Once Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired from Solo: A Star Wars Story, and Lucasfilm had appointed Ron Howard at the helm within 72 hours, it quickly became clear that we would never see Lord and Miller’s cut in motion.
It’s part of the reason why Lucasfilm took so long to unveil Solo‘s first teaser, as the Powers That Be had reportedly expressed concern over Lord and Miller’s sizzle reel just prior to Star Wars Celebration 2017, leading to their eventual dismissal two months later.
But before all that drama took place, the erstwhile directors had reportedly cut together a teaser trailer to be shown at Celebration, only to pull a U-turn at the 11th hour. And so, the footage of Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s version, one steeped in improvised comedy, slipped into cyberspace, where it’ll likely remain forevermore.
Here’s that report, courtesy of Screen Crush:
Lucasfilm had created a Solo trailer to show at Star Wars Celebration, assembled from the footage from Lord and Miller’s shoot. They just chose not to screen it. According to my source, the trailer was cut together and then shelved for exactly the same reasons that Lord and Miller were let go two months later; Lucasfilm wasn’t happy with it.
It’s a little disappointing, of course, as it would have been fascinating to catch a glimpse of Lord and Miller’s canned cut and gauge what could have been. But the directors were swiftly removed from their post last summer, and the rest is history.
Look for Ron Howard’s Solo: A Star Wars Story to beam into U.S. theaters tomorrow, May 25th, and upon seeing the film for his review, our own Matt Donato left with just one question: “How does a movie about the galaxy’s most dashingly roguish outlaw end up being the safest Star Wars to date?”
