The Oscar controversy that made Ron Howard “really angry”
Very few actors successfully transition from performer to filmmaker, with Ron Howard being one of the most decorated of this exclusive cohort that includes the likes of Clint Eastwood, Greta Gerwig, Jordan Peele, Bradley Cooper and George Clooney. Far better known for the movies he directed rather than the films and TV shows he appeared in, Howard has gifted the industry with a number of iconic modern classics.
Rising to fame on the small screen, showing his face on the TV of every house in America during the 1960s and 1970s, thanks to appearances in the beloved series The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days, Howard took to directing in 1977 with his debut feature Grand Theft Auto, a film that has no affiliation with the video game series. From then, Howard would become a staple of Hollywood in the late 20th century.
It would take him a few films to find his feet, helming Splash with Tom Hanks and Willow with Warwick Davis in the 1980s, whilst the following decade produced a fair few cinematic duds. Indeed, it wouldn’t be until the new millennium that Howard would find consistent success, creating How the Grinch Stole Christmas before blowing critics away with A Beautiful Mind in 2000.
Telling the true story of John Nash, a master mathematician who struggled in his social and private life, Howard’s film starred Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Christopher Plummer and Jennifer Connelly. Tipped for Oscar success even before it had been released, A Beautiful Mind ended up leaving the awards ceremony with statuettes for not only ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’, but ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’ and ‘Best Supporting Actress’ too.
Despite its eventual wins, A Beautiful Mind was shrouded in controversy upon its release, with many believing that several crucial facts from the life of Nash had been purposefully omitted. Missing from the story was the fact that Nash was bisexual and had a child away from his wife but refused to support it, among other omitted facts.
Howard admitted that such things had been omitted to serve the central story at hand, but this didn’t stop the controversy.
Speaking about the uproar about the film in 2001, Howard told DVD Talk, “Yes. It did bother me. I wasn’t losing sleep. I was kind of chagrined for a long time and kind of accepting, and then I became really angry about it because I felt like it was, in some way, having a negative impact or threatening to have a negative impact on John’s life that I thought was really unfair. That’s what I ultimately found. I found the whole thing upsetting, but I really didn’t say much about it until it crossed what I thought was a threshold”.
Take a look at the trailer for the ‘Best Picture’ winner below.
