“Manufacturing instead of creating”: the best piece of advice Ron Howard ever received
Though Ron Howard began his career in the film industry as a child actor, he has since become one of the most significant filmmakers in contemporary American cinema. It’s clear that Howard was always destined to make a splash on the film circuit, and he has more than accomplished his goal of becoming a movie director.
After a series of early films like Splash and Cocoon, Howard received the Academy Award for ‘Best Director’ for his film A Beautiful Mind. He followed up with a string of highly acclaimed motion pictures, including Frost/Nixon, Apollo 13 and Cinderella Man, and his dream was complete.
Seeing as Howard had been on the Hollywood circuit ever since he was a young boy, it naturally came with the territory that he was exposed to the minds of several other notable figures within the film industry. As such, Howard had been able to interrogate the actors and directors of Hollywood for their most crucial advice.
In an interview with Men’s Journal, Howard noted the best advice he had ever given. The interview began with a few words of wisdom from Andy Griffith, who was likely one of the first stars that Howard met as a child actor. Griffith told Howard that one had to be true to oneself in one’s life and also not be afraid of angering other people once in a while.
Henry Fonda told Howard when Howard was just 16 years old, “If you love movies, become a director; if you love acting, keep your focus on theatre.” What Howard took from that, combined with Griffith’s advice, was that one has to take risks in the film industry, as “the audience can sense when you’re manufacturing instead of creating”.
Howard had famously worked with the legendary John Wayne on his final movie, The Shootist, and The Duke had also offered Howard some words of wisdom, though they seemed to arrive as a conduit to the mind of John Ford. “This is a job of work,” Wayne would tell Howard, detailing the tremendous determination the actor had when it came to his profession.
“If there was a common thread with these folks – Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Glenn Ford – it was the work ethic,” Howard noted, “It was still driving them. To cheat the project was an insult. To cheat the audience was damnable. I directed Bette Davis, too – she was the toughest of them all.”
Finally, Howard finished by noting the kind of advice that he would give a younger version of himself. He had known that he wanted to direct movies from an early age and saw his child acting career as an opportunity to get into the industry, which would open doors and allow for the chance to make films as well as star in them.
Howard admitted that he would likely tell his younger self to be more confident, “particularly if you want to direct”. He said, “There was a combination of shyness and just fear of looking stupid that kept me out of a lot of interesting creative conversations that I could have had at an early age.”
Thankfully, Howard managed to find that confidence within himself, perhaps fused with the advice of Henry Fonda and John Wayne. The young actor went on to become one of America’s most renowned contemporary directors, finding his own place in the history of cinema.
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