Two films into the current Star Wars Anthology series, and it’s fair to say that both Rogue One and Solo endured long, meandering roads to the big screen.
The former was crafted by the overly capable Gareth Edwards, though Lucasfilm’s high-ranking officials reportedly took issue with the finale, resulting in Tony Gilroy being brought on board at the 11th hour to help oversee extensive reshoots. For Solo: A Star Wars Story, the Powers That Be called for a temporary hiatus mid-way through production due to the sudden dismissal of erstwhile directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller.
They were quickly replaced by Ron Howard, whose experience in the field helped bring some semblance of stability to Lucasfilm’s second Anthology pic. And thanks to an in-depth report from Variety, we now have more evidence to suggest that Lord and Miller were removed from their post after taking too many risks.
In their minds, Phil and Chris were hired to make a movie that was unexpected and would take a risk, not something that would just service the fans. They wanted it to be fresh, new, emotional, surprising and unique. These guys looked at Han as a maverick, so they wanted to make a movie about a maverick. But at every turn, when they went to take a risk, it was met with a no.
The anonymous source goes on to stress that many of Lord and Miller’s creative decisions were overruled – or dismissed entirely – because they were at odds with Lucasfilm’s own vision for the young Han Solo.
I think they were figuring it out. We were all still very much in a collaborative place of ‘Where does this want to go?’ This is a movie that has an enormous amount of pressure on its shoulders, therefore everybody making it feels some of that pressure. So when Ron came on, for me it felt amazing to be able to have a second set of eyes come in at this point in making the movie. How often do you get that chance to go back and try different things?
It’s since been claimed that Ron Howard’s reshoots account for around 70 percent of Solo: A Star Wars Story, even if the director remains adamant that Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s fingerprints can be found all over the end product that’s about to hit theaters this coming weekend.