We’re in the home stretch for Solo: A Star Wars Story, which means the marketing machine is in full swing for Lucasfilm. It also means this is the worst possible time for negative buzz to hit. Well, somebody’s not going to be happy because there’s some bad mojo out there, and most of it is coming directly from an actor on the set.
Let’s start with the stuff that is kinda mixed. Variety reports that former Solo directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller will only receive an exec-producer credit on the film. The duo revealed the news, stating “We were really proud of the many contributions we made to that film,” Miller told the audience. “In light of the creative differences, we elected to take an executive producer credit.”
“Creative differences” is a nice way of saying Lucasfilm hated their comedic tone and free-wheeling style on the film and booted them from it. Ron Howard, a steady and less experimental hand was brought in to right the ship. But this acceptance of a relatively weak exec-producer credit by Lord and Miller suggests what remains of their original vision is very limited. That might be disappointing to fans of the popular co-directors but we’ve seen how choppy things can get when multiple directing styles don’t mesh.
Okay, now for the unquestionably bad stuff. For months this film has been hit with quiet but steady rumors about troubles in production. A lot of it was about the turbulent Lord and Miller months, but some of it had to with casting and the performance by Alden Ehrenreich, charged with the unenviable task of following in Harrison Ford’s footsteps. The rumors were that he wasn’t doing very well at all and that an acting coach was brought in to help. Vulture spoke with anonymous actor on the film who addressed pretty much everything, saying all of the stories we’ve heard are true. In regards to Lord and Miller…
“Phil and Chris are good directors, but they weren’t prepared for ‘Star Wars.’ After the 25th take, the actors are looking at each other like, ‘This is getting weird.’ [Lord and Miller] seemed a bit out of control. They definitely felt the pressure; with one of these movies, there are so many people on top of you all the time. The first assistant director was really experienced and had to step in to help them direct a lot of scenes.”
The source talked about how things changed when Howard arrived and if his approach differed substantively…
“When he came on, he took control and you could feel it. He got respect immediately. He’s really confident. A really easy guy to work with”…“It’s exactly the same script. They’re filming exactly the same things. There’s nothing new,” says the actor. “[Lord and Miller] used whole sets. But Ron is just using parts from those sets. I guess they’re not shooting wide angle. Maybe to save money.”
Ehrenreich’s acting was brought up, and the source noted, I think a little too pointedly, that an acting coach was brought in to assist…
“Trying to mimic Harrison Ford is really tough,” the source says. “Lucasfilm wanted something very specific: copying someone else. Alden’s not a bad actor — just not good enough”…“You could see his acting became more relaxed. He became more Harrison-like,” the source says. “The coach helped!”
Okay, the dishing is over but the controversy continues. Lucasfilm has dropped a bunch of new Solo posters and they are missing something pretty crucial: Blasters! That’s right, these images are the same as previous posters only with the blasters erased. Clearly, some exec somewhere was worried about negative press after the recent gun-related tragedies, not to mention the recent March for our Lives rallies across the country, and decided this was a good way to not take heat. The downside? The images look terrible, badly Photoshopped, and just plain awkward. What exactly is Han Solo doing?
Solo: A Star Wars Story opens May 25th.
