When Ron Howard came on to replace Phil Lord and Christopher Miller on SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY, no one really knew how much he would be changing from what the duo had done. Little by little details began to emerge that his work would be extensive, and recently we learned it was enough to earn him the director’s credit on the movie. We now have a more exact figure as to how much of the movie is Howard’s, as a new report from Variety revealed that 70% of the final movie is his work.
The report details the logistics behind the highly-discussed director swap, including the movie’s new inflated budget and shooting schedule. Turns out, Howard was initially brought on to reshot as much as 85% of the movie, with a budget ballooning to $250 million (more than FORCE AWAKENS), and the production schedule extending four months from July to October 2017.
Basically, Howard had a ton to do and not a ton of time to do it in. That meant coming onto a set he didn’t help plan with actors he didn’t have a hand in hiring. But Howard is a filmmaking vet with decades (and an Oscar) under his belt and was able to do so much in so little time thanks to that experience. That, and he brought with him a clear vision for what he wanted SOLO to be. An unnamed crew member revealed he got his work done very quickly, a far cry from when Lord and Miller “drew [Kathleen] Kennedy’s ire for stretching days out with experimentation.”
I got a lot of overtime [under Lord and Miller], which ultimately was their downfall,” the crew member says. “The first assistant director brokers that with production. He ultimately went to the well one too many times, and Kathleen Kennedy blew up.
Howard could apparently use half the set the duo was using and in a fraction of the time, says the crew member, and Howard even spent much more time with cinematographer Bradford Young working on the visual style of the movie.
Howard was inseparable from [director of photography] Bradford Young. You can totally see the love affair because Howard seemed super invested in how the film looked. Lord and Miller didn’t seem too fussed with that aspect, really.
Star Emilia Clarke also spoke a bit about how the duo was still exploring the direction of the movie as they were shooting, saying, “I think they were figuring it out. We were all still very much in a collaborative place of ‘Where does this want to go?’"
SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY arrives this Friday.