In hindsight, when we look at all the trials and tribulations of the Disney-era of the “Star Wars” franchise, the biggest mistake might actually be taking Phil Lord and Chris Miller out of the directors’ chairs for “Solo.” Honestly, the “Solo” we ended up seeing was underwhelming, to say the least, and judging just on the track record of Lord and Miller, the duo can really do no wrong, as we enter yet another Oscar season with one of their films (“The Mitchells vs. the Machines”) being discussed as a contender. Nevertheless, Lord and Miller are riding high entering 2022 and they have extremely high hopes for what’s to come in this year’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider–Verse.” In other words, screw “Star Wars,” right?
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Speaking to IndieWire, the duo of Phil Lord and Chris Miller talked about “The Mitchells vs. the Machines” and how producing that film, combined with the Oscar-winning success of the first ‘Spider-Verse’ film, has given them all the confidence in the world to make 2022’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” something special.
“It’s been fun to have the confidence to go even harder and push the medium even further and take Miles [Morales] to places you couldn’t imagine,” said Lord.
For those who didn’t see “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” the film used innovative animated techniques to tell what many believe is the best Spider-Man story of all time, focusing on the point-of-view of the newest Spidey, Miles Morales. That film really ushered in the multiverse concept we’ve seen played out in Marvel Studios films and TV shows, as well as DC’s upcoming “The Flash.” The film would go on to be a box office hit in 2018 and win the Best Animated Feature Oscar.
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Then, last year, the duo produced ‘Mitchells,’ which took that same sort of innovative animation style and applied it to a sci-fi family story. Now, ‘Mitchells’ is included in many Best Of 2021 lists (including our own) and is in line for an Oscar nomination itself.
So now, everyone is looking towards October and the release of ‘Across the Spider-Verse.’ Judging by the quick teaser we got recently, the latest Miles Morales story seems to go even more experimental. And if you believe what Lord is saying, it’s shaping up to show the duo are easily some of the best filmmakers working today.
What does this have to do with “Star Wars” and “Solo?” Well, admittedly nothing. But whenever Lord and Miller are brought up, it’s hard to imagine anyone would say no to them, let alone fire them halfway through production on a major blockbuster. But yeah, it happened and Lord and Miller are doing just fine.
