Former ‘Solo’ Directors Reveal How Their Firing Improved ‘The LEGO Movie 2’ and ‘Spider-Verse’

Getting fired from a movie in the middle of production is not a great situation, but when Phil Lord and Chris Miller were removed from Solo: A Star Wars Story, they focused their efforts elsewhere.

And now with The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part set to premiere in theaters, they’re excited for fans to enjoy the fruits of their labors.

While speaking with iO9, the producers spoke about how their Star Wars departure honed their focus on The LEGO Movie sequel and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

“Obviously we were able to spend a lot of time on these movies and it’s, I think, our good luck that we got to spend so much time making movies we care about,” said Lord.

“And, you know, we were really passionate about both of these films and it was a real opportunity for us to be able to really dig in on both of them and be really involved in every aspect of the production,” added Miller.

The LEGO Movie 2 director Mike Mitchell elaborated on the change, explaining how Lord and Miller improved the movie after they left Solo: A Star Wars Story.

“The storytelling got more efficient,” Mitchell said. “This is really a complicated story to tell…so when they came back into town I felt like I had a couple more people to bounce story stuff off of. Not to mention those guys are hilarious so the film got funnier. Those guys can’t help but add weird gags everywhere.”

The filmmaking partners explained how they got the most out of the change, getting more hands on with the animated films they’re producing.

“One of the pleasures is that you get to collaborate with filmmakers that we hired because they inspire us,” Lord said.

“We got to spend time collaborating together and enriching one another’s creativity,” Miller said. “And both films have collaboration at the heart of them. It’s an important thing to us. So it couldn’t be more fitting.”

After it’s all said and done, Lord and Miller might be the ones left on top after the whole Lucasfilm fiasco. While they were replaced by Ron Howard on the Han Solo spinoff, that film failed to meet Disney’s expectations at the box office and prompted the studio to take a different approach.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a hit, and The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part could follow suit when it opens in theaters on February 8th.