Details On Why Phil Lord and Chris Miller Were Fired Form The HAN SOLO Movie
There were two official statements released regarding the departure of Phil Lord and Chris Miller from the Han Solo film. One came from Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, the other came from the directors, both of which saying it was due to "creative differences".
The big question on everyone's mind is... what were those creative differences. We'll some inside sources recently talked to THR and shed some light on what was going on during the production of the film that led to all this.
According to the report, "the style and vision of Lord and Miller clashed with that of Lawrence Kasdan, the legendary screenwriter behind the classics Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark." Insiders say that Lord and Miller have more of a "comedic sensibility and improvisational style while Kasdan favors a strict adherence to the written word — what is on the page is what must be shot."
There were also issues with how Lord and Miller saw the character. Apparently, the directors didn't really have an understanding of the character. An insider said, “People need to understand that Han Solo is not a comedic personality. He’s sarcastic and selfish." The report goes on to say:
The friction was felt almost immediately when the movie began shooting in February, sources say, but the directors always thought it could be worked through. Kennedy, the producer and head of Lucasfilm, decided to back her lifelong colleague, who shaped much of Solo’s character in Empire and Return of the Jedi and who had a specific tone in mind for the new movie. The duo also didn’t feel they had the support of producer Allison Shearmur, who was acting as Lucasfilm’s representative on the London set.
Sounds like Lord and Miller were trying to make this a comedic film, and that's not what a Han Solo film should be. Yeah, it can have comedic elements, but it shouldn't be an improvised full-on comedy with a comedic version of Han Solo. If that's the direction they were going to take it, I'm glad they ended up getting the boot.
Ron Howard, Joe Johnston, and Lawrence Kasdan are three directors currently in the running to step into the director's chair. In the meantime, production has been shut down.
With the hiring of Lord and Miller in the first place, do you think Lucasfilm should have seen this coming?