Edgar Wright Stands In Solidarity With Phil Lord And Christopher Miller Over Han Solo

If you’re going to ask an uninvolved party about the situation currently facing the Han Solo spinoff – which saw its directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, replaced five months into principal photography – there are few more qualified to respond than Edgar Wright. The Hot Fuzz filmmaker faced a somewhat similar scenario, albeit earlier in the production process, when he tried to make the Marvel movie Ant-Man.

While speaking to Digital Spy about his new effort, Baby Driver, the outlet asked Wright if he would have considered stepping in to take the reins of Han Solo, had it been offered to him. With his response, Wright firmly planted his feet on the side of Lord and Miller.

“No they’re friends of mine – I would never do that. Also, having been in that situation myself, the idea of finishing someone else’s movie is not something I would do on an ethical level.”

Though at first glance this seems like a passive-aggressive swipe at replacement director Ron Howard, Wright’s further comments make it clear that it’s the actions of some studios, when it comes to their biggest budget properties, with which he has a significant issue.

“That’s not to say I wouldn’t do a big franchise movie. Those movies are at their best is when there’s some authorship, whether it’s Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 or Nolan’s Batman movies.”

Like Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Edgar Wright is obviously a fan of big budget studio franchises, which is why they all signed up to make them in the first place. The problem that Wright’s highlighting here is that which happens when filmmakers are hired, and then prevented from fully delivering their vision for the movie. It really comes down to the idea of ownership. While studios such as Lucasfilm and Marvel exert ownership over franchise instalments, Wright considers the act of replacing a director as “finishing someone else’s movie.”

It certainly would be an exciting prospect to see an Edgar Wright-directed “big franchise movie,” but the likelihood of one of that being a Star Wars film is probably now a lot slimmer than it was before Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were “let go” from the Han Solo spinoff. But, as Wright’s new movie, Baby Driver, proves – there’s always a great project around the corner for these excellent filmmakers.