Ron Howard was certainly entertaining as a child actor in the role of Opie Taylor. Later in “Happy Days” he was fun to watch as Richie Cunningham. He had a few other roles, most notable being in “American Graffiti”, but let’s face it, we he was just an average actor in my opinion. However, Ron Howard the director and producer, now that is a whole different story.
Ron Howard’s success as a director and producer certainly took me by surprise in the start of that part of his career but he has amassed a remarkable portfolio of films that is quite remarkable. He distanced himself from the problems many child actors have had difficulty with and has remained focused on his new career with a large number of awards for his works including 2 Oscars in his possession for “A Beautiful Mind” as Best Director and Best Picture.
When doing a search for Ron Howard’s preproduction movies I came across as director the movie “Your Cheating Heart” due to be released in 2011 and as a producer “Cowboys and Aliens” also to be released in 2011. He is currently producing an untitled Gus Van Sant Project that is in production and it has been announced he will be producing the movie version of “Arrested Development”. Both of these also list a 2011 release date. It could certainly be a big
year for Howard.
As great a string of movies he has had in recent years as director I must admit I am somewhat concerned that Howard may be in over his head with the movie “Your Cheating Heart”. When I first saw the title I thought he was going to be making a movie about Hank Williams Sr. but unfortunately it is a comedy starring 3 actors that I have seen little to be excited about. The three actors I am speaking of are Kevin James, Vince Vaughn, and Dustin Rowles.
The movie is about a man who finds out that his best friend’s wife is unfaithful in their marriage. He does not know how to handle the situation. I still wish this was a biographical about Hank Williams Sr. and with a better cast. I sure hope Ron Howard can pull this off.
As a producer he is taking on another strange film (“Cowboys and Aliens”) with co-producers Damon Lindelof, Steven Spielberg and Brian Grazer. Steven Spielberg is a director I have a tremendous respect for and I consider one of the greatest directors of all time. Although it appears to be a strange movie in concept, with this group of producers on board, I have higher expectations.
