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Ron Howard Steps In To Direct Han Solo Movie (hollywoodreporter.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new dept.

Two days after directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were let go in the middle of shooting the Star Wars Han Solo spinoff movie, the spot has been filled. Ron Howard has been named the new direct of Lucasfilm and Disney's Han Solo movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter. From the report: Howard, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter, will meet with the actors -- Alden Ehrenreich is playing the iconic smuggler, Donald Glover is playing Lando Calrissian, with Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke and Thandie Newton also on the roll call -- to soothe a rattled set and will pore over a rough edit to see what the project needs. Filming will resume on July 10. Howard, who directed 1995's Apollo 13 and won an Oscar for helming 2002's A Beautiful Mind, comes to the Han Solo film with several connections to George Lucas and the worlds of Lucasfilm. He appeared in Lucas' 1973 breakout film American Graffiti and helmed Lucas' 1988 pet fantasy project Willow. Howard also revealed on a podcast in 2015 that Lucas had approached him to direct 1999's Star Wars prequel The Phantom Menace. Though his recent movies, including Inferno and In the Heart of the Sea, have been costly ventures that underperformed at the box office, Howard is considered to be a safe choice to complete the task, someone who will ably finish the movie while being a calming presence on set.

15 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. I hope by bugs2squash · · Score: 4, Funny

    I hope it turns out like arrested development (the initial series at least), renegade space pilot from a dysfunctional family.

    --
    Nullius in verba
    1. Re:I hope by sexconker · · Score: 5, Funny

      Narrator: Han went to ask Chewie if he fixed the hyperdrive.
      Han: Chewie, did you remember to fix the hyperdrive?
      Chewbacca: Arrrororaaawr.
      Narrator: Chewie was lying.

    2. Re: I hope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Hey, that's not wookie silly human!

      The proper wookie grammar and pronunciation is: "huuguughghg uughghhhgh raaaaaahhgh"

      Citation: http://www.wookietranslator.com/

      Chewebacca finds your lack of respect offensive.

    3. Re:I hope by LoginOrSignup · · Score: 3, Funny

      Jabba: I need a smuggler who can avoid imperial entanglements and keep my cargo safe

      Han: I can do that.

      Ron Howard: He can't.

  2. Ron Howard, the symbol of Hollywood mediocrity by elrous0 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Exactly what I expect from Disney: the safest choice.

    And this is one of the many reasons that I regard Disney Star Wars as just high-budget fanfic.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    1. Re:Ron Howard, the symbol of Hollywood mediocrity by CeasedCaring · · Score: 3, Funny

      Next you'll be claiming there are sequels to "The Matrix"!

    2. Re:Ron Howard, the symbol of Hollywood mediocrity by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      Meesa doesn't liksa people trying stupid shit with well established franchises.

      The alternative to "safe" is the StarWars saga we like to pretend didn't exist. I mean episode 4 5 and 6 are great, I don't understand why they never made any prequels.

    3. Re:Ron Howard, the symbol of Hollywood mediocrity by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      Hush, you know they'd fuck it up, let's just be glad they didn't try.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  3. Re:This is probably a good move. by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ron Howard has made quite a few movies. None of them broke any boundaries or even pushed envelopes. What Howard is great at is to make movies that are "safe bets". He's going to deliver a solid movie without any rough edges or bumpy patches. It will go down smoothly like a typical hamburger meal, you'll simply get what you expect and needn't worry about bad surprises.

    Or good ones.

    It will be technically solid. But don't expect anything that is going to take the franchise into a new direction or anything you could call "artistic". Then again, considering the past few "experiments", I can't really say that this is a bad thing...

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  4. Re:This is probably a good move. by CeasedCaring · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Ron Howard has made quite a few movies. None of them broke any boundaries or even pushed envelopes.

    Really? What about filming Apollo 13 in freefall (aboard a "vomit comet"), instead of hanging people from wires?

  5. What about Seveneves? by simonmsh · · Score: 2

    I hope this isn't going to distract him from more important matters, like making his planned movie of Neal Stephenson's Seveneves. A TV series adaption would be even better, The Expanse has shown there's a market for fairly hard sci-fi on TV.

  6. Sounds familiar. by jrq · · Score: 2

    I've got a bad feeling about this.

    --
    My UID is prime!
  7. I'd rather see... by judoguy · · Score: 3, Funny

    Clint Eastwood take over the directing. Han would be a lot cooler with a squint and he'd ALWAYS fire first,

    --
    Peace is easy to achieve, just surrender. Liberty is much harder get/keep.
    1. Re:I'd rather see... by Radical+Moderate · · Score: 3, Funny

      "Do you feel lucky, Greedo? WELL DO YA?"

      --
      Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
  8. Re:This is probably a good move. by interkin3tic · · Score: 4, Funny

    What about it? That was still well inside the Earth's atmosphere! He didn't push the envelope of the Earth's sphere and it was a freaking movie about space travel decades after moon travel was possible! Why couldn't he have filmed it IN LUNAR ORBIT?!?