Many movies hit rough patches on their way to the big screen and the latest Star Wars films are no exception. According to Variety, more than half of Lucasfilm’s recent efforts have suffered through times of filmmaker upheaval. But Solo: A Star Wars Story, due in theaters May 25, upstaged all of them with its on-set troubles. With just a few weeks left on Solo‘s shooting schedule, producer Kathleen Kennedy abruptly fired directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and brought in veteran Ron Howard to try to rework the entire film. As a result, Howard shot about 70 percent of the final product, earning him the sole director credit on the movie, while Lord and Miller receive executive producer acknowledgments. Including the reshoots Howard did, the movie ended up costing more than $250 million.
“I didn’t witness any of the difficulties or where that disconnect was,” said Academy Award-winning director Howard, according to Variety. “But the one thing that I could bring to it was objectivity. I saw it as an opportunity.”
So what went wrong? Lawrence Kasdan, whose work on the Star Wars series goes back to The Empire Strikes Back, told Variety it was an issue of tone on the screen and exactitude on the set. But Kasdan’s son and co-writer Jonathan thinks that the issues were much more in the “bones and practical.” A crew member told Variety that Lord and Miller went too far with experimentation. Howard was able to be more efficient and timely.
Thanks for reading InsideHook. Sign up for our daily newsletter and be in the know.
