The movie and the man that saved Ron Howard’s career: “I thought I might get fired at lunch”
Ron Howard always seemed destined to become a fixture of the film industry; after all, the Oklahoma-born creative achieved his first film roles at the age of only five. Those early roles in The Andy Griffith Show and The Twilight Zone are hardly Howard’s greatest work, but his experiences as a child actor certainly influenced his later development and interest in the film industry. Still, it took more than a few attempts for Howard to truly find his feet as a filmmaker, something which took its toll on his willpower.
During the late 1970s, Howard found mainstream attention through his role on the ABC sitcom Happy Days, playing the antidote to Henry Winkler’s Fonz, but he was increasingly behind drawn to the production side of the entertainment industry. Howard had a great desire to become a director but, aside from a few production credits from back in the late 1960s, he struggled with a lack of experience.
Eventually, the young hopeful got the chance to write and direct the 1977 comedy flick Grand Theft Auto, not to be confused with the far more successful video game series of the same name. Shot on a shoestring budget, the film only ever came to fruition because director and producer Roger Corman owed Howard a favour, following the actor’s largely forgotten performance in the 1976 action-comedy Eat My Dust!. As with every low-budget comedy film made on a whim, Grand Theft Auto was plagued with difficulty.
Not only was the then-23-year-old Howard attempting to grapple with directing for the very first time, he was also tasked with playing the starring role in the film, and dealing with a pretty mediocre script. Unsurprisingly, the process of creating the film was incredibly stressful for Howard, not least because he seemed to pin his entire future as a filmmaker and director on pulling off Grand Theft Auto.
Recalling the process of making the film, Howard once shared, “The first day of shooting was the day after my 23rd birthday. I will admit that I was behind in my personal schedule; I was running late. I really wanted to direct a film in my teens. Hubris of youth.” Adding, “I was very anxious that first day.” In fairness to Howard, it isn’t as though Howard’s youth was squandered by not directing; by the measure of any other American teen, he was incredibly busy, involved in multiple projects across television and film.
What’s more, Howard’s apparent anxiety did not seem to make itself apparent to others involved in the film. “I read an article a few years ago in which Corman said I was one of the coolest, calmest first-day directors he’d ever seen,” Howard remembered. “But I was really jumpy, and the first half of that first day didn’t go very well; I only got about four or five setups.”
For a little while, Howard’s entire future as a filmmaker was in doubt, but one man managed to put him back on the right track. “Gary Graver, the cinematographer, sat down with me at lunch and we figured out how to avoid some problems and simplify a few things. He saved my ass. I literally thought I might get fired at lunch,” Howard shared.
Ultimately, Grand Theft Auto does not stand out as a notable highlight within Howard’s career, nor do the various television films which followed its release. However, without the reassurance of Gary Graver, the actor might have given up on directing altogether, which would have starved the viewing public of all the classic films that Howard went on to create.
