Phil Lord and Chris Miller have given their blessing to ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’.
The two filmmakers were the original directors on the ‘Star Wars’ spin-off film but who left the prequel spin-off due to creative differences with Disney and Lucasfilm, and were replaced by Oscar winner Ron Howard.
Although they didn’t get to complete their vision for the film, the duo "wish everyone" involved with the project all "the best".
Speaking at Vulture Festival Sunday (19.11.17) in New York, Lord said: "The experience of shooting the movie was wonderful.
"In terms of us leaving the project, everyone went in with really good intentions and our approach was really different from theirs … The gap was too big. Sometimes people break up and it’s sad. We learned a lot from our collaborators, we’re really proud of our work and wish everyone with the best."
‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ focuses on the early life of Han Solo – the Millennium Falcon owning space smuggler who becomes one of the heroes of the Rebel Alliance in their mission to destroy the Empire.
The movie will focus on a younger version of the titular character, with Alden Ehrenreich taking over the iconic role from Harrison Ford.
Han and Chewbacca will be seen first meeting Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) and they will also encounter Woody Harrelson’s alter-ego Beckett, who is believed to be a mentor to young Han who guides him on his journey to becoming an intergalactic criminal.
Despite the change in directors, Thandie Newton recently spilled that the sci-fi film still contains lot of Lord and Miller’s ideas because Howard remained faithful to much of their story, whilst adding his own perspective too.
Newton – who appears in a so far unknown role – said: "Apart from the initial shock and feeling bad for Lord and Miller not being able to finish their work, their work is everywhere in it. I think 90 per cent of my stuff is with them. And it certainly wasn’t about, ‘Oh we have to start again and do it all over.’ Obviously, it was a surprise. 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. It’s a massive piece. We see so often now there are two directors working on pictures. We already had two with Phil and Chris. Now there’s three. With a project like that where it’s a vision that’s been created over so many years, that’s so expansive, I think it’s less about things going wrong than getting more help to bring it into the best position it can be in. I really like Ron though, he’s very sweet. And the film is dope, it’s so cool. And it’s such a great cast with Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Alden Ehrenreich, Donald Glover, Woody Harrelson and, of course, you know the wonderful ‘Game of Thrones’ angel Emilia Clarke."
‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ is slated for release in May 2018.