“They’re fine-tuned, very aggressive people”: the actor who scared the crap out of Ron Howard
It’s been almost 70 years since Ron Howard took his first steps in the industry, and by that metric alone, it stands to reason that surprises have become increasingly few and far between.
After all, he was a veteran of film and television by the time he’d even left his teenage years and was in his early 20s when he made his feature-length directorial debut on 1977’s Grand Theft Auto. He’s pretty much seen and done it all, which extends to working with a litany of multi-generational legends.
On either side of the camera, Howard has collaborated with John Wayne, Bette Davis, James Stewart, Roger Corman, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Mel Gibson, Jim Carrey, Clint Eastwood, and Stephen King, which is barely scratching the surface of the people he’s worked with as an actor, director, and producer.
Along the way, he had to earn the respect of many of them, but at least none of them frightened the living daylights out of him. That’s not to say there isn’t a single actor or auteur who terrified Howard, though, because there was. Not because of their behaviour or professionalism but for the way they had no issues running headlong into danger despite being an established star and focal point of a film he directed.
Deservedly earning an Academy Award nomination for ‘Best Visual Effects’, Howard’s 1991 disaster thriller Backdraft was marketed largely on the back of its staggering set pieces, which helped it cross the $150million barrier at the global box office. Sure, the star-studded ensemble played their part, but the story would always take a backseat to the stunts.
For leading man Kurt Russell, that meant he felt obligated to add more authenticity to his performance as firefighter Stephen McCaffrey, which left Howard a trembling wreck. He wasn’t quite at the Cruise level of doing everything himself, but as the filmmaker recalled, he came close enough to cause a few sweaty palms.
”What Kurt did during those fires scared the crap out of me,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “All the firefighters really admired Kurt. In the movie, he epitomizes the most aggressive firefighter, particularly in Chicago, where they pride themselves on an old-fashioned, physical, almost cowboy-like approach to the job. They were thrilled with the way Kurt took to it.”
Russell quickly became a respected figure among the firefighters who contributed or advised on Backdraft, which wasn’t an easy thing to do when Howard described them as “fine-tuned, very aggressive people making these split-second decisions” that can often toe the very fine line between life and death.
By doing as many of his own stunts as he could, Russell quickly ingratiated himself with the real firefighters, even if Howard wasn’t overly enthused about the focal point of his blockbuster constantly flirting with danger.
