The most devastating moment of Ron Howard’s career: “It doesn’t diminish the disappointment”
Directors can be a temperamental bunch at the best of times, which comes with the territory when they’re marshalling a cast and crew of hundreds, working with massive sums of money, and are placed under time and scheduling constraints. However, it should go without saying that Ron Howard doesn’t lose his cool.
He’s simply too damned nice to blow his top, with the two-time Academy Award winner having been praised as one of Hollywood’s most genuine, friendly, and all-around nicest guys since he was a kid. How many other people in the business have spent almost 70 years in and around it without being called a dickhead at least once? Not many, but Howard is one of them.
Still, that doesn’t mean he can’t get pissed off or showcase a ruthless streak on occasion. After all, this is the guy who forced his own mother to audition for a role in one of his pictures and already pre-prepared a speech to let her down gently because he didn’t think she’d be good enough, although he did eventually award her the part because even nice guys embrace nepotism every now and then.
Where the former Happy Days favourite draws the line is when the movie he thinks is the best he ever made gets completely snubbed by the most prestigious awards ceremony on the calendar, despite the fact it was undoubtedly one of the finest films to release in its given year and the competition for the top directorial prize wasn’t exactly overflowing with illustrious competition.
Yes, Apollo 13 won two Oscars from nine nominations and was shortlisted for ‘Best Picture’, so it wasn’t as if it was shut out of the race. On the other hand, it was also Howard’s best-directed feature at the time by far, and it’s arguably still the pinnacle of his behind-the-camera achievements 30 years later.
Then, now, and probably forever, he’ll call it the best work he’s ever done. And yet, despite winning the top prize at the Directors Guild of America Awards and gaining a Golden Globe nomination, Howard didn’t make the five-man shortlist at the Oscars, and he couldn’t hide his frustrations.
“It doesn’t diminish the disappointment of not getting the Oscar nomination,” he told Variety after his DGA victory. “It’s just one of those things.” As much as he was thrilled to win a major prize for his directing, Howard couldn’t comprehend why he didn’t make the cut for the biggest game in town.
That was the year Mel Gibson won for Braveheart, and he also claimed the Golden Globe. For whatever reason, the Academy and the Globes were in staunch disagreement for their 1996 editions, with only two nominees for the latter making the former’s shortlist, which made the candidates demonstrably worse.
The Oscars placed Gibson, Babe‘s Chris Noonan, Dead Man Walking‘s Tim Robbins, Leaving Las Vegas‘ Mike Figgis, and Il Postino: The Postman‘s Michael Radford in the running for ‘Best Director’ which didn’t only shut out Howard but also Casino‘s Martin Scorsese, Sense and Sensibility‘s Ang Lee, and The American President‘s Rob Reiner, so it’s little wonder he was so annoyed.
