At a panel for their MTV animated series Clone High at the Vulture Festival in L.A. today, Chris Miller and Phil Lord discussed their experience of being fired from the Star Wars young Han Solo movie and getting replaced by Ron Howard publicly for the first time.
“The experience of shooting the movie was wonderful,†Lord said. “We had the most incredible cast and crew and collaborators. I think in terms of us leaving the project, I think everybody went in with really good intentions and our approach to making the movie was different than theirs. That was a really big gap to bridge, and it proved to be too big.†Lord managed a laugh as he added, “Sometimes people break up, and it’s really sad, and it’s really disappointing, but it happens and we learned a lot from our collaborators and we’re better filmmakers for it.†The audience cheered in support as Lord added, “We’re really proud of the work we did on the movie and we wish everybody the best.â€
Miller backed up his partner’s statement. “We’re super well-adjusted, obviously we’re doing great. We’re super drunk right now,†he joked. “As Phil said, we had such a great relationship with cast and crew, we were really rooting for them. After we took a much-needed vacation, we got back into it and now we’re writing and producing a sequel to The Lego Movie and producing a Miles Morales animated Spider-Man.â€
Clone High writer and collaborator Bill Lawrence, however, couldn’t resist a quick dig at the movie that ejected his co-workers and friends. “They’re really generous and nice,†he said of Lord and Miller. “I hope that movie shits the bed.†He also joked he couldn’t help feeling a little smug that the two had been taken down a peg after so much success. “I reached out to them afterward, and I could not hide my glee that something did not go right for these guys.â€