New details on Lord and Miller’s time on Solo: A Star Wars Story and just who gets the director credit?

Back when it was announced that directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller had exited Solo: A Star Wars Story it was reported that LucasFilm were concerned about the comedic direction the directing duo were taking the Han Solo spin off in, and LucasFilm were not having it.

Immediately Ron Howard was announced as the replacement, and while that did cause a lot of curiosity to pique as to what Howard could bring to franchise like Star Wars, a lot of fans were worried that LucasFilm and parent company Disney were reining in the creative leash of tried and true directors such as Lord and Miller who have scored box office gold previously with the Lego Movie and the 21 Jump Street film franchise.

However, it seems this might not have been the case.

According to a new report from Vulture it appears the project may have just been a case of biting off more than Lord and Miller could chew. Speaking to an actor who worked on the film under the condition of anonymity [since he was not cleared to talk about the project publicly] who says that working on the set with Lord and Miller at the helm was disorganized and chaotic. The report does mention the actor, though not one of the leads, did work in a large enough capacity to observe the set both under Lord and Miller, as well as under Howard.

The source mentions that while Lord and Miller would typically go through 25-30 takes of the same scene requesting each time the actors do the scene “different” from the previous take, Howard came in and generally knocked out each scene he worked on in 2-3 takes: “After the 25th take, the actors are looking at each other like, ‘This is getting weird’” The source did note that while both Lord and Miller are good directors, they may not have been prepared for a property like Star Wars with its big studio demands and pressure.

Under Howard though it seems that work on the film was like night and day stating: “When he [Howard] came on, he took control and you could feel it…He got respect immediately. He’s really confident. A really easy guy to work with.”

It also seems that for his work Howard may end up with the director’s credit for this one with Miller saying at the GLAS Animation Festival: “We were really proud of the many contributions we made to that film. In light of creative difference, we elected to take an executive producer credit.”

So, despite good intentions, it seems that Miller and Lord may have just been in over their heads.

Of course, with reports of a sitcom in the works as well as an animated Spider-Man project, the duo find themselves still in demand in Hollywood and ready to work, which is a good thing. Though Star Wars may not have been a great fit, there’s no denying the talent of Phil Lord and Chris Miller.