'Solo': Emilia Clarke Says Ron Howard "Saved" the Star Wars Movie

A lot was made of the unceremonious exit of original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller from Solo: A Star Wars Story. Ultimately, they were replaced by veteran director Ron Howard and one of the film's stars, Emilia Clarke, believes Howard saved the movie.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Clarke got candid about the change in director, saying she grew frustrated with the direction from Lord and Miller.

"I'm not gonna lie," Clarke says. "I struggled with Qi'ra quite a lot. I was like: 'Y'all need to stop telling me that she's "film noir," because that ain't a note.'"

At first, Clarke sought out writers Lawrence and Jon Kasdan for help in finding Qi'ra's voice. Then Howard got hired and everything turned around.

"All hail to [Lucasfilm president] Kathy [Kennedy] for hiring Ron," Clarke said, then recalled the therapeutic conversation she had with Howard about her character. "He even feigned enthusiasm! I know for a fact he had that discussion with everybody. I think we all came to set feeling like his favorite. It makes for a really happy load of actors, with our egos."

The movie came together in the end and now be seen in theaters, though not as many fans are taking the opportunity as expected. Solo: A Star Wars Story opened at first place at the box office and even set a new record for a preview night total for a memorial day weekend. Even so, the film is expected to a four-day opening weekend total that is more than $40 million less than the three-day opening weekend total for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

How well do you think Ron Howard handled taking over Solo: A Star Wars Story? Let us know in the comments!

Solo: A Star Wars Story is now playing in theaters. The Skywalker Saga continues in Star Wars: Episode IX, opening on December 20, 2019. Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson is said to be working on a new trilogy of Star Wars movies apart from the Skywalker Saga, and Game of Thrones creators DB Weiss and David Benioff are also said to be working on their trilogy of Star Wars movies.