‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’: Donald Glover On The Change-Up In Directors

When Ron Howard jumped in to direct Disney’s Solo: A Star Wars Story during the summer, taking over for Phil Lord and Christopher Miller who were fired due to creative differences with Lucasfilm, the A Beautiful Mind director naturally made the production a smooth one for his actors.

That’s what Donald Glover aka Lando Calrissian had to say at TCA this afternoon when asked by Deadline about the directorial change-up. Lord and Miller were known for their improv sensibilities, which empowered their pics like 21 Jump Street and The Lego Movie, but that did not sync with the studio’s sensibilities especially on a four-quad event film. Glover is an Upright Citizens Brigade alum and originally began cutting his teeth with improv at NYU, so that’s a good match.

How did production change once Howard came aboard?

“It didn’t really,” said Glover adding, “I think we were never faced with anything like that and he did a good job of coming in and didn’t want us to change what we were doing at all. He wanted us to be comfortable with our vision.” And as far as reshoots? “Not a ton” said Glover specifically referring to his own Solo scenes.

“It’s weird. I didn’t have a lot of stress on me,” said Glover about portraying the beloved Empire Strikes Back character.

Said the Atlanta creator and star, “This is the first time in a long time, I was just acting. Most of the time, I have to write or do music. This time I woke up and got to be somebody else and the stress wasn’t there for me.”