It came as quite the surprise last year when it was announced that Lucasfilm had sacked Solo: A Star Wars Story directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller over creative differences with just a few weeks of filming left on the second Star Wars Anthology movie.
At the time, rumours circulated suggesting that the filmmakers had clashed with screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan over their interpretation of the Han Solo character, and that Lucasfilm felt “their comedic sensibility and improvisational style” wasn’t fitting with the Star Wars standard.
As we know, Ron Howard came in to oversee reshoots and complete the movie, which is now gearing up to screen at Cannes on Tuesday ahead of its release at the end of the month. And of course, this director shake-up has raised questions about how much of Lord and Miller’s vision and material remains in the movie, and how much has been reworked by Howard’s hand.
Well, according to The Wall Street Journal, Howard reshot around 70% of the material seen in the finished film, and that upon viewing a cut of the movie, Lord and Miller decided not to challenge for a directing credit as they felt the final product was so far removed from what they intended.
Meanwhile, the outlet quotes a source who explains that: “Ron wanted to go back to the spirit of the Original Trilogy, while Phil and Chris were looking forward to something new, more like Guardians of the Galaxy.”
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Spirit of the Original Trilogy, or something new like Guardians of the Galaxy? What were you hoping to have gotten from Solo: A Star Wars Story? Let us know in the comments below…
A new adventure with the most beloved scoundrel in the galaxy. Through a series of daring escapades deep within a dark and dangerous criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his mighty future copilot Chewbacca and encounters the notorious gambler Lando Calrissian, in a journey that will set the course of one of the Star Wars saga’s most unlikely heroes.
Solo: A Star Wars Story features Alden Ehrenreich (Hail, Caesar!) as the famous smuggler, Donald Glover (Atlanta) as Lando Calrissian, Woody Harrelson (War for the Planet of the Apes) as Tobias Beckett, Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca, Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag) as L3-37, Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) as Qi’Ra, Thandie Newton (Westworld) as Val, Ian Kenny (Sing Street) as Rebolt, Harley Durst (Wonder Woman) as Moloch, Jon Favreau (Spider-Man: Homecoming) as Rio Durant, Tien Hoang (Now You See Me 2) as Moloch’s henchman, Paul Bettany (Avengers: Infinity War) as Dryden Vos and Warwick Davis (Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi) in an as-yet-unrevealed role.
