Colin Trevorrow Shares Thoughts On Han Solo Director Shake-Up

Patrick Cavanaugh

07/19/2017 04:54 pm EDT

Weeks after the announced departure of Phil Lord and Chris Miller as the directors of the Han Solo spin-off film, rumors continue to swirl about the reasoning behind their exit, even with filming having resumed under director Ron Howard. Colin Trevorrow, director of Episode IX, recently revealed his empathy for the filmmakers and the difficulties in creative differences between a filmmaker and a studio.

When speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Trevorrow expressed, "Movies are very personal, and art is very personal, and for people to try to turn that into something that is salacious or something that will get clicks is frustrating and sad for me because I know that [movies] mean a lot to everyone involved."

The director added, "And everybody involved in that movie is passionate about it and worked on it very hard and continues to work on it very hard."

Much like Lord and Miller, Trevorrow only has a few feature films under his belt, as he confessed, "I've been fortunate enough in all the films that I've made so far that we haven't had internal conflicts, as far as the movie that we were making. That can happen, and I know that's frustrating for all involved when it does," but noted, "That's not a situation I'm involved in."

Shortly after the departure of Lord and Miller, Trevorrow's latest film, The Book of Henry, opened to massive criticism, currently sitting at 23% on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. The film's rough reception led many audiences to think Trevorrow could lose his gig as director, but went on to explain why he's the best person for the job.

"Not only did I grow up on these stories, like all of us did, [but] I think that the values of Star Wars are values that I hold very close and very dear in my life," the director confessed. "I feel that the message of the way that the Force teaches you to treat other people and show respect for others, and the way it guides you through life, is really important to me. And I hope everybody would realize that that set of stories has affected me as deeply in my life as it has affected them."

The untitled Han Solo movie is set to be released May 24, 2018.

More Han Solo News:

The Han Solo movie is being produced by Lucasfilm from a screenplay by Lawrence and Jon Kasdan and will be distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the second standalone Star Wars movie following Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in 2016.

Set prior to the events of Han Solo's first appearance in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, the film stars Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Thandie Newton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Joonas Suotamo. The film is said to show how Han Solo and Chewbacca, first met Lando Calrissian, played by Glover.

Filming on the Han Solo movie began in January 2017 with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller directing. Principal photography began at Pinewood Studios in February. Lord and Miller left the Han Solo movie in June, having reportedly been fired over creative differences. Ron Howard will come on as the director to see the production to completion.

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(Photo: Lucasfilm)