Solo General News/Discussion Thread-Solo: A Star Wars Story. - Part 1

[Broseph44]

Just so you guys know, Phil Lord and Chris Miller are 41 years old and only two years younger than Rian Johnson.

They've also directed four movies total. Johnson has only done three, with Last Jedi being his fourth.

Ummm ok? And?

 

[TheVileOne]

Ummm ok? And?

They aren't kid directors.

 

[Sithborg]

With some of the rumored behavior, I think that may be debatable.

 

[Marvolo]

Just so you guys know, Phil Lord and Chris Miller are 41 years old and only two years younger than Rian Johnson.

They've also directed four movies total. Johnson has only done three, with Last Jedi being his fourth.

Age is no indication of maturity and skill. Clearly Lord and Miller are not as mature as Johnson. I dont mean necessarily that they are emotionally immature like a child. I mean mature in their career abilities and work ethic. Johnson seems to make more adult themed stories. He seems to handle his productions well, and he obviously works well with Disney and Lucasfilm.

Lord and Miller on the other hand direct lego films and goofball comedies. Based on what we are hearing, they have a very lax way of shooting a film. Scripts dont seem to matter much to them. Shooting schedules seem to be of little concern to them. They dont seem to care much about what their employer wants despite the fact that their employer has handed them over $150 million and the keys to an iconic franchise. They dont seem to care about doing right by characters that are beloved. They seem to think that shooting a film is just a laid back good time with improv and moving at their preferred pace.

In short, they arent cut out for a franchise like Star Wars. Hell, they might not even be cut out for the MCU. They need to stick with projects that they can goof off with and make their own. Projects that arent being run by a studio with expectations. Projects that wont ruin a massive ongoing multi film multi media franchise with an established canon.

 

[Grootster]

At this point I have no clue what to think, or who the blame goes to. Initially I thought it was Kennedy's fault, but now it's beginning to sound more and more like Lord and Miller may have gone off-course. I suppose we might not know until the movie is released. At this point I just hope they can pull everything together into a coherent movie.

 

[Marvel Spider]

UPDATE (6/26): Other sources have come forward to clarify — although Lord and Miller were indeed going off-script to create new dialogue and action, there is disagreement over whether they were adding humor.

One person with knowledge of the dispute said they were clashing with Lucasfilm over changes to the script made spur-of-the-moment during filming. “But improvisation in this case does not always mean comedy,” the source said.

If there was a genre the directors were trying to impose upon the Han Solo film, it was more of a western than screwball comedy, according to this source, who added that had Lord and Miller wanted to shift the tone to humor, they wouldn’t have hired cinematographer Bradford Young, who is known for dramas like Arrival and A Most Violent Year.

Another individual close to the movie agrees it wasn’t a question about how much comedy would be in the film. While there are many variations on the reason for the clash, the consensus now is that the filmmakers were encouraging significant improvisation from the actors, which some at Lucasfilm believed was shifting the story off-course. (End update.)

http://ew.com/movies/2017/06/22/ron-howard-takes-over-directing-duties-on-han-solo-film/

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Because they basically said they didn't like it and said we need you to commit to reshoots overseen by another director and they refused.

Yes, and your point?

 

[Elayis]

You’d also think they’d appreciate less takes and less cameras being used after what happened on Rogue One. Edwards shot so much footage that it was a monumental task just to watch all of the footage, let alone sort and edit it into something resembling a movie. Apparently he had no idea what he wanted, and would shoot whatever popped into his head.

Lucasfilm may not have liked Lord & Miller’s style, but at least it appears they had a clear vision. And while they may not have shot many set-ups on the specific day mentioned in the article, it looks as if they were still on schedule overall.

We’ll probably have to wait a few years to get the full story of what happened.

 

[GREEN =w= DAY]

So apparently they had to bring in an acting coach for the guy that's playing Han Solo

Seems to me that they fired the wrong people

 

[DarthSkywalker]

So apparently they had to bring in an acting coach for the guy that's playing Han Solo

Seems to me that they fired the wrong people

Source? Also when attempting to replicate someone, this is not odd.

 

[GREEN =w= DAY]

Source? Also when attempting to replicate someone, this is not odd.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/06/26/more-han-solo-movie-clash-details-acting-coach-hired-editor-fired

 

[Marvolo]

So apparently they had to bring in an acting coach for the guy that's playing Han Solo

Seems to me that they fired the wrong people

Acting coaches are, I assume, hired for most film productions just like with dialogue coaches. It's not an indicator that the actor can't act. When an actor js playing a role that's been occupied and established for 40 years it's probablynot a bad idea to have someone to help the new actor figure out the best way to fill that character's shoes.

 

[Elayis]

It's unusual for one to be hired so late in production.

And the Hollywood Reporter has issued an update about the crews applause, for those that missed it:

June 26, 4:15 p.m. A previous version of this article stated that the crew of the Han Solo spinoff broke into applause following the announcement of Ron Howard as director. In fact, these sources say the applause came at the end of the meeting in which the departure of Lord and Miller was announced and they were informed a new director would be arriving. These sources say the mood at the meeting was somber but there was applause "in support of the movie" (not in support of Lord and Miller's departure).

 

[Iceman]

Is this film still expected to release on time? Sorry I'm not up to date on news.

 

[dark_b]

The more important questions are why would Lord and Miller do what has been written in the last days. What would be the end game for them? There is no way that Disney and Kathleen Kennedy would allow them to work like that and they would be fired(which they were).
I am reading that Kathleen Kennedy expected around 12-15 set-ups and they did only 3? Why would i belive that? That 40 years old directors who worked on 4 movies and know how movies in hollywood are made.....would think that they can behave like this while working on a 150+ million budget disney SW IP movie?
Lucasfilm and Lord/Miller had a different vision for the movie before and during production and they didnt know about it? Maybe in a saturday morning cartoon but not in the real world when adults work. you get f... vetted for weeks for a normal high paid job with big responsibilities. For a SW movie ? everything was discused in micro detail. IMO Kathleen Kennedy even asked them how they would color grade their movie in 2015 when they were drinking coffee.

I think what happened is that Lucasfilms changed their mind and when it happened they told both Lord and Miller what is going to happen. And they didnt want it so they got fired. Every side did the right think based on their position. think about it. before Ep7 made so much money,before big reshoots for Rogue One. It changed from year to year what SW under Disney is going to be so yeah maybe they all agreed for a different movie in 2015 and Lucasfilm changed their mind in 2017.

 

[Sithborg]

2 live action movies, 2 animated movies. Which improve played a huge part in them. Kennedy was clearly expecting them to be the Russos of Star Wars, who would adapt to the new demands of shooting a Star Wars movie. Clearly, it didn't work, as their style was resulting in a culmative effect of changing the movie they were brought on board to direct.

 

[terry78]

Sometimes comedy directors translate well to different genres, sometimes not. It just varies. I mean if you look at Lego and Jump Street the action and fight sequences are very well done. They probably had second unit directors helping but they were cool to watch. Which is probably what they were looking at when they hired them.

 

[Sawyer]

https://twitter.com/chrizmillr/status/879796915755511808

Chris Miller
@chrizmillr
Situation normal

 

[jmc]

It's become more and more evident what happened was that both the directors and Lucasfilm thought they were on the same page but realised they weren't as shooting progressed. Both were right to stand their ground but couldn't find compromise to resolve it. It all boils down to miscommunication and misinterpretation, something got lost in translation. If I was to summarise it I would say Lucasfilm loved the idea of working with them but never really considered if they were the right people to work with.

 

[dark_b]

What about storyboards. Even there you can get a good feeling how the movie will feel.

on a movie so big with such a known character....you don't continue work when some doubt.

 

[Marvolo]

What about storyboards. Even there you can get a good feeling how the movie will feel.

on a movie so big with such a known character....you don't continue work when some doubt.

It seems things didn't really go off the rails until principle photography. When Lord and Miller started changing things. That's when Disney started having doubts. So whatever was planned out during pre-production wouldn't really matter because Lord and Miller were playing fast and loose

And with a film this big you don't just stop things because of some doubts. Stopping a production can force recasts, can **** up contracts, wreck scheduling, and cost millions. Keep in mind modern blockbuster productions employ at least 2,000 people. Iron Man 3 employed over 3,300 people. From the director down to the catering services that provide lunch for cast, crew, and extras. All of it relies on planning and scheduling and contracts to work well. That is thrown off when a production shuts down. Sure, modern studios have contingencies to help lessen the fallout of a shutdown, but it's still not something studios want to do if it can be avoided. So it's not surprising that they didn't shut down during principle photography. Disney intended to solve the problem the way they did with Rogue One. Bring in another director to work with Lord and Miller, do reshoots, and reshape the film during post production. So there was no need to stop the whole production when they thought they had other options. Problem is, Lord and Miller seem to have told Disney they could take that idea and shove it up their executive asses.

 

[MadVillainy]

All I know is they better not mess this up. They pushed back the 2nd season of Atlanta for this

They aren't kid directors.

They're kid directors in that they're not incredibly experienced in high concept things like this. People don't literally mean "kid director" as in a Doogie Howser type running around shooting films. You know what he meant. It doesn't have to do with age

Rian Johnson at least has Looper and has made at least a few live action features since 2005. Lord and Miller, love them, didn't get into live action features until 2012 and they don't have experience with a sci fi concept like Han Solo

I still think what they did could've been good. But who knows.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Well, all I know is there is a hell of a an unauthorized book that explores the immediate history of STAR WARS under Disney in all this. That's not a slam, it's just the truth. From the sale by Lucas, through the preparation for TFA, R1 and now SOLO there's lots of NTS stuff that will make for some fascinating reading for the fans.

 

[titansupes]

^ I can't wait bloody wait for those books. I look forward to them damn near as much as the movies themselves.

 

[Iceman]

Well, all I know is there is a hell of a an unauthorized book that explores the immediate history of STAR WARS under Disney in all this. That's not a slam, it's just the truth. From the sale by Lucas, through the preparation for TFA, R1 and now SOLO there's lots of NTS stuff that will make for some fascinating reading for the fans.

I'd be interested in the chapter on Josh Trank too.