One of the biggest news stories of the summer — if not the year — was Phil Lord and Chris Miller‘s sudden exit from “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” Heck, the movie didn’t even have an official title when they left. The spinoff was in the middle of production, but the directors behind “The Lego Movie” and “21 Jump Street” reportedly ran afoul of Kathleen Kennedy and Lawrence Kasdan, by deviating from the script, and putting their own irreverent touch on the material. It was a clash of creative visions, and at the end of the day, Lord and Miller just couldn’t find common ground with the higher ups and walked. Ron Howard stepped in to finish the shoot, and helm the reshoots, and the rest, as they say, is history.
If you’re thinking that Lord and Miller are down for the count and feeling bummed, you’re wrong. The pair hit Vulture Festival in L.A. where they were warmly received, and they talked about their exit from ‘Solo,’ which they took in stride.
“The experience of shooting the movie was wonderful,” Lord said. “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,” he added, “We’re really proud of the work we did on the movie and we wish everybody the best.”
It seems the pair nursed their wounds and moved on, a sentiment echoed by Miller. “As Phil said, we had such a great relationship with cast and crew, we were really rooting for them. After we took a much-needed vacation, we got back into it and now we’re writing and producing a sequel to ‘The Lego Movie’ and producing a Miles Morales animated ‘Spider-Man,’ ” he said.
So, Lord and Miller are doing fine. But we’ll see if their credit remains on “Solo: A Star Wars Story” when it opens on May 25, 2018.