Ron Howard Opens Up on Making Solo: A Star Wars Story After Director Firing

In what has almost become tradition for the new era of Star Wars movies, the on-set drama behind Solo: A Star Wars Story followed it all through production and up until release. Original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the minds behind 21 Jump Street and The LEGO Movie, departed the movie over “creative differences” with Lucasfilm, and were quickly replaced by filmmaker, and longtime personal friend of George Lucas, Ron Howard. In the time since its release Lucasfilm has had even more “creative differences” with filmmakers and storytellers, but Ron Howard has opened up about his experience in the galaxy far, far away with nothing but praise.

“Given the circumstances of the way I wound up being involved with Solo, I had a blast making that movie,” Howard tells Collider in a new interview. “It did remind me that I really enjoy that kind of playful storytelling and the action, and I love tech. I love actors more, but it’s great what you can offer audiences.”

Howard went on to reveal some more details about where the project was when he came on board, including the though process that they might re-write the script entirely or pick up the pieces of what had already been shot (which the ended up doing.

“Given the circumstances with Phil and Chris leaving the movie and me coming it, it was at a point where it was almost a rewrite and a continuation, and there was a certain percentage of the film that hadn’t been shot at all yet…So no, I think we were pretty targeted as to what we were making so there’s half-scenes, but you can find all those.”

The director also touched on the aspect of the intense scrutiny projects like Solo come under because of the massive fan following of the franchise, something that Howard previously experienced with none other than his live-action version of The Grinch. In the end, Howard calls it a good thing to have, and something that George Lucas would use as creative fuel.

“It doesn’t happen on every movie with that kind of intensity, but it sort of goes with the territory when you have really high-level intellectual property. There was a bit of that when I did The Grinch 20 years ago. But George Lucas is a mentor, a tremendous friend. He warned me, and he’s always 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. So he’s all for the galaxy expanding and experimenting. That’s what he prefers the most. He gets most excited about those that wanna push the boundaries of what a Star Wars movie or TV show [can be].”

Solo: A Star Wars Story is now streaming on Disney+.