Billy Dee Williams advised Donald Glover to be "charming" in ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’.
The 81-year-old actor portrays Lando Calrissian in the original ‘Star Wars’ trilogy and has met with the 34-year-old star and given him is blessing to star as his younger self in the upcoming origins tale.
Billy said of Donald: "He’s an extraordinarily talented young man.
"We had a very nice lunch and he asked me a lot of questions about playing Lando. I told him, ‘Donald, just be charming.’ "
In recent years, Billy has enjoyed voicing Lando again in animations and video games.
He told Empire magazine: "That’s a lot of fun. I love animation and the humour is always appealing to me. And it’s Billy Dee’s voice people want to hear."
The actor has not returned for the latest installments in the ‘Star Wars’ franchise, but was touched to learn that fans have petitioned for him to make an appearance in the upcoming ‘Episode IX’.
He said: "Really? That’s sweet… If I was a fan I’d want to see me too."
And Billy insists he deserves the credit for the Lando so beloved by fans, not franchise creator George Lucas.
He said: "I created Lando. I got the framework but what you see on screen is wat I put there.
"I remember [Laurence Olivier] in an interview, back when everyone was working from the inside out, the Method, the Actors Studio, Stanislavski. He said he always worked from the outside in.
"So when I heard the name Calrissian I thought, ‘OK, Armenian. Let me play with that idea.’ Then when I saw the cape, I thought, ‘Errol Flynn.’ I saw him as a swashbuckler.
"[His charm] was all me. I’m a charming guy if you didn’t notice.
"Cool and swagger can be anybody. I didn’t care what colour his skin was, he was beyond all that. I just wanted him to be… bigger than life."
Billy Dee Williams offered tips to Donald Glover
