It’s official, folks.21 Jump StreetandThe LEGO MoviedirectorsPhil LordandChris Milleraren’t taking a directing credit onSolo: A Star Wars Story. It’s probably going to be a good long while before we know the behind-the-scenes details on how Lucasfilm’s Han Solo spinoff came together, but for now, Lord and Miller have revealed the credit they received for their work on the film.
PerVariety, the filmmaking duo appeared at the third annual GLAS Animation Festival Friday in Berkeley, Calif., and said they’ll receive an executive producer credit, “We were really proud of the many contributions we made to that film," they told the audience. “In light of the creative differences, we elected to take an executive producer credit.”
Lord and Miller were the original directors on theStar Warsprequel film, which starsAlden Ehrenreichas the younger version of the iconic character originated by Harrison Ford, but n the summer of 2017—three weeks before filming onSolowas scheduled to conclude—it was announced that directors they were departingSolo: A Star Wars Storyover “creative differences” andRon Howardwas recruited to take over the project.
WhenLord and Miller broke their silence on the departure, Lord explained,
“The experience of shooting the movie was wonderful,” Lord said. “We had the most incredible cast and crew and collaborators. I think in terms of us leaving the project, I think everybody went in with really good intentions and our approach to making the movie was different than theirs. That was a really big gap to bridge, and it proved to be too big."
Speaking for Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedyindicated the split had more to do with the filming processand the structural demands of working on a Star Wars film.
“I think these guys are hilarious, but they come from a background of animation and sketch comedy and when you are making these movies you can do that and there’s plenty of room for improvisation, we do that all the time, but it has to be inside of a highly structured process or you can’t get the work done and you can’t move the armies of people to anticipate and have things ready. So, it literally came down to process. Just getting it done… These are really great guys and you know, nobody wanted this to happen. It was just one of those unfortunate things.”
Though it’s not particularly surprising after their very public break up, what’s interest about the final credit is how much time Lord and Miller spent on the film and the fact that bothDonald GloverandThandie Newtonhave gone on record saying their reshoots weren’t too extensive. However, if the prolonged reshoot schedule wasn’t enough to convince you how much the film has shifted creatively, Lord and Miller’s final credit certainly makes it clear.
Solo: A Star Wars Storyalso starsEmilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson,Phoebe Waller-Bridge, andPaul Bettany, and hitstheaters on May 25th.
