Solo director Ron Howard shares the one piece of advice George Lucas gave him about making a Star Wars movie: "Don't forget – it's for 12-year-old boys"

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Ron Howard reflects on making Solo: A Star Wars Story

Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo in Solo: A Star Wars Story
(Image credit: Walt Disney Studios)

Solo: A Star Wars Story director Ron Howard says he was given one piece of advice by George Lucas when he took on the project: remember the audience.

"I talked to him once early, when I was just thinking about doing it. He wasn’t active on the films, but he said, 'Just don’t forget – it’s for 12-year-old boys,'" Howard told Vulture

"I looked at some edited footage, and I saw what was bothering them. There was a studio that liked the script the way it was and wanted a Star Wars movie, but there was a disconnect early on tonally, and they weren’t convinced that what Phil and Chris were doing was working effectively," Howard continued.

"I couldn’t judge that because I didn’t see enough of it to know. But they were sure. Once I said, 'Okay, I think I can do this script, and I think I understand what you want of this script,' they said, 'We’d want to reshoot a lot.' I looked at the whole movie and then pointed out some things that I thought were great. And Phil and Chris were incredibly gracious throughout that process. They were just seeing two different movies. So I came in, I had a blast, but there’s nothing personal about that film whatsoever. It’s still just a shame."

Emily Garbutt
Entertainment Writer

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism. 

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