Ron Howard says joining the 'Star Wars' Han Solo movie is 'gratifying'

Just a day after being named the new director of the untitled Han Solo movie, director Ron Howard found himself in the position of having to talk about it while attending the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity on Friday.

The Hollywood Reporter writes that while speaking to an audience at the festival about creativity in media, Howard told moderator Martin Sorrell, the founder and CEO of British ad company WPP, that the chance to come on and direct the latest "Star Wars" anthology movie was "a little opportunity that came my way."

Howard was chosen to take on the project after its original directors, Chris Miller and Phil Lord ("The Lego Movie"), were fired by Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy over creative differences.

"It's gratifying to lend my voice to the 'Star Wars' universe now," Howard told the audience. Mirroring what he had tweeted when official word came out that he would be directing the movie on Thursday:

Though Howard told the audience the story of when he and his wife stood in line, twice, for hours to watch the original "Star Wars" movie in 1977, his link to the saga goes back farther than that.

Howard was the star of George Lucas' second feature film, the 1973 hit "American Graffiti," and recalled Lucas bringing up the early idea for "Star Wars." According to Howard, when Lucas told him the story, Howard thought it was "crazy."

The decision to hire Howard may seem like a random one for fans, but if Lucas had his way the Oscar-winner would already have had a "Star Wars" credit. Back when Lucas was deciding if the "Star Wars" prequels were to be made, he originally didn't want to direct them. Howard was one of the directors he reached out to direct the first of the prequels, "The Phantom Menace."

"He told me he had talked to Robert Zemeckis, Steven Spielberg, and me," Howard said while talking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast in 2015. "I was the third one he spoke to. They all said the same thing: 'George, you should do it!' I don’t think anybody wanted to follow-up that act at the time. It was an honor, but it would’ve been too daunting."

The Han Solo movie will start back up production on July 10.