Fired Solo directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller reveal they felt misunderstood after their exit from the Star Wars anthology movie. The 2018 film marked the second installment in the Star Wars anthology plan following the success of Rogue One and explored the origin story of smuggler Han Solo as he meets Chewbacca and becomes embroiled with a gang of thieves in the criminal underworld a decade prior to the events of A New Hope. Alden Ehrenreich and Donald Glover succeeded Harrison Ford and Billy Dee Williams as Han and Lando Calrissian with the rest of the Solo: A Star Wars Story cast including Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Thandiwe Newton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Joonas Suotamo and Paul Bettany.
Attempts at getting a Han Solo prequel project off the ground had languished in development hell for years prior to the release of Solo: A Star Wars Story, with George Lucas originally planning a live-action TV series before shifting to a film with franchise vet Lawrence Kasdan attached to script. The same year, the filmmaker sold Lucasfilm to Disney, with the studio subsequently bringing in Kasdan to finish the Star Wars: The Force Awakens script and hired his son Jonathan to complete the Solo script and landing Lord and Miller to helm in 2015. Production would endure a rocky road when the two were fired from Solo over reported creative differences for the film and now they are offering new insight into the change.
While appearing on The Business podcast to discuss their Apple TV+ series The Afterparty, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller reflected on having been fired as the Solo: A Star Wars Story directors. The duo recall feeling misunderstood by the general public following their dismissal from the film, though they would later come to look back on the experience as a rewarding one. See what Miller said below:
“So, as negative as the ending of [‘Solo’] was, and as deeply misunderstood as we felt, the lasting memory is of the great collaboration we had. We shot, 90 days on that movie, you can’t take the experience away from us, you can’t take away the pencil miles from us—a term we use in animation— and we had a very fruitful, creative time with all the departments and with one another and we became better filmmakers for it. At the end of the day… in a funny way, it’s isn’t a debacle, it’s actually just on the continuum of learning and becoming a great filmmaker.”
Lord and Miller's firing from Solo: A Star Wars Story was one of the more infamous events to come from the Lucasfilm franchise as it came reportedly halfway through production. Varying reports have come out regarding their creative differences during filming, with Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy and Lawrence Kasdan reportedly unhappy with Lord and Miller's filming style and allowing their actors to improvise rather than stick closely to his and Jonathan's script. Ron Howard would ultimately be brought on to take over the project and reportedly reshoot 70 percent of the film, necessitating a major story change as Michael K. Williams was unable to return for the reshoots due to scheduling conflicts and Paul Bettany would take over as a different villain.
The various changes Solo: A Star Wars Story endured in the wake of Lord and Miller's firing would ultimately lead to the film's downfall, with critics noting the difference in tones for much of their material and Howard's. The budget also ballooned to $300 million and would only bring in $393 million, officially earning the box office bomb label as it fell short of its $500 million break-even point. Though fans of the duo may be a little disheartened to hear their reflections of feeling misunderstood, Lord and Miller's note of considering it to be a great experience and learning from it shows their resilience regarding the matter.
Source: The Business
