Phil Lord and Chris Miller will be credited as Executive Producers on Solo: A Star Wars Story come May. Lucasfilm made a major shakeup last summer when it was announced that Lord and Miller had left Solo as directors. The 21 Jump Street duo was hired to infuse Star Wars with some new, young blood, and they would've done just that with a younger version of Han Solo, played by Alden Ehrenreich. Unfortunately, they left (or were possibly fired) from the blockbuster following creative differences when it came to the film's tone, story, and even the day-to-day operations of production.
Them leaving Solo was a huge surprise on its own, but the aspect that really troubled many was how late in production the decision came. The second Star Wars spinoff had just a few weeks left to film, so the addition of Ron Howard immediately raised questions over how much of Lord and Miller's version would be kept. Since then, reports have come out that Howard reshot over 80 percent of the movie, leaving many to wonder how the original directors would be credited.
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Thankfully, Lord and Miller have revealed that information already. Lord and Miller spoke at the GLAS Animation Festival today and told the audience (via Variety) how their names will appear in the final Solo: A Star Wars Story credits. The former directors have settled on taking a producer credit only, meaning Howard will be the sole director credited.
We were really proud of the many contributions we made to that film. In light of the creative differences, we elected to take an executive producer credit.
Once Howard began reshooting much of Solo, it became clear that Lord and Miller wouldn't receive director credits anymore. The DGA rules state that when a film has multiple directors, it is up to the production studio (in this case Disney) to name the director, leaving the option open for appeals to begin. As Lord and Miller accepted this credit, an appeals process likely isn't on the way, leaving Howard as the only director on Solo. If the reports are true about how much Howard reshot, Lord and Miller accepting this credit could be because they don't want the director credit on a movie that clearly isn't theirs anymore - even if Howard says the former directors' influence is all over the movie.
However, the Executive Producer credit may not have been the only option. Depending on what Lucasfilm and Howard kept from what Lord and Miller shot, there could've possibly been a reverse Justice League scenario in play where Howard gets sole director credit, while Lord and Miller received something akin to Joss Whedon's additional photography credit. Lord and Miller never were previously attributed with writing credits either, and since one of the biggest grievances with their take was how they deviated from Lawrence Kasdan's script, there was hardly a chance they received a screenplay or story credit. Taking the title of Executive Producer seems fair, as they developed the movie for two years - even if they will not have been involved with Solo: A Star Wars Story for nearly a year once it hits theaters.
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Source: Variety
