Emilia Clarke Says Ron Howard ‘Saved’ ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’

Other than Phil Lord and Chris Miller, everyone involved with “Solo: A Star Wars Story” seems pretty happy that Ron Howard ended up directing the film. That includes Emilia Clarke, who says the Oscar-winning filmmaker “saved” the production in her Vanity Fair cover story: “All hail to Kathy [Kennedy] for hiring Ron.”

She also includes what may be a subtle dig at her former directors: “I struggled with Qi’ra quite a lot,” Clarke says of her character. “I was like: ‘Y’all need to stop telling me that she’s ‘film noir,’ because that ain’t a note.’” One might reasonably assume that the “y’all” in question are Lord and Miller.

“When it comes to that amount of money, you’re almost waiting for that to happen,” Clarke adds of what went down. “Money fucks us all up, doesn’t it? There’s so much pressure. Han Solo is a really beloved character. This is a really important movie for the franchise as a whole. It’s a shit ton of money. A shit ton of people. A shit ton of expectations.”

In addition to the eighth and final season of “Game of Thrones,” Clarke will next be seen in “Above Suspicion.”