Even before co-directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired from the Han Solo movie, they didn’t talk about the film in public a lot. One place they did was at last year’s Star Wars Celebration, and reading the quotes now is very weird.
Happier times. Phil Lord and Chris Miller at Star Wars Celebration Europe in 2016. Image: Disney
For example, here’s a quote from Lord, when talking about the character of Han.
I sort of relate to him. He doesn’t want to do anything that he’s told. When told not to do something, it makes him want to do it more.
Now, think about that quote with today’s context. If the rumours are true that Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy and co-writer Lawrence Kasdan had been pressuring the duo to change their style, it may have made Lord only want to keep doing that more.
Speaking of Kasdan, here’s another quote from last year’s Celebration. Lucasfilm’s SVP of development and story group leader Kiri Hart stressed that it was Kasdan himself who pushed hardest for the directors to come on board.
He was quite vocal about it in a way only Larry can be. He had a tremendous amount of belief in them and a feeling that they were just the right people to do this. That ended up being really meaningful to all of us as we went forward and put the whole thing together.
Again, if the rumours are true, Kasdan then ended up being one of the pair’s biggest opponents behind the scenes — so you have to wonder where that all went wrong.
You can read more quotes from that panel at 2016’s Star Wars Celebration Europe in this article, which now has a rather awkward headline:
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2016/07/the-right-directors-are-making-the-han-solo-movie-and-heres-the-proof/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/sa2tm6cwsn06xcqr7iyr.jpg” title=”The Right Directors Are Making The Han Solo Movie, And Here’s The Proof” excerpt=”Sunday at Star Wars Celebration Europe, directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller finally introduced the actor they chose to play Han Solo. Alden Ehrenreich. But perhaps more importantly, the 21 Jump Street and LEGO Movie directors talked about their love of the character, proving that the galaxy’s favourite scoundrel is in good hands.”]
The Han Solo movie is due to hit US theatres 25 May 2018.