During Sarasota visit, director Ron Howard talks losses in LA fires and the allure of documentaries
By Kerry Sheridan
January 14, 2025 at 5:10 AM EST
Ron Howard rose to fame as a child actor and has since directed dozens of award-winning films, from "Apollo 13" to "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," and "Cinderella Man."
Were it not for Hollywood, Ron Howard says he might have been a history teacher, a basketball coach, or a journalist.
As a movie director, he combines all these roles. Recently, he has plunged himself into documentaries as a way of telling true stories, capping a prolific career in television and film.
“It's been exciting for me to get into movies based on real events. And now, in the last 10 years, even more authentically, documentaries. It kind of scratches that journalistic itch a little bit,” said Howard.
Speaking at the Van Wezel in Sarasota on Monday, the Academy Award-winning director of “A Beautiful Mind” talked about his passion for bringing character-driven stories to life on the screen, as well as his early days as Opie on The Andy Griffith Show and as Richie Cunningham, alongside Henry Winkler, “The Fonz,” on "Happy Days."
As Los Angeles reels from deadly wildfires, Howard, who is 70, said he has been in touch with many friends there, including Winkler, whose home he said, thankfully, has not been damaged.
“I have so many friends who've lost homes. I don't want to go into any details. Some of them, I've been able to reach. Some of them I haven't," said Howard. "Some have resources to cope with this fairly reasonably, even though it's unbelievably painful.
"In a lot of ways, it's been exciting for me to get into movies based on real events. And now, in the last 10 years, even more authentically, documentaries."
"Others are going to find it a huge, life-changing body blow and that's just undeniable.”
Howard directed the 1991 action film “Backdraft,” about Chicago firefighters trailing an arsonist. One of his recent documentaries centered on the 2018 fires which wiped out most of Paradise, California. “Rebuilding Paradise” was released in 2020.
Howard said he learned from working with survivors in Paradise that those who made the best strides in recovery after disaster were those who took part in efforts to help the broader community. And he expects Los Angeles will rise to the occasion.
“L.A. is full of resilient people who think big and put a lot of energy behind trying to realize dreams. And so it's my expectation that those people will come to the fore and L.A. will move through,” Howard said.
“We're living in a time around the world where these catastrophes strike. We always recognize them. We always say, 'Oh, that's too bad.' And then when they hit you or very close to you, you feel it on another level. And that's just the human experience.”
Director Ron Howard spoke to reporters before his talk at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Center (2004x1632, AR: 1.2279411764705883)
Human experiences feed Howard's latest focus — documentary films.
"I loved the school paper, and I really thought about being a journalist," said Howard, who directed a 1994 comedy about a New York tabloid, called "The Paper."
"In a lot of ways, it's been exciting for me to get into movies based on real events. And now, in the last 10 years, even more authentically, documentaries."
Howard said he is currently working on a couple of documentary projects through Imagine Entertainment, the company he founded in the 1980s with producer Brian Grazer.
“I really love working with our full-time documentary team, and the collaborators. It's always inspiring and I think it benefits my scripted work as well. And I've got a couple of different movies based on real events, also that I can't talk about, but that I'm really intrigued by. (One is) recent history and one a little further back,” he said.
“I'm working with a lot of different writers, and my days right now are spent pretty much as a story editor, in a way. It's really thrilling working with these talented writers and trying to get at the narrative and understand how to crack the story.”
Howard said that the growing influence of social media, along with audiences’ shorter attention spans, do not affect how he approaches his work.
“I'm an actor’s director. I want there to be interesting characters. To me that's first and foremost, over style,” said Howard.
The event was part of the Ringling College of Art and Design’s Town Hall series, which brings high-profile speakers in arts, government and public life to Sarasota each year.
Next month, former NFL player Ron Gronkowski is scheduled to speak, followed by former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) chief Anthony Fauci in March.
As a movie director, he combines all these roles. Recently, he has plunged himself into documentaries as a way of telling true stories, capping a prolific career in television and film.
“It's been exciting for me to get into movies based on real events. And now, in the last 10 years, even more authentically, documentaries. It kind of scratches that journalistic itch a little bit,” said Howard.
Speaking at the Van Wezel in Sarasota on Monday, the Academy Award-winning director of “A Beautiful Mind” talked about his passion for bringing character-driven stories to life on the screen, as well as his early days as Opie on The Andy Griffith Show and as Richie Cunningham, alongside Henry Winkler, “The Fonz,” on "Happy Days."
As Los Angeles reels from deadly wildfires, Howard, who is 70, said he has been in touch with many friends there, including Winkler, whose home he said, thankfully, has not been damaged.
“I have so many friends who've lost homes. I don't want to go into any details. Some of them, I've been able to reach. Some of them I haven't," said Howard. "Some have resources to cope with this fairly reasonably, even though it's unbelievably painful.
"In a lot of ways, it's been exciting for me to get into movies based on real events. And now, in the last 10 years, even more authentically, documentaries."
"Others are going to find it a huge, life-changing body blow and that's just undeniable.”
Howard directed the 1991 action film “Backdraft,” about Chicago firefighters trailing an arsonist. One of his recent documentaries centered on the 2018 fires which wiped out most of Paradise, California. “Rebuilding Paradise” was released in 2020.
Howard said he learned from working with survivors in Paradise that those who made the best strides in recovery after disaster were those who took part in efforts to help the broader community. And he expects Los Angeles will rise to the occasion.
“L.A. is full of resilient people who think big and put a lot of energy behind trying to realize dreams. And so it's my expectation that those people will come to the fore and L.A. will move through,” Howard said.
“We're living in a time around the world where these catastrophes strike. We always recognize them. We always say, 'Oh, that's too bad.' And then when they hit you or very close to you, you feel it on another level. And that's just the human experience.”
Director Ron Howard spoke to reporters before his talk at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Center (2004x1632, AR: 1.2279411764705883)
Human experiences feed Howard's latest focus — documentary films.
"I loved the school paper, and I really thought about being a journalist," said Howard, who directed a 1994 comedy about a New York tabloid, called "The Paper."
"In a lot of ways, it's been exciting for me to get into movies based on real events. And now, in the last 10 years, even more authentically, documentaries."
Howard said he is currently working on a couple of documentary projects through Imagine Entertainment, the company he founded in the 1980s with producer Brian Grazer.
“I really love working with our full-time documentary team, and the collaborators. It's always inspiring and I think it benefits my scripted work as well. And I've got a couple of different movies based on real events, also that I can't talk about, but that I'm really intrigued by. (One is) recent history and one a little further back,” he said.
“I'm working with a lot of different writers, and my days right now are spent pretty much as a story editor, in a way. It's really thrilling working with these talented writers and trying to get at the narrative and understand how to crack the story.”
Howard said that the growing influence of social media, along with audiences’ shorter attention spans, do not affect how he approaches his work.
“I'm an actor’s director. I want there to be interesting characters. To me that's first and foremost, over style,” said Howard.
The event was part of the Ringling College of Art and Design’s Town Hall series, which brings high-profile speakers in arts, government and public life to Sarasota each year.
Next month, former NFL player Ron Gronkowski is scheduled to speak, followed by former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) chief Anthony Fauci in March.