The filmmaker who inspired Ron Howard to become a director
Few actors possess the talent to make the treacherous transition to the role of director. However, Ron Howard has joined the likes of Clint Eastwood, Greta Gerwig and Jodie Foster in making that very perilous journey with a series of movies of the highest order in an impressive range of genres.
During his time in the director’s chair, Howard has proven his worth as a filmmaker in comedy with Night Shift and Cocoon, in the thriller genre with Backdraft, and in historical drama with Frost/Nixon, Apollo 13 and Cinderella Man. We also ought not to forget his most significant contribution to cinema, A Beautiful Mind, starring Russell Crowe.
While it’s undoubted that Howard has inspired so many young budding directors to pick up the camera for the first time, he himself was once in that very same position. In a feature with A-Frame, the legendary filmmaker once explained that a Golden Age Hollywood director was the person who influenced him the most at a young age.
“I had read Frank Capra’s autobiography, The Name Above the Title, which galvanised my passion to overcome all obstacles and become a filmmaker,” Howard explained. “I was probably 17 when I read this book, and I’d been making short films and telling anyone who would listen that I wanted to be a director.”
He continued: “But, finishing that book, I not only began to be a student of Capra, but I really threw down the gauntlet and said, ‘I don’t hope to be a director. By God, I am going to be a filmmaker.’ I watched a lot of Frank Capra movies. This was pre-videotape, so you’d have to set your alarm and get up at 3 o’clock in the morning to watch the movie, which I did.”
Capra was a truly iconic director, producer and screenwriter behind some of the most significant movies of the 1930s and 1940s, winning three Academy Awards for ‘Best Director’. Some of his best-loved movies include It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, You Can’t Take It with You, and It’s a Wonderful Life.
At the top of Capra’s filmography for Howard, though, is his 1939 political comedy-drama Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, starring Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Claude Rains and Edward Arnold. It tells of a recently appointed United States Senator and his battle to fight against a corrupt political system.
“And the one that just knocked me out was Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” Howard said. “It was this blend of values that I really appreciated and understood. It was funny. It was heartwarming. But underneath it, it really packed a punch. It was cautionary and critical of politics in its own theatrical way.”
The director signed off on his thoughts on Capra’s movie: “I recognised that there were so many different ways a feature film could actually entertain and engross. For the most part, the movies I had been exposed to were broad and funny, with a moral to the story but a sweet one. Not much darkness, not much edge. And here was this other thing that was so muscular and political, and yet, really engrossing to watch, and entertaining, and made me laugh as well. That struck me and inspired me.”
