One of the more anticipated films to come out of the Star Wars universe has been the as yet untitled Han Solo origin story. The film, starring Alden Ehrenreich as a young Han Solo and Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, has been before the cameras since early 2017 and is scheduled to be released in May 2018. But now the project has lost its two directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, most famous for having made “The Lego Movie” and “21 Jump Street.”
Why did the Han Solo movie lose its directors in the middle of filming?
To put matters succinctly, the stated reasons is “creative differences.” Kathleen Kennedy, the president of LucasFilms, now a subsidiary of Disney, said as much when announcing the departure of Lord and Miller.
The suits at the studio, rumor has it, were concerned that the Han Solo film was not “Star Wars” enough, according to IO9. LucasFilm wanted to bring in a new director to do some reshoots. Lord and Miller balked, so now they are out after having spent several months filming and having just a few weeks to go before wrapping principle photography.
Who might be coming on board to finish up the film?
A fascinating front runner for the position of cleanup director has cropped up in the form of Ron Howard. Howard is one of the most skilled and respected film directors in the entertainment business, having made such movies as “Apollo 13” and “The Da Vinci Code.” He is not known for doing a lot of genre film work, but having him come in to wrap the Han Solo project makes a lot of sense, as long as he can fit it into his schedule.
Howard had two major projects on his plate. They are “Seveneves,” a science fiction disaster film in which the moon breaks apart and destroys the world, and “The Girl Before,” a thriller. If he is going to add Han Solo to his agenda, it will have to be soon. A special effects-heavy film in the Star Wars universe is going to have to finish shooting pretty quickly if it is going to meet the May 2018 release date.
What will the movie be about?
Not much is known about the exact plot of the film, other than it is the origin story of our favorite smuggler-scoundrel. The story will doubtless be how he happened to acquire the Millennium Falcon and how he came into the business of moving things and people from place to place without, as a certain Jedi would say imperial entanglements. The movie is coming a few months after "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" which is the last appearance of Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia.
