‘Star Wars’ Drama: Directors Fired From Han Solo Prequel In Midst of Filming

Lucasfilm and directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller part over 'different creative visions'

June 20, 2017 9:34 pm
Han Solo Prequel
Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller with the cast of the Han Solo prequel in February. (Lucasfilm)

There is a great disturbance in the Force.

Han Solo prequel directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller announced Tuesday that they have left the Star Wars spinoff—which is still in the midst of filming.

But sources told Variety that Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy fired the pair over their improvisational style which often meandered from the script written by Lawrence Kasdan.

And Kasdan isn’t just any screenwriter—he’s the fan favorite behind The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi who knows a thing or two about the title character.

“Kathy, her team and Larry Kasdan have been doing it their way for a very long time. They know how the cheese is made and that’s how they want it made,” an insider told the industry trade. “It became a very polarizing set.”

That does not bode well for the movie scheduled to hit theaters on May 25, 2018, on the forty first anniversary of the release of the original Star Wars.

“Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are talented filmmakers who have assembled an incredible cast and crew, but it’s become clear that we had different creative visions on this film, and we’ve decided to part ways. A new director will be announced soon,” Kennedy announced in a statement.

The filmmakers’ version of events was even more blunt.

“Unfortunately, our vision and process weren’t aligned with our partners on this project,” Lord and Miller said in a joint release. “We normally aren’t fans of the phrase ‘creative differences’ but for once this cliché is true. We are really proud of the amazing and world-class work of our cast and crew.”

No announcement has been made as to who will take over the helm on the prequel, which stars Alden Ehrenreich as a younger version of everyone’s favorite scoundrel and Donald Glover as a young Lando Calrissian.

The selection of Lord and Miller was an interesting call in the first place after their past experience lay mostly in comedies like the animated The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street.

It’s an ugly divorce that comes just two years after Lucasfilm cut ties with director Josh Trank on a since-delayed Star Wars anthology film centered around Boba Fett. But that at least came during the pre-production phase. At the time, reports circulated that Trank’s troubles on the set of his Fantastic Four reboot scared off the studio.

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