirt of the hard, physical labor is forgotten as the workers leave the factory.
Every time I look at this image, it reminds me of the short black-and-white-silent film Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory from 1895 in which, well, workers leave the Lumière factory. It consists of a simple, almost documentary-like shot that lasts less than a minute. Nevertheless we become part of the hustle and bustle, filling the frame with life. The image planes underline the streaming motion of the people, starting with the gate in the middle, as a connecting element between foreground and background, like a portal opening up the world for everyone coming from inside.
Then there are the walls on the side and the path that leads deeper and deeper into the scene with all its layers. People step out of the dark into a very bright space. They keep coming and coming as if a bubble had burst. Clyne’s concept art is not quite as busy and the workers in the Star Wars universe seem a little more exhausted and lonely than their French counterparts, but it also perfectly captures a sense of place thanks to the excellent composition – with one striking difference: In Clyne’s rendering, light shines through the archway to illuminate the couple in the center.
The concept art brilliantly works in two directions. On the one hand, ist expertly observes the setting, you can almost hear the streets bustling, unintelligible murmuring, distant voices and noises, the clattering and clanking of tools – it’s all right there in front of us. On the other hand, Clyne wonderfully sketches the two main characters and their relationship to each other without becoming too specific. He doesn’t have to spell anything out, but rather only catches a moment of their closeness, which also has something unexpectedly lonely about it.
Comfort and melancholy in one image: When I think of Corellia, I think first of depressing structures in all shades of gray. But in Clyne’s concept art, everything seems so dreamy and romantic. So tender, I could lose myself in it forever. Solo: A Star Wars Story starts in medias res amid sparks and speed. The escape velocity is built into the film from the very beginning. Qi’ra and Han hardly have time for their love. Before they know it, they are torn apart and will never find their way back to each other. At least never like this.
Clyne allows them an infinite moment while the world passes them by.
Image credits: Lucasfilm, Lumière