Ron Howard the PORN DIRECTOR: Oscar-winning helmer reveals how close he came to erotic stardom
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Ron Howard had pondered a fairly drastic method to go into directing: turning to porn movies. After leaving 'Happy Days' as an enormously successful child star, the budding actor found himself at a crossroads as he wanted to make the big shift into directing.
In a wide-ranging interview with Graham Bensinger, the 69-year-old filmmaker — who paid tribute to Cindy Williams in late January — opened up when he was asked about the rumor that he was considering making a porn movie to raise the money for his directing debut. The actor-turned-director said that, although the idea was only fleeting, he did apparently consider turning to adult films.
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'It endured as a serious idea'
During his interview, Howard admitted to considering the switch. He said, "Well, it's true that it went through my mind. It endured as a serious idea for probably two and a half to three seconds," Howard admitted, while his brother Clint Howard also spoke on the subject.
"Yeah, Opie Gets Laid would have probably made Ron a million dollars and he could have gone off and made a movie, but I'm glad he steered away from that because I don't think anyone really wanted to see Opie get laid," Clint quipped.
Howard continued by saying he had read that before directing 'The Godfather', Francis Ford Coppola had worked as a sound man on some porn movie. "Nobody was taking me seriously as a director, I could just see it. And I actually thought one day, maybe I can cash in on this thing. One time, one shot, Opie Gets Laid. Make it, you own it. What does it cost? $1,500? I wanted the money to be independent as a filmmaker," Howard said.
Howard was counting on studio money
After the eighth season of 'Happy Days', a very popular TV sitcom, Howard left to pursue a career as a director, claiming that he did so because he wanted Paramount to help him make his first movie while still working on 'Happy Days'.
"The entire time that I was under contract and doing Happy Days, my dream was to be a filmmaker, and I felt like the clock was ticking a little bit on me. I was 26, 27 and I had been directing for a few years, and I'd lost patience with not being able to devote all my energies to making that transition and giving that its chance," Howard admitted.
"A lot of it just came from the fact that I really wanted some guarantees from Paramount Pictures and ABC that they would allow me to direct. Not Happy Days, we had a great director, Jerry Paris," Howard noted. "I wanted to direct a feature and I wanted them to facilitate that and they simply would not make any kind of guarantee." He added that if Paramount would have made those commitments, he would have done the show and made the movies.
Ron Howard's first feature film, 1977's 'Grand Theft Auto', cost $600,000 and made $6 million.