Ron Howard Says He Knew He Had Arrived as a Director After This Classic '80s Movie

Howard and Brian Glazer saw people waiting in a line around the block to watch this 1980s movie.

It’s hard to say which is more unbelievable—that Ron Howard is 68 years old or that he doesn’t have more Lifetime Achievement Awards. After all, if Howard had just stuck to acting, he’d still be considered an icon thanks to his turns as Opie in The Andy Griffith Show and Richie Cunningham in Happy Days. But what he really wanted to do was direct—and his output over the past 40-plus years—including his most recent, 13 Lives, a true-life drama about a soccer team trapped in a flooded Thailand cave—has been flat-out amazing (see “Career Highs”). Howard was honored at the 25^th Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Savannah Film Festival this year with the Lifetime Achievement in Directing Award. Parade took the opportunity to ask him about his long career and what he’s doing next.

How do you attribute all your success behind the camera?

A lot of it has to do with being in the right place and the right time with the right ideas to work on. But it also helped to connect with [co-producer] Brian Grazer all those years ago and navigate the system together. We formed our production company, Imagine Entertainment [in 1985], and knew we could get good work done. That was huge. To sustain that relationship is rare and a gift.

What are some of your career highlights? Winning the Oscar for A Beautiful Mind?

Yeah, winning the Oscar [in 2002] was a remarkable thrill. [Another highlight is] the first time that Brian Grazer and I were driving around and saw lines around the block for Splash [in 1984]—that was this life-affirming moment. It felt like some kind of an arrival, or at least proof that this kind of success was possible. But oh, man, I will never forget the wrap party for [1977’s] Grand Theft Auto. I had to star in it to direct it, and I also co-wrote it. [The party] took place at this dive bar next to the racetrack where we had just completed the Destruction Derby sequence. We were all dancing and doing shots. I remember dancing with my wife and saying to her, “You know, I love this even more than I thought I would.” And as soon as I saw the movie cut, I realized I had a hell of a lot to learn!

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Which of your movies do you think is ripe for a remake?

I’m always thinking about doing more with the format of [1989’s] Parenthood. We’ve talked about theater, doing another movie or even applying it to other cultures. Occasionally people want to talk about doing something with [1985’s] Cocoon and [1991’s] Backdraft again. But I think it’s both of our instincts to keep looking forward. [Brian and I are] always trying to look at storytelling in different ways and find new partners for collaboration. That excites us more than anything.

Why take on a project like your recent Thirteen Lives?

I felt the timing was perfect. What these people achieved in this rescue was an object lesson in international cooperation and just ignoring politics, ideological and religious differences. It was just the right thing to do. I felt like it was really a subject to connect with on a granular emotional and psychological level; to try to understand what it might have been like to be there and be in the middle of something so amazing and positive.

It really was a miracle that they all survived.

It was about the human process. There were no guarantees because there were so many risks and for people to take those risks was a miracle. A miracle doesn’t mean you sit back and wait for it. They really operated on the premise that if even one life could be saved, the risks were worth taking.

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How challenging was it to film?

I have to admit it was a fantastic filming challenge. About 30 percent of it was in Thai, which is a language I don’t speak. And I knew that capturing the dive scenes would be a challenge like on the level of weightlessness in [1995’s] Apollo 13 and the fires in Backdraft. I was excited to tackle it, though it was an exhausting undertaking.

Where do you go from here?

I’m always trying to find the next project. I have my first animated feature coming up at Netflix, and I’m working on a documentary about Jim Henson. In fact, I’m staring at my hotel room desk and it’s just full of notes because I’ve got a big story meeting tomorrow and I’m trying to get my thoughts together. So, I really try to not look back that much anymore because I’m too busy.

Ron Howard's Upcoming Movies

The Shrinking of Treehorn (Netflix)

Howard’s first animated feature is based on a 1971 children’s book of the same name by Florence Parry. The book was illustrated by the beloved Edward Gorey (the artist responsible for those wonderful Masterpiece Theater animations). In the book, a young boy named Treehorn begins to shrink a bit each day—and no one around him seems to notice.

Untitled Jim Henson Project (Disney)

Howard will be producing and directing this documentary about the creator of The Muppets, Sesame Street and more. The Henson family is cooperating with Disney and Howard and the doc may contain never-before-seen footage of Henson’s early performances and puppets.

Ron Howard's Biggest Movies

Grand Theft Auto (1977)

Splash (1983)

Cocoon (1985)

Parenthood (1989)

Backdraft (1991)

Apollo 13 (1995)

A Beautiful Mind (2001)

The Da Vinci Code (2006)

Frost/Nixon (2008)

In the Heart of the Sea (2015)

Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

Thirteen Lives (2022)

Next, Parade's Interview With Ron and Clint Howard, Movie Legends and Authors of The Boys, Plus Fun Facts About the Brothers