STAR WARS Solo Solo Film: Ron Howard Shoots Second

Not so long ago in a galaxy not so far, far away…the question was raised: who shot first? Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller? Or Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy? We may never know the truth, but we do now know this: Oscar winning director Ron Howard is now officially shooting next.

Shocking news broke on Tuesday that the Han Solo directors, Lord and Miller, were leaving the project over “creative differences.” Rumor has it that there was a difference of opinion over the character of Solo, stating, “people need to understand Han Solo is not a comedic personality. He’s sarcastic and selfish.”

Today it was officially announced that Howard will now pilot the project into the original May 2018 release date. He is considered a safe choice to finish the film while having a calming presence on a restless set.

Apparently, the friction between the directors and higher ups began immediately when filming started in February. Kennedy was not too keen and brought in Lawrence Kasdan, the legendary writer behind The Empire Strikes Back and co-writer of the Solo script with his son Jon. While Lord and Miller are good with comedic sensibility and improvisational style, Kasdan prefers strict adherence to the written word. It appears the tone in his vision won, added to the fact Lord and Miller felt a lack of support from Lucasfilm’s producer Allison Shearmur, pushed them out the door.

However, it is also said they were blindsided by the firing. Though that can also be argued differently by other sources.

So now, Howard has the task of coming in and finishing the Solo film with a current schedule of three-and-a-half more weeks of principle shoots and five weeks of reshoots as needed. The project is on a current hiatus till July 10 to give Howard time to meet with the cast and pore over what has been done to see what is needed to be done.

Howard has a history with George Lucas, appearing in Lucas’ 1973 breakout film American Graffiti and directing 1988’s Willow. In 2015, Howard did reveal on a podcast that Lucas had approached him to direct 1999’s prequel The Phantom Menace. Howard’s geek card also includes Apollo 13, Genius, Cocoon, and Splash. He’s also producing the upcoming adaptation of The Dark Tower.

We are sure the news will be filled with fantastic rumors over the next few weeks over how the project redevelops itself with a new leader. Make sure you check out SciFi4Me’s Star Wars news show, Salacious Crumbs, on YouTube for all the latest updates as they come!