Chris Miller on the “huge pressure” of directing the Han Solo anthology film

It's no small task to make a Star Wars film, especially when you're tackling one of the most popular characters of the entire franchise, but Chris Miller and Phil Lord (THE LEGO MOVIE) will be doing exactly that. Last month it was announced that the pair would direct a Star Wars Anthology film centering around everyone's favourite scoundrel, Han Solo.

Chris Miller spoke with IGN during the Television Critics Association Press Tour about how he and Phil Lord are approaching this monumental task:

It’s a huge pressure. We always try and find something that's gonna make us… give a fire to our bellies and do a really good job. And this feels like there’s a lot of pressure to not screw this up. So we’ve definitely got that motivation and then the rest of it is about trying to give audiences a fresh experience that doesn’t feel like you're just trying to check off some checklist of beats that you’re expecting and make something that feels new and exciting for people, but at the same time honoring what was so great about that character.

Lawrence Kasdan (THE EMPIRE STRIKE BACK, THE FORCE AWAKENS) and his son, Jon Kasdan, are scripting the film which will focus on how young Han Solo became the smuggler, thief, and scoundrel whom Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi first encountered in the cantina at Mos Eisley. Finding the right actor to play Han Solo will be key as most of us are hard-pressed to imagine anyone other than Harrison Ford in the role.

Han Solo isn't the only iconic character the pair is working on, they're also developing an animated Spider-Man film for Sony. IGN tried to get Miller to spill some beans on that film as well but all the director was able to reveal was that it would not be another origin story and that it would be "something totally unique and different and not like anything you’ve seen." The animated Spider-Man film is set for a July 20, 2018 release, which comes just a couple of months after the May 25, 2018 release of the Han Solo-centric Star Wars Anthology film. Chris Miller and Phil Lord definitely have their work cut out for them.