Jul 2, 2026 · 1 hr 8 min · 12 segments
Oscar-winning director Ron Howard tells host Ben Mankiewicz that he feared being “branded” a supernatural comedy director following the success of “Splash” and “Cocoon.” After tapping guidance from…
Ben MankiewiczHost
There's a moment in your life that I am sort of most interested in, because I think it shows a moment of intense emotional maturity.
You, you-- Night Shift, your second movie, but first in five years, right? Your first main- super mainstream movie.
And like all of a sudden, the, the guy from Happy Days, the guy from Andy Griffith is a pretty close to an A-list Hollywood director.
And you, like, start thinking about what kind of director you wanna be, and you recognize that, "Oh, my next movie matters." I want you to take me a little bit into your head space there.
And then, as you said, this remarkable, uh, experience of these two back-to-back top 10 movies that were nominated for Oscars and, and so forth.
And, um, and I, I actually did feel some anxiety about what next, how to choose what to do, and so forth.
There's a moment in your life that I am sort of most interested in, because I think it shows a moment of intense emotional maturity.
You, you-- Night Shift, your second movie, but first in five years, right? Your first main- super mainstream movie.
And like all of a sudden, the, the guy from Happy Days, the guy from Andy Griffith is a pretty close to an A-list Hollywood director.
And you, like, start thinking about what kind of director you wanna be, and you recognize that, "Oh, my next movie matters." I want you to take me a little bit into your head space there.
And then, as you said, this remarkable, uh, experience of these two back-to-back top 10 movies that were nominated for Oscars and, and so forth.
And, um, and I, I actually did feel some anxiety about what next, how to choose what to do, and so forth.
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