Phil Lord And Chris Miller Won’t Get Director’s Credit On Solo: A Star Wars Story

Last June, the Star Wars world was rocked when it was announced that Phil Lord and Chris Miller had been removed from Solo: A Star Wars Story due to that old chestnut of “creative differences,” with Ron Howard stepping on board to complete the rest of the production. The full story never exactly came to light, so it was hard to tell how much of the finished product would be Lord and Miller’s.

Now, though, we have some sort of idea and from the sounds of it, not too much of their footage was left in, as it’s come to light that the duo won’t be receiving a director’s credit on the movie. Lord and Miller made the announcement while talking at the third annual GLAS Animation Festival Friday in Berkeley, California. The filmmakers told the audience that it was at least partly their decision as they felt it was the right move after their split from Lucasfilm. Instead, the pair will receive an executive producer’s credit.

“We were really proud of the many contributions we made to that film. In light of the creative differences, we elected to take an executive producer credit.”

Lord and Miller found a lot of success with the likes of The LEGO Movie and 21 Jump Street, so you can see why the studio picked them in the first place. However, their expertise in improv-heavy comedy turned out to be the wrong fit for Solo as the divergences from the script allegedly irritated longtime Star Wars scribe Lawrence Kasdan. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has also suggested that the pair weren’t cut out for the intense production schedule that a Star Wars movie required.

How much did Lord and Miller really direct of Solo, though? Rumours originally stated that the studio was wiping the slate clean and starting again, though cast and crew have denied this. Ron Howard has only complicated matters even more by refusing to reveal how much he helmed of the picture, and all we can do at this point is speculate.

The jury’s still out on whether the behind the scenes upheaval has impacted on the film positively or negatively, though we’ve heard that it’s very fan-pleasing – so there’s that. With any luck, all these production troubles were sorted through in as painless a manner as possible and audiences will be in for a treat when Solo: A Star Wars Story hits theaters on May 25th.