Once upon a time, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were slated to direct SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY, and direct they did, but with just a few weeks left on the schedule, the pair were removed from the film due to a conflict with Lucasfilm over the creative direction of the project. Ron Howard was then brought in to complete the film, but it's rumoured that he ended up reshooting a large amount, leaving a question mark over just who could be credited as director at the end of the day.
While speaking at the third annual GLAS Animation Festival Friday in Berkeley, Calif., Phil Lord and Chris Miller revealed that they will be credited as executive producers on SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY. "We were really proud of the many contributions we made to that film," the pair told the audience. "In light of the creative differences, we elected to take an executive producer credit." Well, that settles that. I'm sure fans will begin dissecting the film as soon as it's released in an effort to decipher what was shot by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller and what was shot by Ron Howard. Fun for the whole family.
At the time of their exit, Lord and Miller said, "Unfortunately, our vision and process weren’t aligned with our partners on this project. We normally aren’t fans of the phrase ‘creative differences’ but for once this cliché is true. We are really proud of the amazing and world-class work of our cast and crew," but later elaborated on their departure, likening it to a break up.
The experience of shooting the movie was wonderful. 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. Sometimes people break up, and it’s really sad, and it’s really disappointing, but it happens and we learned a lot from our collaborators and we’re better filmmakers for it.
SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY will hit theaters on May 25, 2018.