'Solo' Editor Reveals How Ron Howard Changed the Movie After Lord and Miller Exit

The latest Star Wars spinoff underwent a lot of changes when Ron Howard was brought on board, but the director has always been mum about how much he brought to the table after Chris Miller and Phil Lord were let go.

But now the editor of Solo: A Star Wars Story, Pietro Scalia, is starting to open up about what changes Howard made in production and what was different from Lord and Miller's time behind the camera.

While speaking with /Film, Scalia revealed the reunion between Han Solo and Qi'Ra underwent some major changes after Howard took over the film.

"It's a very delicate point, but also a very critical point in the story. They haven't seen each other for several years, how do they react to each other?" said Scalia. "That scene was shot several times. The first time around, when Chris and Phil were there, there were different actors, different blocking. Ron wanted to do something different and we shot it. It was not so much the performance, it was more about blocking and moving the camera, getting a little bit more of the environment and the party.

"We also had Paul Bettany come in as a new character, so things changed a lot. So we shot that again. We went back for a pickup and re-shoots and we went back to do a few more lines between the two of them, so we incorporated the first shoot Ron did and the second time around."

The editor backed up claims that Howard came on and reshot a majority of the film, which was evident when he was given sole director credit while Miller and Lord were acknowledged as executive producers.

Scalia said the tones between the directors were significantly changed, and that he needed to start over when Howard started turning in new footage.

"It was different. I wouldn't be mixing and combining, it's completely different. It's just that once Ron came on, it changed completely and over 70% of the film was re-shot,"Scalia said. "At the same time, when I came on, I had to start back from scratch. I was not building on something that was already built. I worked for a few weeks with Chris and Phil. I did start back from the beginning building the scene – the only way I could actually understand the material, no disrespect to who was there before me, the other editor. It was simply that in order to understand how to build it, you need to know the material and you need to start at the base."

After coming on board the film, Scalia said he did retain SOME scenes from the previous directors but not because they were what Howard chose to keep.

"There were certain things that Ron retained from Chris and Phil, full scenes, but it was because of logistics and not being able to go back on location. It was never cross-contaminated."

Solo: A Star Wars Story is currently playing in theaters where it's struggling to achieve success at the box office.