Ron Howard is an incredibly accomplished filmmaker. Let’s not forget that he’s won Best Director and Best Picture Oscars for his film, “A Beautiful Mind,” and is the filmmaker behind major blockbusters like “The Da Vinci Code,” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” and “Apollo 13.” However, it’s that latter film that might be the reason the filmmaker has ventured more into real-life stories over the years.
READ MORE: The Noxious ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ Is The Year’s Most Shameless Film [Review]
Speaking to The Wrap, while talking to his daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard, about her upcoming doc, “Dads,” Ron Howard explained that a test screening from “Apollo 13” stuck with him for years and is one of the reasons why he’s gone on to work on more fact-based films. According to the story, Howard was reading through the comment cards after a test screening of “Apollo 13” and found one that marked the film “poor.” So, he read closer.
“There were very few comments on it,” explained Howard. “He just checked [boxes that said] ‘terrible,’ ‘wouldn’t recommend it’ in these big, bold pencil strokes. Finally, I flipped over to the back of the card, where it says, ‘Please comment on the ending.’ And that’s the only place he actually wrote any words. He said, ‘Terrible,’ with an exclamation mark. And then he said, ‘More Hollywood bullshit,’ with two exclamation marks. Then he said, ‘They would never survive,’ with three exclamation marks.”
He added, “Of course, he didn’t know it was based on a true story, and he thought it was corny. And I immediately realized, this is why you choose stories based on real events!”
When you look at Howard’s filmography, it’s clear that he loves his documentaries and “based on true story” projects. His most recent film, “Hillbilly Elegy,” is based on a memoir. Then you have real-life stories such as “Cinderella Man,” “Rush,” “Frost/Nixon,” the aforementioned “A Beautiful Mind,” and of course, “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” Okay, maybe not that last one, but you get the idea.
So, if you are ever able to watch a test screening of a film, this is a pretty solid argument for why you should take those comment cards seriously. Who knows? You could be influencing a filmmaker’s entire career.