‘So much of that experience was positive’: Original ‘Solo’ directors harbor no ill will towards Lucasfilm

Getting fired typically leaves a bad taste in the mouth of the aggrieved; there’s very little joy in getting forcibly removed from a project or position unless you have a rather disruptive flair for the dramatic.

But six years on, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have nothing but the best to say about their experience working for Lucasfilm, which wound up firing the pair from directing Solo: A Star Wars story after some heavy creative differences reared their heads. Of course, we assume it’s a bit difficult to be mad when you’ve since gone on to mastermind the likes of the Spider-Verse films, which the pair are no doubt rolling in the success of at this very moment.

Kidding aside, the duo have absolutely zero contempt for Lucasfilm after the Solo debacle, and in a recent interview with Rolling Stone, they made sure to highlight their Star Wars experience as not only a positive one, but an important stepping stone to getting where they are now.

So much of that experience was positive. We worked with so many great crew people and the Creature Shop, and these amazing craftspeople in London, and a great cast. So like, they can’t take the experience that you gain, that many days of shooting. That stays with you. And so that made us better filmmakers. And then gave us a drive to make things that felt new and original and fresh and interesting, and have something cool to say and bring things into the world that are unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.

Lord also highlighted the importance of maintaining a creative voice even when tasked with making a studio film, noting how the original 1977 Star Wars film was itself an independent film; all we can say is, we doubt that Star Wars‘ impact and the fact of it being an independent film has no correlation.

Yeah, it’s important to remember that Star Wars was an independent film. And it’s important, for us, anyway, to remain independent voices even while making these big franchises for big studios.

In any case, if the timeline required Lord and Miller to get fired from Solo for the Spider-Verse movies to turn out as they did, then we can only dub this as an overwhelming net win for everyone; we’re sure they’d agree.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now playing in theaters.