From the outset, Jump Street duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller were always considered to be a left-field choice for Lucasfilm’s Han Solo spinoff, which is now going by the official title: Solo: A Star Wars Story.
That’s not to say Lord and Miller were a bad choice, necessarily, merely that the pair’s ad-lib filmmaking and improv comedy wasn’t really a good match for the straight-laced Lucasfilm. And sure enough, the Powers That Be decided to part ways with the directing duo – a fate which later befell Colin Trevorrow, who bowed out of Episode IX only to be replaced by J.J. Abrams.
It’s a fitting substitution, really, given Abrams was the one who launched Lucasfilm’s current Star Wars trilogy through The Force Awakens. But for Solo, the studio turned to a known quantity: Ron Howard.
That was back in June of 2017, and since then, it seems Ron Howard completely overhauled Solo: A Star Wars Story. In fact, according to Infinity War‘s Paul Bettany, who plays an “intergalactic gangster” in the forthcoming spinoff, Howard reshot “a lot more than was originally intended.”
Via Total Film:
His staging ability is so fucking brilliant. I think he went in and he was like a laser, working out what needed to be done when he looked at the footage. And then, as things moved on, everybody felt so secure with him. And they gave him more. He reshot a lot more than was originally intended.
And because this is an origins movie about the wise-cracking Han Solo, Solo: A Star Wars Story is best described as a “caper,” albeit with some gangster elements thrown in for good measure.
It’s Han Solo’s story, and of course his story would be a caper. On one level it’s a gangster movie. That’s really interesting, because it’s within the canon but really different. It’s fucking Han Solo!
Solo: A Star Wars Story has previously been compared to an old-school Western, albeit with blasters and a certain Millennium Falcon. And though The Last Jedi is currently dominating theaters the world over, we only have another five months to wait before the next Star Wars movie. And isn’t that exciting?