It’s being reported that Ron Howard will be taking over directing duties on the already in-production Han Solo film for Lucasfilms. The studio parted ways with directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who had been shooting the film for four and a half months already. Creative differences with Kathleen Kennedy and veteran screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan are being cited as the reason for the duo being let go. Bringing a new director in nearly 3/4 of the way through production is pretty rare, so there must have been pretty big creative differences.
Howard will be stepping into a shoot of three and a half more weeks scheduled, with five weeks of reshoots, though that may change if the studio wants some changes made to what Lord and Miller had already shot. The Academy award winning director will be meeting with the crew and cast, which includes Alden Ehrenreich, Donald Glover, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke and Thandie Newton, to look over a rough cut of the film, and reassure the cast that everything is hunky dory.
There are a lot of question this moves brings up, but there are two that are top of mind: Whether or not it’s too late to bring Clint Howard into the film, and if the new shooting title is Ron Solo.