There’s a definite reason why Ron Howard took over Solo: A Star Wars Story, and it has nothing to do with upstaging anyone. In fact that was one of the things he was concerned about when he was asked to do the project since he happens to know Chris Miller and Phil Lord, the former directors of the upcoming film. He also knows George Lucas as a friend and was a good friend with Alli Shearmur, the producer. He was reluctant to even take the job at first since he didn’t want o gloss over everything that Lord and Miller had already done, but he also wanted to help out as much as he could to get the film finished and ready to roll out.
The idea is that Lord and Miller were getting pushed out of the film largely because they weren’t wanting to conform to what producers and other individuals in charge were asking of them, but a lot of that is hearsay at this point. The uncomfortable part was that Howard not only is friendly with Miller and Lord, but this would have seemed a big slap in the face to the two directors in terms of his taking the helm and redoing a lot of the stuff they’d already completed. Howard’s hope is that those that are fans of Miller and Lord won’t be too upset if they can spot the difference between their contributions to the movie and his. The goal he set out with was kind of complicated since he came on to a movie that was at least half done or more and would require a great deal of work to fix according to what the studio wanted. That meant there was a lot of pressure on his shoulders from the start and a lot of people looking to him to get this movie finished and sent out on time.
Even up to recently it was believed that Solo wouldn’t be released on time, that Disney might opt to push it back to the winter since for the past few years now Star Wars has been dominating the month of December. That reign is in serious jeopardy now however thanks to the quick in and out of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, but Solo is sticking to the original schedule and will come out in May. That’s something of a miracle really since Howard had so little time and such an insurmountable load of work to do when he first came on.
But one thing that people seemed to let slip when the workload seemed to loom over the production during Howard’s entrance is that he’s the kind of director that takes on a challenge and doesn’t stop until he’s done all he can to make the film that much better. His track record is proven after all and the magic he can work on the set is something that shouldn’t be questioned. As to the fact that he was brought in to replace Lord and Miller, it had nothing to do with upstaging them. He was available to help, and so he agreed to do so.
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