2018’s Star Wars movie, Solo: A Star Wars Story, changed directors midway through development, with Jump Street’s Phil Lord and Chris Miller parting ways with Lucasfilm over creative differences. Oscar-winning director Ron Howard came in to replace the pair and finish the film. Now, Lord and Miller have shed new light on their departure from the movie, saying there is no bad blood.
Appearing on the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast, Lord said he and Miller learned “so much” from working on the film, and nothing can take that away. While there were some “negative emotions” associated with the shift when it happened, Lord and Miller have since moved past it.
“We got to work with the greatest people, we made so many friends. We put what we call in animation ‘pencil miles’ under our belts and it made us better filmmakers in the long run,” Lord said (via GamesRadar). “So, in a funny way, there were some negative emotions associated with that, but the way I feel about it now, like I feel about all these projects, which is you’re just trying to become better and learn and collaborate with people and that doesn’t go away.”
Alden Ehrenreich plays a young Han Solo in the movie, which also features Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian. Emilia Clarke and Woody Harrelson also starred in the movie. The film, a spinoff from the main series, made $393 million globally at the box office, which is far less than the $1.05 billion that the other recent spinoff, Rogue One, made.
Also in the interview, Lord spoke about how he and Miller were trying to do something new and different with the Solo film. “We’ve always wanted to make projects that are, like Han, a maverick. And so that’s what we were always trying to do, that’s what we were hoping to do with those movies,” Lord said. “What’s funny about Star Wars [A New Hope] is it’s an independent film made outside the Hollywood system. And Han is the spirit of that kind of independence and that’s why we were always inspired to work on that with everybody.”
Following 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the series is taking something of a break, with the Disney+ shows like The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett taking center stage at the moment. More movies are coming, though, including a Rogue Squadron film from Wonder Woman’s Patty Jenkins.
