Lord and Miller on Han Solo exit: 'We learned a lot from our collaborators'

Former Solo: A Star Wars Story directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller have remained relatively quiet since being ousted from the Star Wars spinoff film back in July. But both filmmakers discussed their early exits at Sunday’s Vulture Festival in Los Angeles, with Lord calling the experience of shooting the film “wonderful.”

“We had the most incredible cast and crew and collaborators,” he said. “I think in terms of us leaving the project, I think everybody went in with really good intentions and our approach to making the movie was different than theirs. That was a really big gap to bridge, and it proved to be too big. Sometimes people break up, and it’s really sad, and it’s really disappointing, but it happens and we learned a lot from our collaborators and we’re better filmmakers for it. We’re really proud of the work we did on the movie and we wish everybody the best.”

Added Miller, “As Phil said, we had such a great relationship with cast and crew, we were really rooting for them.”

Their comments echo a statement the pair released as it was announced Lucasfilm broke ties with them this past summer. “Unfortunately, our vision and process weren’t aligned with our partners on this project. We normally aren’t fans of the phrase ‘creative differences’ but for once this cliché is true. We are really proud of the amazing and world-class work of our cast and crew,” the directors said in June.

In the wake of Lord and Miller’s firing, Ron Howard took over as director. Alden Ehrenreich stars in the film as a younger version of Harrison Ford’s iconic Han Solo, with a supporting cast that includes Donald Glover, Emilia Clarke, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Woody Harrelson, and Thandie Newton.

“Obviously, it was a surprise,” Newton told EW about the director change in an interview last month. “I love Phil and Chris — everybody loves Phil and Chris — they’re so brilliant. Ron and the guys were talking to each other. As far as I’m concerned what’s on screen, in the end, is going to be an amazing collaboration.”

Solo remains on track for a May 25, 2018 release.