With Solo: A Star Wars Story hitting its home release this month, more pertinent information about the movie is starting to come out. We already got to see a deleted scene that expanded upon Han and Qi’ra’s relationship and now we’re getting a better explanation of which scenes Chris Miller and Phil Lord shot before they were fired.
Miller and Lord were fired from Solo well into its production due to creative difference with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. Since then, it’s been unclear what Miller and Lord shot actually made the final cut.
In the cast roundtable included in the home release of the movie, actor Alden Ehrenreich, who plays Han Solo, touched upon one specific scene, revealing the lengths Miller and Lord went to to ensure it was a quality scene. The scene in question is when Han and Chewbacca meet for the first time.
In talking about the scene, Ehrenreich revealed that the directing duo shot the scene over the course of three weeks, an abnormally long time to shoot a scene.
It took three weeks to shoot… It was three weeks, it was the first thing we shot. And it was very muddy. I mean, what was great about it is, because that was the first thing we were going to do in pre-shoots, is that we had to work out all the fight choreography. So, Joonas and I got to spend a month working, and both doing the stunt training generally, but working through that fight choreography, and it was a great opportunity for us to really get comfortable with each other, get to know each other, joke around, and Joonas is so funny. Starting with that kind of core thing that obviously lasts throughout the rest of Han’s life was kind of a special thing.
Though Miller and Lord weren’t able to bring their entire vision to fruition, some of their hard work paid off as the scene where Han meets Chewie is one of the high points of the movie. Ehrenreich and Joonas displayed solid chemistry between the two classic characters and even formed a friendship outside of work.
Unfortunately, the behind the scenes issues that involved Lord and Miller ultimately led to Solo: A Star Wars Story flopping at the box office.
