Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Ron Howard Reveals Daughter Bryce Dallas' Childhood Obsession

He's Opie; no, Richie Cunningham; uhh, no -- he's an Oscar-winning director; actually, he's the father of that gorgeous Golden Globe nominee who is quickly becoming one of Hollywood's go-to leading ladies.
To each, his own Ron Howard.
As our televisual entertainment has evolved from scratchy images from impossibly-idyllic little towns up to the current senses-assaulting 3D blockbusters shown on screens the size of buildings, the affable Howard has been at the forefront, adapting his career -- and often leading the charge -- to each new level of innovation. A five decade actor/director who emerged from the days of black and white, it is perhaps appropriate that Howard is now passing the baton to a new generation in a project that celebrates the vividness of color.
Howard is teaming with Canon Cameras to produce a short film based on eight winning user-submitted photos [submissions are being welcomed through June 14th]. Called Project Imagin8ion, the film will find its narrative from photos that convey setting, time, character, mood, relationship, goal, obstacle and the unknown, which, as screenwriters know, are the basis for any screenplay. While he knew he wanted to be a part of it, given time commitments, he couldn't direct -- and so he called on daughter Bryce Dallas Howard to get behind the camera. It's a project he thinks she's ready for.
"She's produced a movie that Gus van Sant directed ["Restless"] and she's involved with scripts, writing scripts, not a lot of people know that she's moving in this direction," Howard told The Huffington Post. "And I sent the idea out to her and her writing partner and they were just immediately thrilled by the proposition and the experimental nature of it."
For the Howards, film is a family business -- and passion. Ron left his hit sitcom "Happy Days," to begin his directorial career around the time that Bryce was born, and soon enough, she was forgoing Barbies for film sets.
"Any time the kids were interested in coming to the set and hanging, I always loved it. And they all did in varying degrees. Bryce was the one who seemed to really enjoy it there the most," Howard remembers. "She was, at age 13, sort of like a PA on 'Apollo 13' and was running around giving people lunch orders and at ten she was helping the caterers clean up afterwards and hanging out and they'd give her a walkie talkie and she'd help out at the production office."
Story continues below
Doesn’t it make sense that someone as grounded as Ron Howard would have well grounded children?  Encourage your children to be whatever they want to be, support their dreams, and allow them to make their own mistakes.  We are only their guardians.  We do not decide who and what they will become, and while it can be quite frustrating we can only guide them.  We do not own them we are simply their Sheppard’s.  Our children are a gift that at some point we must give away. 

1 comment:

  1. Thanks Karl! Sometimes I struggle with that but I'm getting better every day. I must remember how head strong I was at my daughter's age and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

    ReplyDelete