In a new interview with Vulture.com, Ron Howard has spoken candidly about taking over the helm of Solo: A Star Wars Story from original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller following their creative differences with Lucasfilm.
I liked Solo a lot, too, but that also underperformed and was affected by the behind-the-scenes drama.
I’d always been curious about Star Wars, and Solo landed in my lap when I didn’t have another movie set to go. My wife, Cheryl, and I were vacationing in Paris. I went to London to see Hans Zimmer play at the O2, and I reached out to Kathy Kennedy just to say “hi.” And she said, “Do you want to come to breakfast?” I said, “Okay.” Also the late Alli Shearmur, who I had worked with before, and Jon Kasdan eventually showed up. They basically said, “We’ve reached a creative impasse with Lord and Miller. Would you ever consider coming in?”I looked at some edited footage, and I saw what was bothering them. There was a studio that liked the script the way it was and wanted a Star Wars movie, but there was a disconnect early on tonally, and they weren’t convinced that what Phil and Chris were doing was working effectively. I couldn’t judge that because I didn’t see enough of it to know. But they were sure. Once I said, “Okay, I think I can do this script, and I think I understand what you want of this script,” they said, “We’d want to reshoot a lot.” I looked at the whole movie and then pointed out some things that I thought were great. And Phil and Chris were incredibly gracious throughout that process. They were just seeing two different movies. So I came in, I had a blast, but there’s nothing personal about that film whatsoever. It’s still just a shame. I can’t wait for Phil and Chris’s next movie.
What did George Lucas tell you?
I talked to him once early, when I was just thinking about doing it. He wasn’t active on the films, but he said, “Just don’t forget — it’s for 12-year-old boys.”
Read the interview in full here.
