Lord and Miller's Solo: WTF Happened to this Unmade Movie?

It’s safe to say that since Disney bought the rights to Star Wars from Lucasfilm, the road toward producing a series of Star Wars films that would appeal to generations old and young has been bumpy. Tales of behind-the-scenes turmoil plagued Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but the most infamous project remains Lord and Miller’s Solo. The film, which was to be a Han Solo origin tale, was to be directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, two talented directors famed for their 21 Jump Street reboots and their creative animated films like Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Lifelong Star Wars fans, they seemed like the ideal choices to helm the film, but the two were shockingly fired from the movie after four and a half months of shooting.

Why were Lord and Miller fired from Solo? The rumour was that their version of the film was too light, with them departing from the script by Jonathan and Lawrence Kasdan. There were also concerns about lead Alden Ehrenreich’s performance, with him having the unenviable task of replacing Harrison Ford as the title character. Whatever the case, Lucasfilm and Disney were nervous enough that Lord and Miller were unceremoniously dismissed and replaced by Ron Howard. A legendary director in his own right, who memorably made Willow for Lucasfilm, Howard came into the project with a few strikes against him, as folks resented a Hollywood establishment figure taking over for two young up-and-comers. Howard did his best to make a good Star Wars movie, but the film was a notable flop in the end. The worldwide gross was good, but with reshoots factored in, the film cost so much money it ended up losing tens of millions. To add insult to injury, Lord and Miller went on to be involved with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which earned raves as an instant classic. Who knows how good (or bad) their version of Solo might have been?

In this episode of WTF Happened to this Unmade Movie, which is written by Brian Accardo, edited by Paul Cooper, and narrated by Bronwyn Kelly, we take a deep dive into what went wrong on Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Do you think the Lord and Miller Solo would have been better? Sound off in the comments!

#Solo #StarWars

[MrMojoman]

Having seen their output (Into the Spiderverse, Lego Movies), I highly doubt they were screwing things up as claimed .

[LeonardoKlotz]

Phil Lord and Chris Miller were kicked out for having a mind of their own

[Memoquin]

Lord and Miller: King’s of making amazing films built on premises that should never work

[ntcnetwork]

I’ll never forget how I somehow missed the news that Lord and Miller were fired, and found out A MONTH later. That never happens with me. I’m always on it with news like this!

[Savor]

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller went on becoming great filmmakers in those Spiderman movies it even got them an Oscar

[thejimmyp]

Thandie Newton has said that she never worked with Ron Howard as all her scenes had already been shot with Lord and Miller. This means that any scene with her in it was not a reshoot. This also means that the best scene in the film, the train heist, is all Lord and Miller

[Omar-wqdz]

Even though I liked Solo, despite it having some problems, I really wanted to see what Lord and Miller would have done if they stayed on

[miles_thomas]

My OH was filmed as a specialist extra for Solo while L&M were the directors (a real musician pretending to play a fake harp like instrument--the prop is visible in the sticker book without a person playing it). All of that footage was cut except perhaps 1 second, backlit background at about 60 minutes in. Got well paid all the same, and got featured (playing a piano) in the "Denny's Diner" Solo tie-in advert (easily findable here on YouTube)

The strings on the prop weren't "playable" although the instrument possibly could have been made to sound if strung with real musical strings (steel, nylon or sheepgut).

[SubtlyPoor]

Bring back Lord and Miller to Star Wars, and have them make a "Tag & Bink" movie.

[Lancea]

It wasn't even called A New Hope in 1977

[mg_in_minutes]

In retrospect, I think the fact that Kathleen Kennedy was his friend, should've told us that Happy Days were not in our future.

[lewisreeves]

The actor described this movie as ace Ventura in space.... I would of loved that!!!

[jaimel]

One of the things I appreciate about this movie is that it establishes, through Qi'ra, Teräs Käsi as a canon in-universe martial art 🥋

[ajtaylor]

Lord and Miller are one of the most fun and creative directing duos working today and not seeing their version of Solo: A Star Wars Story is still one of those unmade films I'll never get over. Probably would've been better than what we got even if Ron Howard did deliver a pretty okay film himself.

[SteveSpikes]

The main reason why SOLO failed, in this fan's opinion, is the fact that it was released six months after the aforementioned most divisive movie in the STAR WARS franchise, "The Last Jedi." THE LAST JEDI left a sour taste in fan's mouths, and that bled over to SOLO. If SOLO would have been released in December of 2018, it may have done better at the box office

[grapeshot]

To be honest I actually liked the movie SOLO. And I especially like the fact that Chewbacca apparently is a pilot and apparently Wookies are like Vulcans and can live for hundreds of years.

[jackdubz]

My biggest gripe with Solo, as well as the other live action Disney Star Wars productions, is just how bland and boring everything looks.

[makatron]

Considering the garbage that 7, 8, and 9 were. Maybe his cut would be way better than whatever they've putting out these years.

[jaimel]

Makes me wonder how much better Colin Trevorrow would have handled Star Wars IX, as a nostalgia-packed (but still original) conclusion to that franchise's sequel trilogy, building off the new directions Riann Johnson tried to chart in VIII, rather than JJ Abrams' loveless paint-by-numbers product.

[joshuac]

I didnt mind solo.. it felt like a story that didnt need to be told. I liked the underworld aspects of it and didnt really like all the here's how this beloved fan tidbit happened moments. Which I guess is what was the sticking point between Kennedy and Lord/Miller.