The only genre Ron Howard has “never said yes” to directing: “I’d be copycatting, not inventing”
While some directors love nothing more than staying in their lane and calling one genre home for most, if not all, of their career, Ron Howard has built a filmography that looks like it could have been made by throwing darts at a board labelled with every type of movie under the sun.
That’s not a bad thing, with the two-time Academy Award winner’s refusal to be pigeonholed establishing him as one of Hollywood’s ultimate jack of all trades, although pinballing between so many different arenas also means that, despite being almost 50 years removed from his debut, he still doesn’t have a style of his own.
Of course, Howard has been around the block and back enough times to know that better than anyone, and he’s explained that the reason he’s about the only high-profile filmmaker in history with a multi-billion dollar filmography who doesn’t have an easily identifiable aesthetic is because he isn’t fond of doing the same thing twice.
Think of a genre, and it’s nailed on that he’s tackled it at least once. Comedy? Take your pick from Splash, The Paper, Parenthood, and more. Drama? Again, no shortage of options. Fantasy? Willow. Sci-fi? Solo: A Star Wars Story. Adventure? The Da Vinci Code trilogy. Romance? Far and Away. Thrillers? Ransom. Biopics? Some of his best and most successful films are based on actual events.
What about car chases? He ticked that off first with Grand Theft Auto. Survival stories? The upcoming Eden has that covered. Westerns? The Missing. How the Grinch Stole Christmas was even a two-for-one offer as a literary adaptation and a festive flick, while he’s even branched out to become a documentarian in his spare time.
Horror is a glaring omission, but that’s technically not his fault when he’s voiced his desire to take the reins on a spine-chilling story. If he found something that resonated with him and he was offered the chance to direct it, then Howard would be more than happy to add the only notable absentee to his roster.
However, there’s one genre that he’s been offered several times and has consistently declined. As someone who grew up in the business and spent his formative years rubbing shoulders with Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas, it’s no surprise that the Happy Days alum has no interest in superheroes.
“I’ve had opportunities over the years,” he confirmed to Josh Horowitz. “I really feel like you shouldn’t make a movie as a kind of exercise. You have to be all the way in. I was never a comic book guy. I like the movies when I see them, especially the origin stories. I never felt like I could be on the set at 3 o’clock in the morning, tired, with ten important decisions to make, and know, intuitively, what the story needs.”
The world probably doesn’t need a Ron Howard-directed superhero movie, and since he’s knocked several of them back, he knows it. Even though he’s fond of an adaptation or two, he doesn’t want to use comic books to inform his filmmaking: “For me, I’d be copycatting and not inventing,” he explained. “I’ve never said yes to one.”
