There are still a lot of outstanding questions about the confusing process that was the filming of Solo: A Star Wars Story. However, a new report may have revealed how much of the finished project was filmed by the different directors. Ron Howard has been asked before how much of Solo is his work versus that of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the original directors hired before leaving due to creative differences. Howard has skillfully dodged the question, but an anonymous source is claiming that the final cut of Solo, which is having its world premiere this evening, is about 70% the work of Ron Howard.
The report comes from the Wall Street Journal (via Slashfilm) and the source of the paper's information is unnamed, so this number is far from official, but it was reliable enough to report, so it's probably fairly accurate. It also sounds like just about right for what Lucasfilm wanted when they decided to make the change in the first place. Scrapping everything Lord and Miller had done probably wasn't feasible, but they certainly wanted the majority of the final project to be more the work of Ron Howard.
It's also been stated that one of the specific issues that Lucasfilm had with Lord and Miller's style was that they tended to work slowly, allowing for multiple takes and a lot of improvisation. Ron Howard, by comparison, worked much faster, which would also allow him to get more footage in a shorter period of time, meaning even more of the final cut becomes his work.
Still, nearly a third of the final film being the work of the original directors is no small percentage. There will certainly be debates among viewers after the fact as they try to figure out which scenes were shot by which director. Hopefully, it won't actually be that obvious because if it is, it will likely mean radical shifts in the movies' tone or style from scene to scene, which won't be good for the final product.
Apparently, Lord and Miller have seen a final cut of the film, which they were shown to see if they wanted to challenge for a directing credit for Solo. The pair have reportedly declined to do so, though they will remain listed as Executive Producers. This would certainly seem to confirm that the vast majority of Solo: A star Wars Story is the work of Howard, as Lord and Miller would likely want to be credited as directors if the majority of the work was theirs.
Solo: A Star Wars Story arrives in theaters on the 41st anniversary of the release of the original Star Wars: A New Hope, May 25, 2018.
