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From ComingSoon.net ...


It's Official! Ron Howard Takes Over as Han Solo Director
---------------------------------------------------------
In the wake of the departure of directors Phil Lord and
Christopher Miller from the upcoming Han Solo Star Wars
movie, Lucasfilm has officially announced that
Oscar-winning filmmaker Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind, The
Da Vinci Code) will take over the troubled project. He was
on a very short list of filmmakers that also included the
film's screenwriter and Star Wars vet Lawrence Kasdan
(Silverado, Dreamcatcher) - who may have been denied the
job due to DGA regulations - and original Star Wars
trilogy designer Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer, Captain
America: The First Avenger).

"At Lucasfilm, we believe the highest goal of each film is
to delight, carrying forward the spirit of the saga that
George Lucas began forty years ago," said Kathleen Kennedy,
president of Lucasfilm. "With that in mind, we're thrilled
to announce that Ron Howard will step in to direct the
untitled Han Solo film. We have a wonderful script, an
incredible cast and crew, and the absolute commitment to
make a great movie. Filming will resume the 10th of July."

With the unprecedented situation of taking over a film
three-quarters through shooting, Howard will be placed in
the delicate situation of inheriting a cast and crew still
rattled by the abrupt firing of Lord and Miller, whose
directing style and tonal ideas earned the ire of Lucasfilm
president Kathleen Kennedy. Howard will work with Kennedy 
and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan to figure out what needs
fixing, and will look over a rough cut of the film and meet
with the cast this week. Just three weeks were left of the
film's principal photography, with five weeks of reshoots
already built into the schedule for later this year.

It remains to be seen how the situation will evolve, and
whether Han Solo can keep its previously-announced May 25,
2018 release date. A lot will depend on whether Howard
decides to scrap most-or-all of what's been shot, or simply
reshoot certain sections. There's also the question of
Director's Guild credit should a good deal of Lord and
Miller's footage survive. On one hand you have a
Superman II scenario, where Richard Lester took over and
only a small percentage of the uncredited Richard Donner's
footage survived, while on the other hand you have a
situation like 2002's The Time Machine, where Gore
Verbinski completed the last 18 days of shooting and didn't
take credit. Even on last year's Rogue One: A Star Wars
Story the film's extensive reshoots were overseen by an
uncredited Tony Gilroy, although director Gareth Edwards
remained involved. It seems unlikely that Lord and Miller
will remain credited on the film given the public nature of
their removal.

Howard himself has a long history with Lucasfilm, having
starred in George Lucas's 1973 smash American Graffiti, and
directed the Lucas-penned 1988 fantasy Willow. Howard was
also reportedly asked at one point by Lucas to direct
1999's The Phantom Menace, but declined. Although Howard
has had a remarkable four-decade career as a director, he
is coming off a string of flops (In the Heart of the Sea,
The Dilemma) and underperformers (Rush, Inferno).

The untitled Han Solo film is set to feature Hail, Caesar's
Alden Ehrenreich as Han, with Atlanta's Donald Glover as
Lando Calrissian and The Force Awakens' Joonas Suotamo as
Chewbacca. Woody Harrelson is attached to play Han's mentor,
a man by the name of Beckett, while Game of Thrones' Emilia
Clarke, Westworld's Thandie Newton, The Wire's Michael K.
Williams and Fleabag's Phoebe Waller-Bridge are set for
undisclosed roles.

<http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/861177-its-official-ron-howard-takes-over-as-han-solo-director>

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