The behind-the-scenes discontent that devastated Woody Harrelson: “They wanted to do it different”
When Woody Harrelson signed up to star in a sci-fi action blockbuster under the stewardship of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, fans could have been forgiven for expecting something truly unique to come from their collaboration. After all, Harrelson has always been one of Hollywood’s most leftfield leading men, while Lord and Miller are the anarchic comic geniuses behind The Lego Movie, 21 Jump Street, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Sadly, though, behind-the-scenes discontent would put paid to this potentially inspired combination of star and directors, and Harrelson was devastated about it.
Lord and Miller began production on Solo: A Star Wars Story in January 2017, and they were excited to get started. Making a movie in a galaxy far, far away is a dream gig for countless young filmmakers, but they were seen as an unusual choice to helm the origin story of Han Solo.
Fans wondered how their unique, off-the-wall style of humour would fit within the strictures of Lucasfilm’s overarching franchise. Would they be forced to sand down some of their edges in the process? However, producer Kathleen Kennedy had publicly stated that she wanted the directors on these new Star Wars projects to put their spin on things, so most observers hoped for the best.
Unfortunately, it would all come crashing down only four months into shooting. To the surprise of the cast, which included Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, and Paul Bettany alongside Harrelson, Lord and Miller were fired by Kennedy. Veteran director Ron Howard was soon installed in their place and was tasked with reshooting 85% of what they’d shot, including material captured by the second unit. Ultimately, though, it’s believed the final movie featured a 70/30 split between Howard and Lord/Miller.
It was rumoured that their inexperience on a film the size and scale of Solo didn’t help as the project turned sour. They took too long to capture certain things on camera, which cost the production money and caused delays. However, the most sticky rumour was that the improvisational, off-kilter comedy approach that made Lord and Miller’s name – and presumably convinced Kennedy to hire them – wasn’t sitting well with the folks at Lucasfilm.
A source close to the movie told Variety magazine, “In their minds, Phil and Chris were hired to make a movie that was unexpected and would take a risk, not something that would just service the fans. They wanted it to be fresh, new, emotional, surprising and unique…But at every turn, when they went to take a risk, it was met with a no.”
Interestingly, the cast was mostly unaware that anything was wrong between the directors and the studio, so the firing took them by surprise. Glover semi-joked to Variety that he felt like a kid caught between two divorcing parents, while Harrelson confessed that he was gutted to lose Lord and Miller. He lamented, “I love their style of working, but they wanted to do it different than the way the powers that be were used to Star Wars being done.”
Perhaps part of Harrelson’s disappointment was that he had taken some convincing to even sign up for the movie in the first place. In fact, he turned it down twice before he agreed to come on board. Once he did, though, he connected with Lord and Miller as people and artists, telling The Hollywood Reporter, “We hung out and…played ping-pong, and just had a great time. They were really good guys.”
In the end, the firing of Lord and Miller didn’t derail Solo entirely. As Harrelson quipped, “The Force is still very much with it.” Howard, a “wonderful guy” with whom Harrelson worked on 1999’s EDtv, turned in a perfectly watchable film – although the star will likely wonder what could have been if Lord and Miller had been allowed to realise their vision.
