Since selling Lucasfilm to Disney for $4.05 billion (which, in retrospect, could have gone for a lot more), George Lucas has mostly washed his hands of Star Wars. “Mostly,” because he served as a creative consultant on The Force Awakens, and the plot of The Last Jedi was somewhat similar to his early treatment. He also dropped by the set of Solo: A Star Wars Story (we know he’s a fan of the stand-alone films) during director Ron Howard’s first day on the job.
Howard — whose relationship with Lucas dates back to 1973’s American Graffiti — wasn’t the original choice to direct Solo, but when Phil Lord and Christopher Miller left the project due to creative differences (a.k.a. they were fired), he took over. He received the ultimate Star Wars seal of approval.
“He came by to visit the first day that I picked up shooting,” Howard told Entertainment Weekly. “George and his wife, Melody, came by to pay a little set visit. It made me feel great. He told me just trust my instincts, you know? I know he kind of fundamentally feels like, first and foremost, [these films are] sort of for 12-year-old boys, and yet even he knows that it’s grown so far beyond that, and the fans have grown with the series in a great, important way.”
Lucas even “directed” a scene in the movie.
“He had intended to just kind of stop by and say hi, and he stayed five hours,” [producer Kathleen Kennedy] says. “There’s even one little moment in a scene that — I can’t tell you what, sorry — but in the scene on the Millennium Falcon where George said, ‘Why doesn’t Han just do this.’ It actually is a funny little bit that will probably get a laugh. And Ron happened to be by the monitor and not inside the Falcon and he goes, ‘Oh that’s a great idea,’ and ran in and said, ‘George wants us to do this.’ So that was pretty cool. I think George felt pretty great about that. He could revisit these characters, and I think he felt so comfortable, obviously with Ron being there, that it was just fun for him. (Via)
How many directors does it take to make a Star Wars movie? May the four be with you. (That “joke” is going to kill at Star Wars stand-up comedy night.)
(Via Entertainment Weekly)