To get into the finer details of what happened with last year’s ridiculously disappointing release of “Solo: A Star Wars Story” would take too much time and would require reigniting a furor from “Star Wars” fans that is just exhausting. Needless to say, the film, despite its creative merit (your mileage may vary on that), didn’t do well at the box office and ended up being the worst-performing film in franchise history. And according to one of the film’s writers, Lawrence Kasdan, he blames the studio for that.
Speaking at the recent Austin Film Festival (via Syfy), Kasdan was asked about how he got involved in the much-maligned “Star Wars” spin-off focused on the character of Han Solo. Well, even before the film entered its troubled production, Kasdan was resistant to the idea of tackling “Star Wars” yet again. So, it took a bit of persuading. The way that the writer got involved in the troubled production of “Solo: A Star Wars Story” involved Lucasfilm sending him a script via messenger.
READ MORE: ‘Solo’: Ron Howard Believes Trolls Were Partially To Blame For Disappointing Box Office
“I never saw this poor messenger they sent,” Kasdan revealed. “I said, ‘I can’t take it.’ I didn’t want to sit down and read someone else’s ‘Star Wars’ movie. I’m just not interested in ‘Star Wars.’”
He continued by saying that he understands the privilege associated with turning down a “Star Wars” film, but explained that he wanted to stick with directing his own stuff. However, he agreed to work on ‘Solo’ if his son, Jonathan, could be involved. Kasdan said he had “a very good experience” working on the film, but when it came to the reason for the spin-off’s box office disappointment, he puts the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Lucasfilm and Disney.
“Then the studio blew it, but that’s not unusual,” Kasdan said.
He didn’t specify the ways in which “the studio blew it,” but there have already been thousands of words written about the release of ‘Solo’ and it’s a bit like a multiple-choice question, at this point. Was it the stories of the troubled production, where Lord & Miller were fired and replaced by Ron Howard? Is it the fact that the film came merely five months after ‘The Last Jedi?’ Perhaps, it was the trolls? Or maybe, and hear me out here, just maybe ‘Solo’ just isn’t a great film and wasn’t ever going to be a $1 billion film?
No matter what the reason, Kasdan firmly blames Lucasfilm and/or Disney.