Ron Howard ‘in talks’ to replace Phil Lord and Christopher Miller as Han Solo director

The duo have stepped down from the project due to creative differences 
Frontrunner: Ron Howard is in talks to direct the Han Solo film
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival
Jennifer Ruby21 June 2017
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Ron Howard is reportedly in talks to take over as director on the forthcoming Han Solo film.

The Oscar-winning filmmaker could be brought in to replace Phil Lord and Christopher Miller who have sensationally quit the project mid-production.

According to Deadline, Howard has emerged as the frontrunner to take over the eagerly-awaited Star Wars spin-off following the surprise announcement.

Fans and film industry insiders were shocked to hear that the directing duo had been dropped from the film at such a late stage amid creative rifts.

Eagerly-awaited: The Han Solo cats are without a director (Jonathan Olley/Lucasfilm via AP)

On Tuesday evening, Disney announced that the directors had been taken off the project after experiencing creative differences with Star Wars screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan and Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy.

Kasdan penned classic films including Empire Strikes Back and co-wrote the screenplay for the new film with his son, Jon Kasdan.

According to reports, the group had differing ‘style and vision’ and also disagreed about the character traits of the young Solo.

“People need to understand that Han Solo is not a comedic personality. He’s sarcastic and selfish,” a source told the Hollywood Reporter.

The film, starring Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke and Woody Harrelson, has been in production since February at Pinewood Studios in London.

Howard won the Best Director Oscar for A Beautiful Mind back in 2001 following acclaimed projects Apollo 13 and Cocoon.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in