How one “sexy” movie redefined Ron Howard’s directing career: “Maybe this is a signal to me”
Even though he’s been directing movies for almost 50 years, Ron Howard has spent that entire time avoiding any identifiable quirks, foibles, or idiosyncrasies in his style. It sounds like a good thing, but the truth is a little more complicated.
He’s won two Academy Awards and sits pretty as the eleventh highest-grossing director in cinema history, so he’s clearly been doing a lot of things right for a very long time. However, looking at some of the other names who’ve brought in more box office dollars than anyone else, the difference becomes clear.
Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Christopher Nolan, Tim Burton, and Michael Bay are some of the names above him on the all-time rankings, and they each have a distinct and signature style. Howard doesn’t have that, and if he hasn’t developed one by now, then it’s safe to say he never will.
However, pairs of hands don’t come much safer, and for the most part, Howard’s back catalogue largely runs the gamut from workmanlike to great, bar the odd stinker like The Dilemma and the Da Vinci Code trilogy. He’s made a few underwhelming movies, but never anything that’s abjectly and reprehensibly offensive to the good name of cinema.
As it turned out, what he really needed was to inject some sexiness into his professional life. By his own admission, Howard had always favoured substance over style, but helming the racing drama Rush opened his eyes to the possibility of breaking the habit of a lifetime and adopting more auteur sensibilities.
“Brian Grazer called me up at a certain point and said, ‘God, I’ve never seen you make a movie that was this sexy!” Howard recalled per Vulture. Nobody would call him a particularly debauched, debonair, or hedonistic director, but taking a more carefree and liberated approach had a huge impact.
“Maybe this is a signal to me that I ought to look beyond my usual style a bit more, but I really try not to put my own stamp on movies or limit them based on some sort of signature or brand,” he explained. “I’m always searching for what I think is the elemental feel that the movie should present, and it’s always subject by subject.”
Has the rejuvenated and altogether sexier Ron Howard V2.0 lived up to his vow? Not really, to be honest. He’s helmed six features since Rush, and they haven’t been especially sensual. In the Heart of the Sea bombed, Inferno earned less than half as much as its predecessor Angels & Demons, he only joined Solo: A Star Wars Story when the original directors were fired and that bombed too, Hillbilly Elegy earned him a Razzie nomination for ‘Best Director’, but at least Thirteen Lives was pretty good.
Next up is the star-studded survival thriller Eden, but will it be as sexy as a post-Rush Howard wants to be? It’s debatable, but having bounced between seafaring period piece, big-budget sequel, blockbuster sci-fi, biopic, true-life drama, and nail-biting thrills, his pinballing between genres is nothing if not risque.
