Han Solo is known to be a smuggler, ace pilot, Rebel General, hero and a scruffy looking nerf herder. But Han Solo as a hot mess? This is a new one and exactly what is being implied in a behind the scenes report by The Hollywood Reporter today.
Last week we put together a bunch of bullet points on what sounded like the probable thing that happened with the release of Phil Lord and Chris Miller of their directing duties. Now, in their new report, THR has sources telling them more details about the HAN SOLO movie and it seriously sounded like it was a hot mess under the helm of former directors Lord and Miller. Here's our bullet point breakdown of this new report.
- Lucasfilm, specifically studio president Kathleen Kennedy and executive producer / co-writer Lawrence Kasdan, were not happy with the dailies (looks at what is filmed each day) provided by Lord and Miller and this was a big cause of concern.
- Especially concerning was the performance of young Han Solo actor Alden Ehrenreich and Disney had to have Lucasfilm bring in an acting coach to get a better performance out of him. (Isn't that the director's job, too?)
- It was noted that having an acting coach is not unusual on-set and during filming, but it is highly unusual so late into principle photography of a film; and HAN SOLO was only a few weeks away from wrapping filming.
- Lucasfilm expected more camera placement (to the tune of a dozen or more cameras) to capture lots and lots of angles of scenes which help to make the editing process easier; however, Lord and Miller often times only used 2-3 cameras instead.
- Principle photography was at a slow pace due to Lord and Miller sitting behind the cameras yelling out different things for the actors to say creating an improv atmosphere that was not agreeable with Kasdan.
- Kasdan wanted the directing duo to stick to dialogue in his script as close as possible; Lord and Miller wanted to try different things not included in the script. Kasdan and Kennedy were not fans of this approach.
- Lord and Miller felt their "creative freedom" was being cut-off even though they allegedly were going way off script which reportedly changed the tone and feel of the movie from what was expected in Kasdan's script.
- Lord and Miller didn't respond well to Kennedy's request of sending Kasdan to the set to help the duo and to help oversee the production. They really hated this and it is what led to their exit the next day.
- Editor Chris Dickens was replaced with longtime Ridley Scott editor Pietro Scalia.
- Many members of the production crew were increasingly annoyed with Lord and Miller's approach as department heads had to sit around and wait for them to finish seemingly never-ending scene shoots which caused delays. (Seemingly due to the improv.)
- When the announcement was made to the HAN SOLO production crew that Ron Howard was hired as director, applause ran throughout. An obvious sign the crew had grown tired of Lord and Miller.
- Finally, it is being reported that director Rian Johnson's STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI production has gone flawlessly without any issue showing how the right choice of director makes a world of difference.
It really sounds like HAN SOLO was a disaster under the helm of Lord and Miller and many on the crew felt the same, too. With Howard now onboard it seems silly to think this movie will still be a hot mess, although, it seems more and more evident the film will have to be pushed back from its May 2018 release date so Howard can help save this movie.
Disney needs to recognize that many Star Wars fans have fallen in love with the end of the year holiday season releases of STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS and ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY. And with STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI set to release this holiday season 2017, they need to just make it a yearly Star Wars tradition moving forward. If Disney needs to adjust their 2018 holiday release schedule to accommodate Star Wars, then so be it.
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