There are major film franchises, and then there’s Star Wars. Generations grew up with the galaxy far, far away, and the property is showing no signs of slowing down. Since Disney acquired Lucasfilm a number of projects were released, to varying degrees of success. Solo: A Star Wars Story had a troubled set, and unfortunately became the franchise’s first box office disappointment. The movie was originally directed by Oscar winners Phil Lord and Chris Miller, before they were fired by Lucasfilm. But the filmmakers explained how the Star Wars flick still made them better filmmakers, despite how things turned out.
In addition to the sequel trilogy, Lucasfilm/Disney swung hard by producing two standalone Star Wars movies. Solo: A Star Wars Story gave the title character an origin story, and made headlines when Lord and Miller were removed from the set. The pair of filmmakers recently spoke to Rolling Stone about their time in the space opera, and what they took away from that experience. Lord shared some of the positives, saying:
So much of that experience was positive. We worked with so many great crew people and the Creature Shop, and these amazing craftspeople in London, and a great cast. So like, they can’t take the experience that you gain, that many days of shooting. That stays with you. And so that made us better filmmakers.
That’s a solid point. While Ron Howard stepped into complete Solo, Lord and Miller spent a great deal of time working on the ill-fated blockbuster. And that experience was something that they learned from, and that they’ll seemingly always remember. After all, no one’s ever really gone.
The original Solo directors spoke about their experience while promoting their recently released animated blockbuster Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. The first one won them an Oscar, and the Spider-Verse sequel has performed well in theaters. Eventually the conversation turned to Star Wars, with Chris Miller offering more upsides to their time on set:
And then gave us a drive to make things that felt new and original and fresh and interesting, and have something cool to say and bring things into the world that are unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. And that’s been a driving force before, and even more so after.
It sounds like their time with Solo: A Star Wars Story has really affected Miller and Lord’s work moving forward. The need to bring something new is no doubt what made Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse such a unique cinematic experience, despite its unique visual language and ambitious plot. And that need for innovation is what made it such a wild success.
Given just how popular Star Wars is and how passionate the fans continue to be, jumping into the galaxy far, far away is no doubt a daunting experience. But Phil Lord has another perspective on the franchise, which no doubt influenced how they approached Solo. As he put it,
Yeah, it’s important to remember that Star Wars was an independent film. And it’s important, for us, anyway, to remain independent voices even while making these big franchises for big studios.
Facts. George Lucas’ original movie A New Hope was a bold swing that was accomplished a ton on a smaller budget. And for Lord and Miller, having creative control is super important— no matter what franchise they might be involved in.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is in theaters now. As for Star Wars, a new trilogy of movies was recently announced. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.