10 Movies That Changed Drastically Midway Through Production
6. Solo: A Star Wars Story
A Han Solo movie without Harrison Ford was always going to be a risky play, and while it would've been reasonable for Disney and Lucasfilm to expect problems with the fans, they probably didn't anticipate the insane production problems the spinoff was unlucky enough to encounter.
Things actually started off beautifully, with the exciting duo of Lord and Miller hired to direct the film. Sadly, they left the project in mid-2017 after the dreaded "creative differences" ripped through the production like a bullet. Ron Howard was brought in to steady the ship, and the amount of changes he and Lucasfilm were forced to make were huge.
Reportedly, the film Lord and Miller were making leaned heavily on the comedy, a style the directors were known for. However, Lucasfilm wanted things to be played more straight, and this meant that a lot of Lord and Miller's footage had to be thrown out and filmed again. Howard reportedly re-shot around 70% of the film, including cutting a character played by Michael K. Williams, and substantially toning down the comedy.
Lord and Miller's set was more improvisational and freestyle, which would've resulted in an offbeat tone not a million miles away from their Jump Street and LEGO movies. But the Howard version essentially booted all of that to one side, adding a pinch of comedy rather than a bucket-load, leading to a more conventional Star Wars movie.