Two days ago, The Hollywood Reporter released a statement from Disney saying that they will be splitting with directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller who have been in principle photography with the Han Solo Star Wars spinoff since February. Kathleen Kennedy, the president of Lucasfilm identified, “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.” Lord and Miller are known for being established comedic directors who earned their stripes on 21 Jump Street, 22 Jump Street, and The Lego Movie.
Lord and Miller immediately responded by detailing, “Unfortunately, our vision and process weren’t aligned with our partners on this project,” they continued, “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.”
Many speculated the same happened with the last Star Wars spinoff, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Gareth Edwards, whose two films before were the indie Monsters and the critically accepted Godzilla. Reshoots were abundant as many on set claimed that Edwards was absent throughout most of them and in the editing rooms.
Many speculated who would join the team and replace the directors but none guessed it was who it’s be: Ron Howard. Howard is one of the most veteran modern directors and doesn’t seem like the type who’d be willing to play ball with the big brother that is Disney. Howard won best picture for his 2001 film A Beautiful Mind as well as helmed many greats such as Apollo 13, The Da Vinci Code, Frost/Nixon, and Rush.
Though many will see this shake-up as evidence for the movie’s inevitable failure, they have to remember that the last Star Wars story had similar issues and ended up being a masterpiece that was very critically and financially successful.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
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