Lucasfilm Reportedly Unhappy With Alden Ehrenreich's Han Solo Performance

Things have been particularly bumpy behind the scenes of the Han Solo prequel.

Last week, Lucasfilm fired directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller and replaced them with Ron Howard. But, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio also has not been "entirely satisfied" with the performance of Alden Ehrenreich, the actor who will portray the young version of Solo.

According to the report, Lucasfilm brought in an acting coach for Ehrenreich prior to parting ways with Lord and Miller. They suggested writer-director Maggie Kiley, who worked with them on 21 Jump Street. While THR notes that hiring an acting coach isn't unusual, it definitely is unusual for it to happen this far into production.

Although Ehrenreich isn't exactly a household name, he's not a newcomer, either. He made his acting debut in Francis Ford Coppola's 2009 drama Tetro, and starred in the 2013 fantasy Beautiful Creatures before the Coen Brothers cast him in Hail, Caesar!, released in 2016. In that movie, he ironically played an actor who struggled on the set of a major motion picture.

Of course, Ehrenreich's performance so far (and Lucasfilm's perception of it) are closely related to the tone that Lord and Miller were looking to establish. The directors who are best known for The LEGO Movie and the 21 Jump Street movie franchise, reportedly wanted to bring an increased comedic element to the flick, written by legendary Star Wars writer Lawrence Kasdan. 

"They collaborate closely with their actors and give them creative freedom that, in their experience, brings out the actors' best performances," a source said. "Lawrence Kasdan would not allow this and demanded that every line was said word for word. To appease him and the studio, Lord and Miller would do several takes exactly as written and then shoot additional takes."

Lord and Miller would reportedly call out lines for actors to try instead of sticking to the script, and that reportedly upset Kasdan. When the crew were told that Ron Howard would take over, sources said they broke out into applause.

As for Lord and Miller, there's a chance they could return to direct The Flash for Warner Bros. They were in line to helm the DC superhero movie when they left to take on Han Solo. But there's no word on whether or not that will happen just yet.

In the meantime, find out all the details about what really happened behind the scenes of the Han Solo movie.