made by wajeeha yasin

1. DIRECTOR RESEARCH
RON HOWARD

2. • Ronald William "Ron" Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American film director,
producer, and was born in Duncan, Oklahoma. Howard gained national
recognition as a child actor, first as Opie on The Andy Griffith Show, and then
as the teenaged Richie Cunningham on Happy Days. Howard went on to a
career behind the camera, and in 1980, he left Happy Days to focus on
directing. His films include the science-fiction/fantasy film Cocoon (1985), the
historical docudrama Apollo 13 (1995), the biographical drama A Beautiful Mind
(2001) (which earned him the Academy Award for Best Director), and the thriller
The Da Vinci Code (2006). In 2002, Howard conceived the Fox/Netflix comedy
series Arrested Development, on which he would also serve as producer and
narrator, and play a semi-fictionalized version of himself.

3. • In 2003, Howard was awarded the National Medal of Arts. Asteroid 12561
Howard is named after him. He was inducted into the Television Hall of
Fame in 2013. Before leaving Happy Days in 1980, Howard made his
directing debut with the 1977 low-budget comedy/action film Grand Theft
Auto. This came after cutting a deal with Roger Corman, wherein Corman
would let Howard direct a film in exchange for Howard starring in Eat My
Dust!, with Christopher Norris. Howard went on to direct several TV
movies. His big theatrical break came in 1982, with Night Shift, featuring
Michael Keaton, Shelley Long, and Henry Winkler. He has since directed a
number of high-visibility films, including Splash, Cocoon, Willow,
Parenthood, Backdraft, Apollo 13, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A
Beautiful Mind (for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director),
Cinderella Man, The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, and Rush.

4. SOME OF HIS FAMOUS MOVIES

5. • Howard showcased the world premiere of his film Frost/Nixon at the 2008
London Film Festival in October 2008. Howard was the recipient of the
Austin Film Festival's 2009 Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking
Award. Michael Keaton presented him with the Award. Howard is the co-
chairman, with Brian Grazer, of Imagine Entertainment, a film and
television production company. Imagine has produced several films including
Friday Night Lights, 8 Mile, and Inside Deep Throat, as well as the television
series 24, Felicity, and Arrested Development. Howard also narrated Arrested
Development.

6. DIRECTING STYLE
HISTORY LIVES AGAIN • While Ron Howard has jumped around from genre to
genre as director, a majority of his films either take place
in the past or tell a historically significant story. More
specifically, he has chosen to make films that retell
historic events that have happened in his own life time.
Howard likes to take his own perspective of having lived
through these events, and use it to make his films more
realistic. Similarly, this technique helps to place them in
the correct context so that his films are exciting to an
audience with many members who may not have been
alive to witness these events. His historical films include
Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man,
Frost/Nixon, and Rush. One could argue that Backdraft,
The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, and even How
the Grinch Stole Christmas,are all somewhat historical in
nature and approached with the same sort of first-person
perspective that Howard is known for.

7. MAN AND MACHINE
• A consistent theme in many of Howard’s films are the
relationships between his characters and machines designed
for personal transport. Perhaps he gained his fascination with
transportation on set while working as an actor in American
Graffiti. That film helped to influence his car-focused debut,
Grand Theft Auto. And while Rush is the first film he has
done since then focusing heavily on cars, his other films have
shown similar devotions to cars and other machines. 1986’s
Gung Ho takes place in a car factory, Parenthood features a
drag racing scene, Backdraft includes plenty of fire trucks,
Apollo 13 includes both a rocket and a Corvette, Mel
Gibson’s character in Ransom is an airline owner, How The
Grinch Stole Christmas is full of wacky Dr. Seuss
contraptions, and The Da Vinci Code features a car chase
sequence.

8. WATER EVERYWHERE
• Ron Howard’s films often feature water as
an important element. It could be rain
falling from the sky, the water that
firefighters use to put out flames, the
ocean, or even a glass of water as a
symbolic element in Frost/Nixon.
Stylistically, Ron Howard likes to use a
shot where the camera is submerged in
water looking out at a character or an
event taking place.

9. A-LIST CHARACTERS
• Ron Howard has formed many working relationships
with big-name movie stars. Sometimes he does not
work with his leading actor just once. Perhaps it is
because of his background as an actor, that other
actors feel comfortable working with him, and are
confident that he can get them to produce the best
performances possible. That is why he has had 8
actors nominated for best actor when working in a
film that he has directed. He has worked with Michael
Keaton twice, Russel Crowe twice, Gary Sinse three
times and Tom Hanks four times.

10. ALL IN THE FAMILY
• Ron Howard’s parents played an influential role in
shaping his career. His father, Rance Howard, was an
actor and director himself. Ron pays back his family for
their support by casting them in his movies. Rance
Howard plays a very minor or supporting role in nearly
all of Ron Howard’s films. Ron Howard has cast his
mother Jean Speegle Howard twice. His brother, Clint
Howard, has been cast in a variety of supporting roles in
16 of Ron Howard’s films. Ron Howard’s daughter,
Bryce Dallas Howard, has been cast minor roles in 3 of
his films, and his wife, Cheryl Howard, has walk-on roles
in 6 of his films.

11. RON HOWARD’S DIRECTORIAL CAREER IN SOME OF
HIS MOVIES
• “Apollo 13” (1995) Coming off now relatively forgotten Michael Keaton-headed ensemble film “The Paper,” which had been a moderate hit mainly
because it was a pretty low-budget outing in the first place, Howard went into space for his best film yet, and perhaps his best film, period, with the true-
life story of the aborted Apollo 13 mission to the moon. It is of course also a testament to the script, by William Broyles Jr. and Al Reinart, based off the
book by astronaut Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger that the story is a gripping as it is, but while the actors (Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary
Sinise and Ed Harris) all got their due, and the excellent editing and sound design both won Oscars (the James Horner score was nominated too), Howard,
to our mind, was rather overlooked when the laurels were being handed out for this one. In fact, it’s an incredibly difficult story to put together coherently
and compellingly, quite aside from the technical challenges of period detailing and shooting in zero gravity. It’s largely three guys in a tin can who, get this,
fail to land on the moon, and whose biggest achievement is coming home, aided by a bunch of NASA boffins armed with little more than thick spectacles
and slide rules. It hardly sounds cinematic. Add to that the difficulty of getting across a basic understanding of the physics that underlies the challenges
the mission faces, and surely “Apollo 13” ought to be a terribly dull, talky history lesson. Instead, never has Howard’s talent for getting out of the way of a
great story been better employed, here he creates gripping drama and a real sense of peril and struggle, both on the ground and 200,000 miles up. Often
we’re guilty of seeing the lack of overt authorial identity in Howard’s work as a deficiency, and in all fairness sometimes it can seem anodyne, but “Apollo
13” makes a persuasive case that it might on occasion be his best asset—as much skill and craftsmanship as it might take to tell the story of a series of
math problems in such compulsive, thrilling fashion, there’s an immediacy to “Apollo 13” that totally belies its artistry. It’s Howard at his most technically
proficient, and also his most humble, and seriously, we could watch this film again, like right now.

12. • “A Beautiful Mind” After the unadulterated critical and commercial success of “Apollo 13,” and a big hit in the
shape of dour but well-made kidnap thriller “Ransom,” Howard stumbled over the next couple of films. To be fair,
“Ed TV” is not bad, but was victim of unfortunate timing coming out the year after the similarly themed “The
Truman Show” and feeling like an also-ran as a result. But he really fell flat on his face with “How the Grinch Stole
Christmas” the relentlessly lurid, grating and entirely uncharming Dr Seuss adaptation in 2000. But as he would do
again, he came back from the worst critical drubbing of his career with one of his best-received films, the real-life
drama “A Beautiful Mind,” starring Russell Crowe as troubled mathematician John Nash. The film itself is not at all
our bag, let’s be honest, with its mawkish sentimentalization of mental illness and reductive, almost romantic
portrayal of madness as the price of genius, but while its sober self-importance (not a trait that any of Howard’s
films had really displayed till now) is our kryptonite, the Academy and audiences the world over, loved it, and the
film won Howard his Best Director Oscar (as well as that year’s Best Picture, and Best Supporting actress for
Jennifer Connolly). Leaving aside our issues, it’s undeniably a well-made film, handsomely mounted, lush in period
detail and strong performances from all the cast. It also shows Howard stepping into the light a little more than he
had done to date: where his style had been usually straightforward, almost prosaic, here in the madness and paranoia
sections especially, there’s a more impressionistic and evocative tone than we’d seen from him before. It was
certainly the most self-consciously “directorial” if that makes sense, that he’d ever been, and he was duly rewarded.
It was a mode he’d stay in for while—the underrated Western “The Missing” and the solid if hardly groundbreaking
boxing pic “Cinderella Man,” his second pairing with Crowe, also fit the mold of the sincere, handsomely mounted,
well-acted prestige pic. To an extent these three films could support this newfound sense of self-importance. But
then a certain globally bestselling book came his way.

13. • “The Da Vinci Code” (2006) So with this assessment/re-assessment, we’d love to be able to go against conventional
wisdom and state with brio that in fact Howard’s 2005 adaptation of the Dan Brown phenomenon is a
misunderstood masterpiece. But we can’t because it’s really, really bad. The sudden self-seriousness that had crept
into Howard’s post-Oscar films just doesn’t work when applied to something as silly as “The Da Vinci Code” and
makes us wonder what could a been. If not an ‘Indiana Jones’ style adventure, then at least a “National Treasure”-
style romp, but in Howard's hands the thriller is a really super dull trudge through a dreary nighttime Paris that goes
on for two and half excruciating hours. Tom Hanks, usually so effortlessly watchable, looks deeply uncomfortable
here in his bad wig, burdened with a role that mostly requires him to squint at things in passageways—even Hanks,
who can create a sympathetic character out of a shipwrecked guy with a volleyball for a best friend, can’t find
anything in Robert Langdon to make him an actual character. But with the book having found an audience even
among people who make it a point of pride not to read books, the potential market for this thing was simply
massive, and with “Cinderella Man” underperforming and “The Missing” a rare commercial flop for Howard, he
was in need of a box office hit. Undeserving as it was, “The Da Vinci Code” proved just that, pulling in $758m
worldwide, more than justifying Howard’s approach, his initial $125m budget and of course it prompted a sequel.
“Angels & Demons” would come along three short years later, still pretty awful but the rare sequel that improves on
the original, if only because the original was so poor. From the point of view of Howard’s career, however, far more
interesting was the film that came in between…

14. BOX OFFICE RECORDS

15. -Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Ron Howard Table
• Fourteen Ron Howard movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That
is a percentage of 42.42% of his movies listed. American Graffiti (1973) is his biggest box
office hit.
• An average Ron Howard movie grosses $121.21 million in adjusted box office gross.
• Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 21 Ron Howard movies are rated as good
movies…or 63.63% of his movies. Frost/Nixon (2008) is his highest rated movie while
Village of the Giants (1965) is his lowest rated movie.
• Fourteen Ron Howard movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any
category…..or 42.42% of his movies.
• Five Ron Howard movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 15.15% of his
movies.
• An average Cogerson Movie Score is 39.86. 18 Ron Howard movies scored higher that
average….or 21.21% of his movies. A Beautiful Mind (2001) got the the highest Cogerson
Movie Score while Village of the Giants (1965) got the lowest Cogerson Movie Score.

16. -Possibly Interesting Facts About Ron Howard
1. Let’s say you decide to watch all of Ron Howard’s Happy Days and The Andy Griffith Show episodes in one sitting…..it will
only take you a 192 hours or 8 days non-stop to watch all 380 episodes.
2. Ron Howard uses his family members in all most of his movies. You can usually spot his father Rance Howard and brother
Clint very easily. Spotting his wife, Cheryl, is a little harder but she is there too.
3. Talk about bad timing…..on the morning the Oscar® nominations came out for the 1995 movies….Apollo 13 received 9
nominations but no nomination for Howard as Best Director. Within hours of the announcements he was back on the set of
his current movie, Ransom starring Mel Gibson…..Meanwhile Gibson arrived on set having just receiving the news that he got
numerous Oscar® nominations for Braveheart…including his surprise nomination for Best Director.
4. Ron Howard has received two acting Golden Globe® nominations.…he won Best Actor in a comedy series for the 1978
season of Happy Days… he was also nominated as Best Supporting Actor in 1976 for The Shootist.
5. Ron Howard and business partner Brian Glazer formed Imagine Entertainment. Imagine Entertainment has produced such
movies as Friday Night Lights and 8 Mile. Imagine also produced the television shows…..24, Felicity, Arrested Development
and my daughter’s favorite show…Curious George.

17. • 6. Ron Howard has been married one time in his life. In 1975 he wed his high-school sweetheart, Cheryl Alley. They have
four children, oldest daughter Bryce, twin daughters Jocelyn and Paige and son Reed. His daughter’s middle names indicate
where they were conceived. Bryce was conceived in Dallas, Texas so her full name is Bryce Dallas Howard. While the twins
were conceived at the Carlyle Hotel…so they are Jocelyn Carlyle Howard and Paige Carlyle Howard.
• 7. Ron Howard attended high school with actress Rene Russo. They later would make the movie Ransom together.
• 8. Ron Howard and Tom Hanks have been working together for almost 30 years. The first time they worked together was
when Hanks appeared on Happy Days in 1982. They have made 4 movies together. Those 4 movies are Splash, Apollo 13,
The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons.
• 9. When casting Willow, Ron Howard gave Gavan O’Herlihy the part of Airk Thaughbaer. Gavan played Ron Howard’s
older brother Chuck on the first season of Happy Days. Chuck Cunningham(or the missing Cunningham) was never
mentioned again after season one…….but at least Ron did not forgot his older brother.
• 10. Check out Ron Howard‘ career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time

18. REFERENCES
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Howard
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Howard_filmography
• http://www.biography.com/people/ron-howard-9542185
• http://www.boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?id=ronhoward.htm&view=Director
• http://www.cinelinx.com/movie-stuff/item/4661-directors-trademarks-ron-howard.html
• http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/the-assessment-ron-howards-directorial-career-in-8-
movies-20130926?page=3
• http://www.ultimatemovierankings.com/ron-howard-movies/

19. THANKYOU! 
MADE BY:
WAJEEHA YASIN