Well, that certainly didn’t take long.
Little more than a week has passed since two became one on Disney’s Han Solo spinoff. Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the directing duo behind The LEGO Movie, were abruptly fired from the Star Wars Anthology film over creative differences, only to be replaced two days later by the Oscar-winning Ron Howard. It proved to be a quick turnaround, even by Lucasfilm’s standards, and we understand Howard is beginning to immerse himself in his new surroundings.
Filming isn’t expected to kick into high gear until July 10th, but it appears as though Ron Howard has already been paying a visit to the Solo camp, after the director shared a rather cheeky, if unremarkable photo via Twitter.
First spotted by Screen Rant, it’s exactly the kind of set photo you’d expect from a director bound by all sorts of NDAs. Granted, if the past few weeks have taught us anything, it’s that amateur photographers will be on-hand to survey the Han Solo production from afar, before relaying a series of unofficial photos and videos showcasing dusty old junkyards, alien vehicles, and Alden Ehrenreich suited and booted as the young Han Solo.
Speaking of which, we wouldn’t read into those reports of Ehrenreich’s acting coach too much. Disney’s decision to draft in some assistance for the young star is certainly unorthodox – particularly at this stage in production – but it seems the company’s licensees had nothing but praise for the actor (and Donald Glover’s Lando!) after laying eyes on an early sizzle reel.
Meanwhile, here’s that Tweet from Howard:
Cool scene today but I'm afraid this is the most revealing image I dare share from my 1st day on the set of the Untitled Han Solo movie pic.twitter.com/RB15lG7FGE
— Ron Howard (@RealRonHoward) June 29, 2017
The untitled Han Solo anthology movie is on course for a release on May 25th, 2018. Before that, Star Wars fans can look forward to revisiting that famous galaxy far, far away when The Last Jedi makes a beeline for theaters on December 15th of this year.