Solo: Phil Lord & Chris Miller Didn’t Challenge For Director Credit
11 May, 2018
A new report on Solo: A Star Wars Story‘s behind-the-scenes troubles sheds light on why original co-directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller didn’t challenge Lucasfilm for a director credit on the film. As the second Star Wars spinoff film makes its way into theaters around the world in the coming weeks, questions are naturally bound to arise regarding what led to the firing of Lord and Miller from the project last summer, mere weeks before principal photography was scheduled to wrap.
Lord and Miller’s abrupt departure didn’t cause a disturbance in the Force for long, of course, since Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy brought Oscar-winning director Ron Howard on board to shepherd the project through production as well as the pre-budgeted reshoots. What’s remained unclear between then and now, though, is how much work Howard actually did on the film once he came aboard, despite reports that ranged from Lord and Miller’s influence remaining to Howard reshooting 80 percent of the film for twice the budget. On top of that, the question remained whether Lord and Miller would want credit for directing the film despite the fact they were no longer a part of it.
Now, a new report from the Wall Street Journal (via /Film) seems provide insight into the film’s production in the wake of Lord and Miller’s firing, as well as the director duo’s decision to step back and let Howard take solo credit for Solo: A Star Wars Story. To begin with, WSJ delivered the final tally on how much of the film was reshot by Howard:
“Mr. Howard worked faster than his predecessors, sometimes reshooting scenes in a few hours that Messrs. Lord and Miller spent a whole day on, one of the “Solo” actors said. About 70% of the finished movie came from scenes Mr. Howard shot, another person close to the production said.”
Apparently, with Howard amassing such an enormous amount of the reshot footage, Lord and Miller opted not to challenge the studio for credit even though a Directors Guild of America loophole would have allowed them to do so. Miller says: “In light of the creative differences, we elected to take an executive producer credit.”
Fans will finally get their say in two weeks when Solo opens for the masses, and while the jury remains out on how they will react, Disney and Lucasfilm seem to be very confident about their product. The film premieres Thursday night in Los Angeles, with another premiere slated for Cannes in France the following week. Fans shouldn’t have to wait long for the first social media reactions to show up online, though, which will give audiences a peek at the film’s quality.
Because of that, it’s easy to deduct that Disney and Lucasfilm believe the film will be embraced. Otherwise, they would spare themselves from what would be a brutal bashing from the press more than a week before the film releases to the public. No matter the case, it’s pretty safe to say that all parties involved in the production turmoil will be glad when Solo is almost behind them, so that Star Wars fans can enjoy the product they’ve all spent years pouring their lives into.
KEY RsteELEASE DATES
Solo: A Star Wars Story release date: May 25, 2018
Star Wars 9 / Star Wars: Episode IX release date: Dec 20, 2019