Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Ron Howard

Episode Date: May 6, 2018

Oscar-winning director Ron Howard has been in show business almost since he was born. He appeared in his first movie at just 18 months old and by the age of 6 he was a star on “The Andy Griffith Show.” In this week’s episode of “Sunday Sitdown,” Willie Geist chats with Howard about growing up on the sets of some of the most beloved shows on television, all while dreaming of being behind the camera. Howard is now one of the most acclaimed filmmakers in Hollywood, directing hits like "Apollo 13," "A Beautiful Mind," and "Frost-Nixon." He opens up to Willie about that prolific career, including his latest adventure directing the new Star Wars movie "Solo" and all the pressure that comes along with it. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I'm Willie Geist back with another episode of Sunday Sit Down. Thank you so much for clicking, subscribing, download in the podcast. This is the podcast that gives you the entire uncut interview from our Sunday today interviews on NBC where we sit down with stars, celebrities, CEOs, and anybody else you can think of. You get eight minutes of it on TV, which is a lot in TV time, but not enough for me. So now you get the full interview, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, sometimes an hour-long uncut with your favorites. Today, Oscar-winning director Ron Howard. Ron Howard. What a collection. I mean, if you go through and you'll hear all about it, his titles from Apollo 13 to a beautiful mind where he won the Oscar, Frost Nixon, but really going back even to Night Shift in 1982,

which was the first big movie he kind of did, where it proved that he could be a director coming out of happy days and coming out of the Andy Griffith show. People weren't sure if they should take them seriously as a director. Did Night Shift with Brian Grazer. That was their first collaboration. Now they've had Imagine Films. They've done a million great movies together. Then he leapt from there from Splash. Did you know Ron Howard directed Splash? He directed Coon, a movie that also won Oscars, and it went on and on from there. He's an amazing guy. He's got this reputation as being a regular, normal, grounded guy. I wanted to test that. And I found It was absolutely true.

Couldn't have been a nicer, more charming guy. And he's been in show business since virtually the time he was born. In Oklahoma, his parents were actors. They moved when I think he was four years old to Hollywood. He was in his first production when he was 18 months old, still in diapers. And he did his first screen test for the Andy Griffith show when he was five years old. The show started when he was six. So he's been a star since he was six years old and says, as you'll hear from the beginning,

He really wanted to be behind the camera, but all these opportunities came up acting. And now things have worked out pretty well. He's the director of the new Star Wars movie Solo, which is the backstory, the origin story of Han Solo. As you'll hear in our conversation, he did talk to and consult with Harrison Ford about what Han Solo should look like as a young man, how Han Solo might have behaved as a young man. People are pumped for this movie. It comes out on May the 25th over Memorial Day Week. you'll hear all about it all right now with Oscar winner Ron Howard on the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Thanks for doing this, Ron. Appreciate it.

So tell me what the phone call was like about a year or so ago when you get the call that we need you to step in sort of midstream and take over the new Star Wars movie. Well, it was actually at a breakfast that I was having with Kathy Kennedy and Larry Kasden, who's the writer and his son. John, who's the co-writer, and it was just about sort of stuff in general. They're all friends of mine. I was in London working on a bunch of other projects, and it just sort of came up very casually, and I was surprised, bummed for them that they were going through that kind of set of creative differences that they'd have to consider doing something that drastic. And so, you know,

My first inclination was, you know, not to engage. And what I really wanted to do is understand if they knew they were, that they felt like they had to make a change. You know, Chris Miller and Phil Lord aren't wildly talented guys. At Imagine Entertainment, we would kill to have their next movie or TV show, whatever it is. They're just, they're great. And but once I understood that they were made,

they were definitively making a change. And then I read the Kazden script. I really felt like I could bring something to it. I felt I understood it. And also, just as a fan, I thought that what they had captured was a lot of really fantastic answers to the questions of, you know, what are the advance, what are the relationships that might have shaped, you know, young Han Solo, you know, young swagger and Han. into that person that we know later and the answers were so they were surprising and yet really satisfying and entertaining and so I I felt like if they were really going to make a change and that that I thought I understood how to

tell that story so how far along in the process were they when you stepped in and is that a strange thing for a director to inherit somebody else's work and try to make something very very very strange and again not not what you'd want You know, it's kind of akin to coming in as a manager or a coach, you know, mid-season. And they were well into the production, although there was still more to shoot. There had already been some discussions about some other things that they wanted to rework and approach in a different way anyway. And, you know, so it was still, you know, lots and lots of work done by Chris and Phil that's in the the movie and certainly their fingerprints are all over it. So I inherited a lot of things that I

really, really liked and that I was excited about. But there was this, you know, there was this, it really has classic a version of creative differences as I've ever heard about. And again, I didn't witness any of it. And the guys were nothing but gracious with me as I came in. And I didn't have time to think about it much. Put my head down, kind of rally everybody. But it was easy because I so believed in the entertainment value of this story. There's just so much fun to be had in and so much to sort of explore about young Han and the rest of the cast, which is so charismatic and cool. So where do we pick up Han right now? Everybody knows the Harrison Ford Han. We have that vision in our mind. I'm not giving any spoilers, but but this is the look, it's a young guy

with swagger, but it's a time when on the outer edges of, uh, of, uh, of, uh, of, uh, of, of the universe, it's lawless. It's wide open. And, you know, there's, there's no, there's no insurgency, there's no battle with the empire, there's no war going on. It's just oppression. It's just oppression. And so for, you know, a young, a young guy like Han with, you know, with, with, with, you know, big dreams and big ideas and that need for speed, you know, he's chafing under all of that. So a lot of this story is about the struggle for freedom. It's not just the Han story, but it's also this ensemble of characters who factor in, including Lando Calrissian, and the character, you know, played by Donald Glover, he's great in it,

the Amelia Clark character. And so it's cool in that it sort of predates the other movies. And so, you know, politically it's different. Politics don't really factor into this. It's really an adventure story. It's like what, here's, here's, here's, here's an adventure that will, we'll, will, you know, allow you to, to see and understand some of the events that began to shape Han Solo into the guy that we, we meet in movies down the line. So I think a lot of people will wonder, did you talk to Harrison Ford about who Han Solo is?

Well, I, I did talk to Harrison. When I came in, and of course Alden, Aaron Reich was already there and already doing great work, and had even met with Harrison. But as a director, I wanted to call Harrison. Harrison is so supremely intelligent as it relates to story and movies and character. And I really wanted to sort of see what he had to say about the Han Solo character. And he had some great ideas. I mean, it was, and a lot of it were very soulful ideas, despite all the swagger and all the physicality and all of the stuff that Hans Solo is known for.

The undercurrent is somebody who's trying to kind of find himself and define himself. And again, that's what's so smart about the Kazden's script. By the way, you know what's interesting? And I didn't know it when I read it and fell in love with it, but it made sense to me when I learned that before Disney even bought Lucasfilm and started to, talking about making a number of movies. Larry Cazden and Kathy Kennedy and George Lucas had talked about what might other movies be. And Larry had made this passionate case for, well, one of the stories, the one story I'd like to tell would be young Han Solo. So this is something that's been percolating with him for years. And I think it really, it's very organic

and fun. You know, Larry also wrote Raiders of the Lost Art. So there's a little of that sense of the adventure in this. Again, because this is not a war story. It's not a political story, but it does stay very true to kind of our understanding of the galaxy. Did Harrison like the idea of a Han Solo movie? I think he was, you know, I think it made sense to him. I think it made sense to him and sort of, you know, kind of why wouldn't they do it? You know, Harrison's a pretty laconic guy, but he certainly wasn't opposed to it, and he met with Alden and happily spoke to me, but, you know, Harrison is, you know, is Harrison, and he's a man a few words. You are a long-time Star Wars fan. When you got the job, you put it out in a tweet that you're

a big fan since 77. Yeah, well, I was, boy, on the opening, on the opening weekend, my wife, Cheryl and I went and stood in line at the Chinese theater for two hours. In those days, you had to stand in line to see movies. And we were so blown away by it that When we got out, we'd gone to a matinee, early show, only show we could get into. And we left, and there were these two more long lines for like the, whatever, the 2 o'clock show and the 4 o'clock show or 5 o'clock show. We just immediately got in line, stood in line two more hours. No. And we just said, do you want to see it again?

And they said, absolutely. And we just got into line and saw it twice the same day. On opening day. On opening day. That's incredible. But all that said, I love the movies. I've always been a fan. I've been close to it because George is a lifelong friend.

So I've seen behind the curtain, but never worked closely with him. And I'm not fanatical. There are people around these movies who understand everything. They're encyclopedic. By the way, John Cazden, Larry's younger son, who co-wrote the script, is one of those guys. He totally understands it, loves it. and and and and but but what I what I immediately started to connect with were sort of the the way that

these movies entertain the the fun um but also the heart um the the action in this case I really wanted all the action sequences to help define Han Solo that's what everything everything in this movie is about you know what impact is this going to have in terms of shaping this iconic character. So creatively, you know, I really had a great time. Fantastic set of, of collaborators. And this, as I said, is unbelievably charismatic cast led by Alden and Aaron Reich. It's obviously exciting to get that job, but I'm sure you recognize the pressure that comes with directing a Star Wars movie. I'm sure you've already heard from people, you better get this right and that right. It's such a beloved and protected brand and legacy that they've entrusted you with.

Well, you know, there's, look, there's a, they felt they needed to make a change and, you know, and I agreed to come in. I wasn't directing anything else at that time. I'm involved with Imagine Entertainment, you know, co-founder along with Brian Grazer, and we've got so many projects going on, but I was not slotted to be directing anything last year. So I thought, you know, I'll jump in. For me, it's kind of an adventure. And I really, I put aside all the pressure. I kind of felt that in coming in the way that I was, I was just going to give everything I had of myself and let the story sort of define itself

and let the fans respond as they will. I had a great experience and I feel very proud of the movie. It quickly shifted from being kind of a, I don't know, almost a professional exercise into something that I got very emotionally, connected with. They're they're they're they are really fun exhilarating movies to make. Yeah, the fans do care, but you know that's part of the fun of it. You know, we were talking earlier. It's a little bit like, you know, if you if you love your baseball team, you got a, you got to rag on some of the managers moves. You got a question and second guess. That's

that's part of the fun of being a fan. And Star Wars, they have those kind of devoted, intelligent, really thoroughly knowledgeable fans. And you'll be hearing from all of them. I've been hearing from all of them. But the key is you won't know what you think unless you go to the movie. That's right. Oh, I have a feeling they're going to go to the movie.

That's got to be for someone who saw the original movie twice, waited in line to see it a second time. This is kind of, you've done a lot in your career, but this is kind of dream come true stuff, I would think. Well, and I worked for George, George Lucas, you know, directed me in American graffiti. I remember talking to him about what his next movie was going to be, and he was sort of vaguely trying to describe Star Wars. He couldn't really explain it very well. Kind of a Flash Gordon movie with 2001 Special Effects was about all he could say about. But then I worked for George on Willow. He produced it, and I directed it. And we've just remained friends over the years. He's advised me many times. He's been very supportive.

even when I first began directing feature films. I know that without my ever asking him, that he lent some support there. And so there is something that kind of feels like it's coming full circle and very, very comfortable, and I'm kind of honored to be a part of it. And George, even though he's distanced himself from the movies and no longer works on them actively. He's involved in so many philanthropic programs,

his museum especially, which is going to be mind-blowing. But the first day that I was shooting, he and his wife, Melody, showed up. Oh, did he say, he hung around for a few hours. And he even gave me a joke. He would say, oh, you know, I think Han would probably try this. I said, hey, guess what Han's going to do next? What George just said. No pressure, the creator of Star Wars over your shoulders day one.

He didn't put any pressure. He didn't put any pressure. He was nothing but supportive, as was everybody. So it seems as this seems like not a cap. You've got a lot ahead of you still, but it makes sense to a lot of people. The guy who's done so much over the years in Hollywood got this gig. And a guy who's really maybe spent every waking moment of his life in show business. Pretty much.

Is it 18 months was your first acting job? 18 months was my first acting job, but just a few days after my fourth birthday was my first paying job. So that's what I count. And what's the first show business memory you have? Andy Griffith or do you remember before that? Oh, no, before that. That very first job, not the 18 month, I don't remember that. But it was a movie starring Eul Brenner and Deborah Carr.

It was for MGM. It was called The Journey. It was made in 1958, and it was about the Hungarian Revolution. So it was very timely because the Hungarian Revolution was in 56. And Yule Brenner was this bigger-than-life guy who spoke seven languages. And what I remember is one scene where he's playing this Russian, you know, border control, you know, officer. And he's, we're all, all the tourists are supposed to be gathered around.

He's going to be questioning people and so forth. And he takes this shot of vodka and then bites the glass. He's just that tough. So we're doing this shot. And he does it. And I really remember him looking over at me. And I must have been like, you know, my eyes must have been wide. And he said, come here.

Come here. Ronnie. And he came over and he said, this is sugar. This is not glass. You cannot bite real glass. This is make-believe. First lesson of acting. First lesson of acting. And so I have so many vivid memories. But I think my parents went ahead and followed through with the idea of my being in the business because I did clearly feel comfortable and really enjoy the experience.

And you know what? That has continued on. And with Solo, you know, another one of these great life experiences at the movie, making movies. So then we jump ahead to Andy Griffith. You're six years old. when you start on that show. Five, really. Who five? Did the pilot when I was still five. Five years old.

Yeah. So what was it like to be thrust into that level of stardom at that age? Did you have any concept of what was happening around you? Not really. You know, I really grew up and fell in love with a process that I understood. It was less about audiences or fans, although I did eventually, I did eventually have to learn how to handwrite my name for autographs, which is the reason I learned how to write. People got a little tired of the autographed

taking forever. Ah, oh, the line got kind of long. Yeah, it would take a long long time. But, no, for me, I was fortunate in that I grew up in an environment that as easy going as the Andy Griffith Show looks, and as playful and fun as the environment was, it was also a real workplace and a place of excellence.

And there was an expectation of all of us. even the little kid in the show, that we were there to do something right, you know? And Andy set that tone, and everyone picked up on that. So I could see that you could have laughs. It could be a warm environment. It could be a place you want to go and be. And yet, you still can do great work,

but there needs to be this understanding that there's a, you know, that there's a right way and a wrong way to tell a story and get a scene done. And all that creative problem solving is really what I think I really wanted to be a part of. I think it's that energy that, that, that, the unexpected surprises of solutions coming from, you know, you know, non-linear directions that was just really stimulating and fun. And so I built my whole career, not so much intentionally trying to create that environment, but always welcoming and nurturing that sort of collaboration and the excitement of it, while loving being at the middle and being, as one of our ex-presidents would say, the decider.

Right, right. Well, it's amazing you learn that at that age. You already recognize that this is something you wanted to be a part of. Well, it was kind of by osmosis, but later on, when I became serious about it, and also so many of the directors on the show had been actors. And so early on, they were saying to me, I bet you're going to wind up being a director. Well, I think they saw that I was curious. I was very curious about it.

I loved it. My dad was also not only a work-a-day character actor all his life, but also wrote for TV shows, even like the Flintstones and things like that. Yeah, yeah, and he directed a lot of theater. So, you know, I even had that example to draw upon. It's interesting to read how hard your parents work to keep your childhood normal. You are on this huge hit show, but you didn't miss Little League games. You went to school.

How did you maintain that? Well, it wasn't me. It was them and thank God for it. But I think my father, who loved it and my mom acted as well, loved it on the most, on the purest level. So like if you do it all your life and you never became the Gary Cooper movie star that you dreamed of back on the farm, but you're still doing it. I mean, he was working. He died last year and he was working up to 36 hours before he was stricken. You know, I mean, he loved it.

And he never complained. So that's sort of the spirit environment and appreciation for, you know, what this way of life was like that I grew up with. and I adopted it. But it was always important in his mind that I not be missing my childhood and not be trying to cash in on it. To him, it wasn't about the money. It was never about the money.

It was about learning a craft and being a part of a profession. And he always said from the time I was very young, you have to fulfill contractual. actual obligations, yes, but you don't have to do any more than that. And the minute the contract's over, whether it's the Andy Griffith Show or anything else, you just tell me, you don't have to be doing this. You never wanted me to feel obliged.

Well, a lot of people say Ron Howard is the most grounded, normal, well-adjusted Oscar-winning director who spent his entire life in show business you'll ever meet in your life. And it sounds like it started there. It really did. You know, and often it kind of comes back to the parents. But I also think that I was very fortunate in that I was exposed to something that I had an aptitude for and the right personality for it. But I never had a performer's personality, Willie, which is why I think early, early on I knew I was interested in the directorial side. I was interested in the leadership side.

I wanted to be able to take responsibility for this story, you know, and let the buck stop with me. And in my early teens, I was passionate about it. And by the time I was 15, it's literally like all I really thought about. Once I realized I could never hit a really hard-breaking curveball. That moment comes for all of us, by the way. And then, oh, then I'll be a movie director. And well, so that begs the question then when you're doing happy days, and that's obviously a huge role for you in your life and career.

Are you thinking about, I'm enjoying this, but I'd like to be doing a director. I left USC film school to do happy days. So the whole time that I was on the show, as much as I loved it and as important as it was for my career, the relationships meant the world to me. But my head was already in the other space. And I was doing things. You know, I was renting gear and making short films, you know, on the weekends, on my days off from the show. Writing scripts, I began directing while I was still on the show.

So the last four years that I was on the show out of seven, every hiatus I directed something, whether it was a Roger Corman movie or a made-for-television movie. So I had tremendous experience. By the time I met Brian Grazer and we formed Imagine and we got to make the movie Night Shift, which was my first real studio feature, I was kind of a veteran.

I mean, I was very comfortable in that environment and dealing with the pressures of it, even though, you know, to many, it was, my first directing situation. Was your plan, Ron, then always, to make that pivot away after Happy Days and be a director? Or are we going to sort of see how it went and maybe go back to acting? No. Always direct.

I always felt like that I was better suited for that job. And then I also, I just loved the medium. I loved what you could do with a movie story, which is why I've always wanted to make so many different kinds of movies and television shows. Because I didn't want to be categorized the way I was as an actor. And it was more than a profession and a commercial venture to me. It really was participating in a medium that I loved and that I felt, you know, when done well, fans could really connect with and appreciate.

And it was a way of life that I understood and still understand and really like. And as a creative person right now, it's kind of spectacular. the opportunities that you can pursue. You know, the economics are sometimes difficult, challenging. It's very hard to be a studio. But it's why I imagine entertainment is we're moving more and more toward independence, because the idea is to be able to take advantage of all the ways you can get a story told. And so, you know, we have Empire, that's a network television show,

Arrested Development is coming back on Netflix. I'm doing Pavarotti as a feature documentary. I get to do solo. We have a spy who dumped me coming out as a feature film with Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon. That's for a traditional studio, Lionsgate. You know, it goes on and on. Genius for Nat Geo. Fantastic project to get to work on, very specifically suited for Nat Geo.

So creatively, this is a time where you really can stretch your wings. And in its own way, solo as a kind of creative test or challenge or adventure fit beautifully into that time. Do you have a rule of thumb or some way that you vet projects that come your way? Because it seems like you're in a position now where you can just do the things you want to do, things that interest you specifically. Well, yes, I have that kind of latitude, and we have the entrepreneurial, you know, kind of capacity to get things done between Brian Grazer and I.

But, you know, it starts with me. I have to have a reaction to it, an emotional reaction. I have to think that's a story that I'd like to see, and it's a story that I'd like to spend a year, year and a half on. And certainly, you know, my wife Cheryl has always read my stuff. She's a writer herself and has great ideas. You know, my daughter, Bryce knows her way around the business and knows what to look for in a script.

She's very, very helpful. Brian Grazer, of course. Small inner circle. And, but I have to trust my gut. And if anything, coming in on Solo was kind of an affirmation of that. There was no time to do much consensus building or collaborating. I really did have to just sort of trust my movie-loving storytelling, you know, instincts and go with it. But of course, there is a fantastic group of collaborators led by the castons, Kathy Kennedy, the late Ali Shermer, who unfortunately passed.

away, a wonderful producer and an old friend. And a cast is very smart and very dialed in to look to to help propel this what we knew was a great story forward. Was there a spot in that run? You mentioned night shift. I'm thinking of sort of the night shift

splash cocoon run there. Where you said to yourself, okay, I'm pretty good at this. People are responding to the movies and this is what I'm going to be. This is what I'm going to do? Yes. Yeah. Really, after both Splash, and cocoon were such breakthroughs and night shift had been a sleeper hit. And I could just tell by the offers that were coming in that I was going to, I was going to be able to make this my career at least for the, you know, near term and somewhat beyond,

you know? And I actually went through a moment of fear because suddenly there's something to lose, and this has been my big dream for already decades, you know, even though I was only 30 or whatever. And I thought, you know, I love this as a way of life. The one thing I don't want is to become a comedy director per se, because I don't want that limitation. I love all kinds of movies. So the only sort of career intention that I adopted was proved to creative colleagues, studio executives, and also to fans that I could work on all different kinds of stories. And they could trust me with that. And beyond that, I just wanted to see how far it could take me.

Keep finding projects that I could fall in love with and care about and just go on the journey. And again, you know, solo as a kind of creative adventure fell nicely into that category. I still follow it. And, you know, I've got a lot of energy and excitement. As I said, this is a time when storytellers can really get a lot done. And I've been working hard to participate in that because I think it's sort of exciting to be in this place with the experience that I have behind me and sort of the, I don't know,

just the energy and the capacity and the ambition that still exists to enjoy it. I'm gonna ask you a terrible question and I know you're gonna upset that I ask it. If you had, I'll just wait for it. As you look, You look at your IMDB page and you look at all your movies. People have a favorite Ron Howard movie.

Maybe it's Apollo 13, Beautiful Mine, you won the Oscar for, Prostnix, and they're a million of them. Is there one in your career that jumps out and you say, I hope I'm remembered for that movie? Oh. Or do you have a favorite? Well, Apollo 13 was such an amazing life experience. Parenthood was extremely personal to me. of pride around both Frost Nixon and Rush, which represented different kinds of storytelling sensibilities in a way. And I learned a great deal making those. So I, you know, I think

I would have my pets. It'd be hard to say a number one. I could kind of narrow it down to maybe a top four or five. But I also would never say, honestly, although I did kind of mention Apollo 13th, I blew it a little bit. But I have found that different people like different movies of mine and really even love them for their own set of reasons. And so if somebody comes up and says, here's my favorite movie and mentions a title and it wouldn't be in my top five, well, in some ways that thrills me even more because it means that the hard work that went into something that I might still feel like was somehow missed

something or I didn't quite get everything done I wanted with it. didn't achieve everything I had in my imagination for, that it still really landed for that person, was valid for that person. And that's what's more important than anything. You mentioned your wife, Cheryl. Cheryl has been in almost every one of your movies? All of them.

Has she been in all of them? She's my lucky charm. In fact, I'm gonna, I mean, it was a little pricey. We had to green screen her into Solo. Oh, that's amazing. She couldn't be there when we were shooting. Oh, I cut the seed. I cut the seed that she was in, and I felt badly about it.

And Kathy Kennedy said, why are you disappointed about that? I mean, and I said, well, Cheryl was in it. She said, oh, I know that's tough. I said, no, Cheryl doesn't care. She doesn't care, but I care because it's my only superstition. Right. And so she said, well, let's get a green screen and drop her into a shot. So that's what you did.

Well, you can see the streak is alive then. Oh, the streak is alive. A good moment for solo. She's not in, she's not in like branded TV commercials or she certainly can't be in documentaries. But going back to the first film that I entered into a festival, which was the Kodak Teenage Film Festival in 1970, she was in it. And then she had to be in all these short films and things that I was making because I always needed extras or somebody to play a small part. She's camera-shy, does not fancy herself an actor in any way, shape, or form, although she's actually pretty damn good.

Every once in a while I make her say a line or two. She's good. She's got a little practice by this point, Right? Well, she, not her favorite. She'd rather be writing. But she, but yeah, she's the good luck charm. And yep, she's in solo. So we'll see. So it's going to succeed. You can't fail. There you. Here we go. So you've been married, what, 43 years? It'll be 43 in June, June 7th. And you and Brian are 33 or 33 or something like that. Yeah. I mean, we decided to have a match in 86, but we did night. shift and splash back to back in like 80, 81, and 82 and 83. So we're like three or four years there where we worked together constantly before we decided to form imagine. And, you know, it's been, it's a great partnership because we,

on the one hand, it's kind of an alliance because we do different things. We have different sensibilities. But when we do line up on an idea or project, you know, we just about, never fail to succeed at a pretty significant level. Not everything we do is a success, but we don't agree on everything either. But in the same way that I was talking about, you know, the business and the platforms

and the different storytelling opportunities, so is changing and I think in an exciting way. So is the business landscape. changing and again it's coming along at a time where both Brian and I still have a lot of ambition and an appetite to sort of explore and see what else the company can be and what else it can do and we've been going through a terrific period of growth taking in new partners new you know different kinds of collaborations but always still whenever possible going back to those those those those those creative collaborators that

we've counted on over the years so it's an exciting energy over there at a magic. And nice to have a professional partner that you just trust implicitly, and we'll tell you what's good and what's not. It's so valuable to have somebody with a shared agenda as smart as Brian, you know, pulling in your direction. You know you're pulling in the same direction. It's such a competitive business that even people who really like each other occasionally

are pushed into this sort of competitive circumstance and it's uncomfortable. you know something like the partnership that Brian and I have at imagine is so rare and and it's you know it's it there's a lot of luck there's a lot of luck involved and and you know we've I'm really grateful for what we've been able to build and the projects we've been able to do together and I'm excited about what's ahead because you were a successful actor so that I'm sure there were people in your life who said keep going on this train oh absolutely and especially at that time. I mean, the idea of having been a child actor and sort of believing you could be a movie director, not even a TV director, a movie director, at that time was, you know,

I mean, it was at best adorable, but, you know, highly, highly unlikely in people's minds. And they would, you know, I'd be like dreaming at age 19 or 20 of getting the opportunity to put together a production and make a movie and crack the system. And, you know, and really well-meaning people would say, well, you get into your 30s or 40s, and I think somebody will give you a chance, you know. And it was such a closed system then. Only three networks, not even four. Forget MTV or cable.

Certainly the Internet. None of it is there to showcase your work or to break through the system. So it was pretty unusual when I finally pulled it off, thanks largely to Roger Corman, who took chances on young filmmakers, and one of the first really powerful female executives, a woman named Deanne Barkley in charge of television movies at NBC, who really took me under her wing. I did three television movies for Deanne, and she was a great woman, great storyteller, a tremendous boss and you know and really a important figure in the history of TV.

Lastly, do you know that your Arrested Development narrator voice has become something of a meme online? If someone says something that's patently absurd, they'll say narrator voice, he didn't. Right, yes, yeah, I love that. So your voice has become an important one in our political debate. I love Arrested Development, and I love being the uncredited narrative. Although I pretty openly want people to know. Right, right, exactly, exactly. And that's coming back.

That's exciting. It's really exciting. And, you know, and it's, but it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, uh, a Mitch Hurwist. Mitch Hurwitz is just, you know, he's really a comedy genius. And, and is, and a guy named Jim Valet, who works closely with him is remarkable. And he's, and, and they're, they're hysterical. And the cast so loves Mitch. And they so love Arrested Development.

it's meant to them, it is almost impossible, almost impossible to get them together. It takes so long to figure out, you know, how to get everybody together. And so when, for Mitch to do this, he has to conceive of the entire season and organize it in such a way so that even if he only has one actor for seven or eight days or six days or two days here and four days there, he can build out, you know, an entire season's worth. The up. coming season is going to have everybody in every episode. So in fact, there's going to be, in fact, a remixed version of season four that's been reedited so that everybody is in every episode and he looks at the mystery that was season four in a

very different kind of way. I had to do all new narration for it. That's incredible. So he opened it up. That just dropped Friday. So on Netflix, you could catch up with art, the revised, renewed remix of season four. You know, just listening to talk about all these projects. I don't know how you keep them straight.

Seriously, you've got movies and documentaries and Netflix and you're all over the place. I do enjoy spinning the plates a little bit, and I did, and I tried to keep up with things even as I was doing solo. Although I did find solo was a pretty all-encompassing task. But I, you know, I had a great time with it. I hope people really get a kick out of it. I think they will. Thank you, Ron. Thanks a lot.

Appreciate it. Thank you so much. Pleasure. My thanks to the great Ron Howard, such a good dude for a great conversation. Again, solo, a Star Wars story, is out in theaters. Memorial Day weekend. May 25th is the day. It's supposed to be excellent.

I couldn't even see the whole thing, but I've seen bits and pieces of it. And he sounded genuinely psyched. And he is ready for all your criticisms, all you Star Wars. for the little detail he got wrong. He knows it's all coming and he's ready for you. Thank you, Ron Howard, and thanks to all of you for checking out the Sunday Sit Down podcast to hear the full unedited interview with my guest every week. Be sure to click subscribe so you never miss an episode. And don't forget to tune in to Sunday today every weekend on NBC. Thank you so much for listening. I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you next week.