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Ron Howard Says He’s ‘Beyond Grateful’ For Han Solo Job

By Pea Kriengkraisakul
Published on: 03:00 PST, Jun 23, 2017

Shortly after Lucasfilm announced that directing duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller would be stepping down from the untitled Han Solo spin-off movie, Ron Howard was hired to take over as the director of the film. Howard, who is known for his directorial work in films such as Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, and The Da Vinci Code, has now taken to Twitter to post his first statement after being announced as the new director of the Han Solo film.

In his tweet, the 63-year-old filmmaker wrote that he was “beyond grateful” for the opportunity to contribute to the ever growing and expanding Star Wars universe. Howard further claimed that he had been a fan of the Star Wars franchise “since 5/25/77,” which is, of course, the date on which the original Star Wars, later retitled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, was released. In a follow-up tweet, Howard also revealed that he plans “to honor the work already done” by Lord and Miller, as well as the cast and the crew, while also hoping to “help deliver on the promise of a Han Solo film.”

Lord and Miller were reportedly fired from the second film within the Star Wars Anthology series due to “creative differences.” Entertainment Weekly now reports that sources close to Lucasfilm have claimed that Lord’s and Miller’s vision for the film ended up being too comedic for the studio’s liking.

While Lucasfilm supposedly expected the Han Solo film to be similar to the original Star Wars trilogy in terms of humor, which also had its fair share of comedic moments, Lord and Miller seemed to have gone overboard and turned the film into a full-blown comedy, according to the unnamed sources. This isn’t the first time Lucasfilm has had issues with its filmmakers over creative differences, though.

For last year’s Rogue One, the studio ordered extensive reshoots, as the film had not come together as they had hoped. And while fans were initially skeptical and critical of the studio’s interference, Rogue One turned out to be a financial and critical success.

With all that said, it remains to be seen whether Howard’s contribution can help make the Han Solo spin-off film, which is scheduled for release in May 2018, come to life in accordance with Lucasfilm’s expectations. The studio certainly seems to have high hopes for the new director. However, Lord and Miller were reportedly close to wrapping up principal photography for the Han Solo film, so it will be interesting to see how much of an impact Howard will have on the overall tone of the film.

[Featured Image by Jordan Strauss/AP Images]

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