Over the last few months, Solo: A Star Wars Story has been in the news quite often, and a lot of that news has related to the original directors of the film, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, getting unceremoniously fired from Disney. While that happened well before Solo: A Star Wars Story had an official title, much less had finished filming, it turns out that replacement director Ron Howard might have actually shot more of the upcoming movie than was planned. Paul Bettany, who stars in Solo, recently revealed the news in an interview, noting,
His staging ability is so fucking brilliant. I think he went in and he was like a laser, working out what needed to be done when he looked at the footage. And then, as things moved on, everybody felt so secure with him. And they gave him more. He reshot a lot more than was originally intended.
Obviously, it's going to be some time before we actually see Solo: A Star Wars Story hit theaters. That said, the end product could be pretty darn interesting. Ron Howard is known to be a clean storyteller and noted crowd pleaser. Phil Lord and Chris Miller, on the other hand, are known to be experimenters, experimenters who rely heavily on improv in their work. They are definitely two very different styles, and if Ron Howard actually came in and shot more than initially expected, as Paul Bettany seems to be implying to Total Film, it will be interesting to see if and how the two styles are able to marry together.
It's hard to tell how much input a replacement director really has on a project until it comes out in theaters. There was a lot of talk about what Joss Whedon did with Justice League after Zack Snyder left the project, with various actors expressing Whedon did varying amounts of work on the DC movie. Of course, when the flick came out, there were hallmarks that clearly seemed to be Whedon's, such as some of the dialogue and that scene where the VFX on Cavill's face was fairly noticeable. We also learned about some stuff that was cut, including the black Superman costume.
Perhaps in time, what Phil Lord and Chris Miller were able to accomplish on Solo: A Star Wars Story will become clear. Probably what Lucasfilm and Disney are hoping for, however, is that Ron Howard is able to seamlessly make his vision of the movie using some of the cuts the original directors put together. After all, movies go through reshoots all the time, and sometimes it's not really worth remarking on.
Solo: A Star Wars Story is clearly one of the most anticipated movies of 2018, and we'll have to wait to see how the final project shakes out. Catch the movie starting on May 25, 2018, and take a look at what else is hitting theaters next year with our full schedule.
