Ron Howard recently spoke about his takeover of Solo: A Star Wars Story from original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller.
In a recent interview with Collider at the Sundance Film Festival, Howard said he came on to the project and found it was "almost a rewrite and a continuation" at the same time. This is because there was a "certain percentage of the film that hadn’t been shot at all yet."
Lord and Miller were hot off their success with movies like 21 Jump Street and The LEGO Movie, but Disney and Lucasfilm felt their style of filmmaking was not working right for the Star Wars movie. The two were eventually replaced by Howard.
However, Howard said he had a blast making the movie, calling it the "playful storytelling and action" that he loves. However, Howard also knew that he faced a fanbase that is almost impossible to please. George Lucas even offered some valuable advice to the director about how to handle the expectations of the fans.
"He warned me," Howard said. "He said, 'Hey look, it’s for the fans, and yet you have to have the courage to hear them but tell the story you wanna tell.'"
Directed by Ron Howard, Solo: A Star Wars Story stars Alden Ehrenreich, Donald Glover, Emilia Clarke, and Joonas Suotamo, Thandie Newton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Paul Bettany and Woody Harrelson. It is now available on Blu-ray, Digital and 4K Ultra HD.