The shockwaves rippled through Hollywood, the entire film industry and the media at large: two directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller of “The Lego Movie” and ‘Jump Street’ series fame, were fired from a “Star Wars” movie during production. Canned from the untitled “Han Solo” prequel, this was a sacking unheard of on such a gigantic blockbuster of this scale. Worse, the film only had three weeks of shooting left. Who doesn’t finish out the school year and graduate with three weeks left? Presumably this is an indication just how malfunctioning and broken the situation with the irreverent Lord and Miller, and “Star Wars” gatekeeper, producer and Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy had become. Trade report after trade report has already broken down the relationship: fraught from the beginning, tension, and head-butting throughout and a camel-that-broke-the-straws back line in the sand when the young filmmakers refused to get back in line, and shoot the script they were given.
The news today confirmed the speculation: director Ron Howard is taking over and finishing the 3 weeks left of principal photography and the 5 weeks of scheduled reshoots. To no one’s surprise, reaction online was swift and at times ruthless or very underwhelmed — Howard’s reputation as a daring filmmaker long gone if it was ever there at all (though you can find some value in the early work).
But, from a Lucasfilm perspective, it’s hard not to see why Ron Howard is the perfect choice. For one, Howard was already approached (and turned down) the chance to direct the “Star Wars” prequels, with George Lucas also approaching his longtime filmmaking pals Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis. All of them passed, perhaps recognizing the daunting weight of taking on a massive property like “Star Wars,” particularly one so close to Lucas’ heart. (However, Howard was Lucas’ unofficial advisor on the prequels, so clearly he’s invested in the saga).
“He did, he did [ask],” Howard said in 2015. “He didn’t necessarily want to direct them, and he told me that he had talked to [Robert] Zemeckis, he talked to me, he talked to Steven Spielberg. I was the third one he spoke to. They had all said the same thing, ‘George, you should just do it!’”
All that changed of course when Disney acquired Lucasfilm, and Lucas parted ways with the company he founded. J.J. Abrams (who initially turned down the offer) was hired to direct “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” and then Lucasfilm would make something of a splash by hiring, young, upcoming, and some would say unproven directors for this scale of a film like Colin Trevorrow, Gareth Edwards, Rian Johnson and Josh Trank (who would later quit/get fired from the “Boba Fett” spinoff film early on in the development process).
However, some of those hires might have backfired. Edwards got behind the camera for “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” only to see Academy Award nominee Tony Gilroy (“Michael Clayton”) take over in reshoots and post-production when the film swerved off track. Similarly, the younger Lord and Miller have been pushed aside and the well-seasoned Howard brought in.
If “Han Solo” was as troubled and set-chaotic as the reports suggest, the internet may grossly underestimate how much a calming presence of someone like Howard might be. The durable director is exactly what Lucasfilm is looking for right now: steady, dependable, reliable. Steadiness and a conservative approach is what they are looking for, especially if they feel like “Han Solo” went off the rails. And in that they will get with Howard, who has over 40 directing credits to his name.
Those worried about “Han Solo” becoming Bland Solo, perhaps they should not be so concerned. One of the key reported reasons Lord and Miller were fired was due to deviating from “Star Wars” veteran Lawrence Kasdan’s script. Howard has likely been hired to stick to it, rein in the envelope-pushing tone the “LEGO Movie” pair created, and make the film more “Star Wars”-y. For Lucasfilm, the project had veered too far off brand.
Worrying that “Han Solo” will become too homogenized is perhaps giving Howard too much credit. In fact, I’d argue, Howard will be less invasive on the project than Gilroy was. Howard is here to execute and implement the blueprint created by Lawrence Kasdan (and his son Jon Kasdan who co-wrote the script with him). Gilroy on the other hand was brought in — like many other filmmakers were whose names weren’t reported — to give notes, criticism and feedback about what was and wasn’t working on rough cuts of ‘Rogue One’ after the film was shot. Not one to mince words, and a script doctor that can diagnose story problems and structure like no other, Gilroy, who had already worked on a draft of ‘Rogue One’ after Chris Weitz rewrote it, gave his blunt two cents about what was wrong with the movie. So confident and convincing were his thoughts, Lucasfilm hired him to rewrite, direct and oversee the post-production of ‘Rogue One’ (don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, including Lucasfilm spin). Given little option, and perhaps not wishing to go the way of Lord and Miller, Edwards played ball. “Han Solo” is essentially ‘Rogue One’ all over again, minus the directors being fired before production was completed.
The point being, Gilroy helped re-envision ‘Rogue One,’ Howard on the other hand, will most likely take Kathleen Kennedy’s notes and frustrations with the movie, and bring the picture back to the form Lucasfilm want with a firm and confident hand. He’s not there to reinvent the wheel and put (what might see as the milquetoast spin) on “Han Solo.”
Lucasfilm likes their sausage and they know how it’s made. Kathleen Kennedy has over 90 producing credits to her name including some of pop culture’s biggest touchstones — the “Indiana Jones” series, “Jurassic World,” “Poltergeist” and worked on films like “Back To The Future,” “The Goonies” “Gremlins” and more — and clearly has an incredibly strong idea of what constitutes a “Star Wars” film in spirit, tone and shape. Perhaps one day they will deviate from the recipe, but three films into their franchise, they’re looking for sturdy pictures that are going to make $1 billion dollars each for the foreseeable future.
What’s clear is this, after nearly stumbling with their second film (‘Rogue One’), Lucasfilm and Disney will throw any amount of money at a “Star Wars” movie so it doesn’t fail (and they spent a boatload on reconfiguring ‘Rogue One’). And they’ll throw another ton of money at “Han Solo” to ensure its a massive success, because there’s a lot at stake here. Beyond money, “Star Wars” films have to succeed. Lucasfilm wants to be seen like Marvel, as dependable hitmakers that receive critical approval and are adored by happy-to-shell-out-money audiences.
Keep in mind, I’m not a huge Ron Howard fan by any stretch, but completely understand where Lucasfilm is coming from. There’s absolutely no way, given the circumstances and the risk and money involved here, that Lucasfilm should be taking another big bet on similarly new directors. They want this thing to land, land well and on time as best they can—they still have a May 2018 release date they don’t want to miss and post-production and VFX on these films is intensive. Howard can definitely get them there. After all, if they can salvage ‘Rogue One,’ why can’t they salvage “Han Solo” with the same amount of resources at their disposal and a filmmaker that can complete an already designed vision? Some of this is playing devil’s advocate, but there’s enough evidence here to suggest “Han Solo” could still be great and Howard might be the perfect fixer. Don’t underestimate his ability to create impressive scale and action either. “In The Heart Of The Sea” wasn’t particularly good in the end, but it’s action set pieces were superb.
What will be interesting is to see where “Star Wars” turns next for filmmaker after Colin Trevorrow, the only known “Star Wars” director revealed up until now (there’s been loose internet talk that Colin Trevorrow could be kicked to the curb thanks to “The Book Of Henry,” but weigh one indie flop next to the 4th highest grossing film of all time – “Jurassic World”— and you tell me which way you think the scales are going to tip). Presumably they are developing several “Star Wars” spin-offs and looking at the horizon past ‘Episode 9’ and seeing if a new trilogy story exists (and surely the gods of commerce will ensure the saga goes on exponentially; we have a lot of ideas and suggestions here that we can help you work on if you like). As they look to the future, Lucasfilm may steer towards the familiar and conventional rather than take big swings again—they don’t want the reputation of undermining their young directors more than they already have. Nor do they want to become known as the studio that has to fix their blockbusters in the late stages of production.
The cast and crew for the “Han Solo” are still ace, and the script was good enough to get green lit in the first place. I’m not even suggesting you give Howard a chance, but viewed from the perspective of what Lucasfilm needs at the moment to keep “Han Solo” from imploding, and deliver a movie that has the chance to be another massive four-quadrant, billion dollar hit, he’s the guy they need. As always, we’ll see how it all works out. In the words of Han Solo, “uh… everything’s perfectly all right now. We’re fine. We’re all fine here now, thank you. How are you?”