Where To Watch
Ron Howard talks the ''life-or-death'' pressures of moviemaking
The director had to prove himself at multiple points throughout his career.
There's little comfort in progress, personal or professional. As long as growth is a priority, we can expect a fair share of difficulty. After all, as the old gym saying goes, "No pain, no gain."
One of the most frustrating things about advancing in any career is the near-constant need to prove our capabilities. In the immediate days after we're hired, we have to show that we belong in that job space. Then, if it's time to be considered for a promotion, those same metrics are called back into question. How have we performed? How will we perform? Now, not only do we need to prove we can do our current position, but there's also pressure to perform those new job duties under careful review.
Luckily, though, we don't need to feel isolated in all these feelings. Being pressed to demonstrate one's skills is a relatable issue across many fields of work. Even the most successful professionals have, at one point or another, felt intimidated by the need to show their abilities in their job space.
You'd think Ron Howard would be an inarguable layup choice for any job in Hollywood. But he's faced some serious probing throughout his career, and not just at its very beginning. Switching from actor to director brought with it aggressive scrutiny, but Howard also faced pressure even after he'd established himself as one of the best directors in the industry.
In a 2013 interview with BlackTree TV, Ron Howard reflected on the times throughout his career when he's faced the need to prove himself.
"I definitely could look at a few turning points. For me, it was probably the first time I directed a movie which was this comedy, Grand Theft Auto. Not the video game! But, before that. For Roger Corman... Car crashes and craziness.
"But for me, it was a real life-or-death deal. I had to make it be something. I didn't have a lot of money to work with, and we had to make it happen. But the fact is that in a business like mine, and in a life like mine, you've got to face that every so often. We've had a couple of disappointing movies, and now you feel like this next one, you've got to prove yourself all over again. Certainly, for every story, you're always feeling that. It's kind of like a new idea. You've given it everything you've got, but what do people think of it? That feeling is something that most of us, I think, in this kind of work live with."
Fortunately for Ron Howard, he wasn't alone in his endeavors. He's had a great team around him, and specifically a powerful resource in co-producer Brian Grazer.
"Brian is a pretty good idea guy. Going back to Night Shift and Splash, those were his ideas. But, he also found the article for A Beautiful Mind— we won the Academy Award for that one. He's great at sort of identifying these really interesting one, or two sentences that really get you thinking, that you really haven't seen before."
Related
0 Comments
