Populist partners Ron Howard and Brian Grazer turn to life of the mind

By David Germain
AP Movie Writer

Brian Grazer, who had a TV development deal at Paramount, peered from his office one day and spotted Ron Howard, who had played Opie Taylor as a child on "The Andy Griffith Show" and was starring as Richie Cunningham on "Happy Days."

A fledgling producer, Grazer had set himself the goal of meeting one new person each day who was working in the industry.

"So I called him, I go, 'Hey, my name is Brian Grazer.' I gave him my speech of, 'I want to meet you, can we get together?' We ended up having lunch," Grazer said in a joint interview with Howard at their Imagine Entertainment offices to promote their latest film, "A Beautiful Mind."

The timing of that first meeting was ideal for the up-and-coming producer and an actor about to leave his TV series to focus on directing.

Grazer had some television credits behind him, and Howard had directed the low-budget, car-chase flick "Grand Theft Auto," plus some TV movies. But Howard, typecast as the all-American boy, was having trouble landing directing assignments on feature films.

"I could get meetings, and every once in a while someone would float me the 15th version I'd read of kooky guys smuggling pot over the border," Howard said. "But I couldn't get a serious movie or script going that I thought was any good."

After considerable coaxing of reluctant studio executives, Grazer managed to hire Howard to direct "Night Shift," a 1982 comedy starring Michael Keaton, Shelley Long and "Happy Days" co-star Henry Winkler.

The R-rated film about a prostitution business run out of a morgue opened doors for producer and director, and helped separate Howard from his squeaky-clean TV image. Howard and Grazer followed up two years later with "Splash," a mermaid comedy that put Tom Hanks on the road to stardom.

With Grazer producing most of his films, Howard has generated a string of hits — and a few misses — in genre after genre: science fiction ("Cocoon"), science fact ("Apollo 13"), adult comic-drama ("Parenthood"), historical romance ("Far and Away"), sword-and-sorcery fantasy ("Willow"), action and thrillers ("Backdraft," "Ransom"), and media satire ("The Paper," "EDtv"). The two men also were producers on the acclaimed HBO miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon."

Commercially, Howard and Grazer have one of Hollywood's best track records. They teamed on last year's top-grossing "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas," and Imagine Entertainment, formed in 1986, has produced such movies as "The Nutty Professor" remake and its sequel, "Liar Liar" and "Bowfinger."

As for Hollywood honors, Howard and Grazer have a spotty record. "Apollo 13" earned nine Oscar nominations but only two awards, in technical categories. Howard missed out on a best-director nomination, though he won the Directors Guild of America honor for the film.

Are Howard and Grazer lacking in serious industry respect?

"Probably. I actually think I might get a little bit more," said Grazer, who as a producer is able to have his hands on more projects than Howard. "But I don't think Ron does. Here's a guy that has actually challenged every genre and has succeeded at every genre."

"A Beautiful Mind" might bring more Oscar respectability. Their most serious, down-to-earth drama yet, the film stars last year's best-actor winner, Russell Crowe, as economics genius John Nash, who battled delusional schizophrenia. The movie co-stars Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris and Christopher Plummer.

Grazer and Howard are guarded about the film's prospects.

"I determined early on that if I ever even thought about aiming for the Oscar bull's-eye, I would be doing myself a huge disservice, because you would almost assuredly fail," said Howard. "If that's why you made the movie, you'd be disappointed, and the whole filmmaking experience would have been discolored."

Howard, 47, was born in Oklahoma, the son of actors Rance and Jean Howard. His brother Clint appears in many of his films. Ron made his screen debut before age 2, and his early film credits include "The Music Man" and "The Courtship of Eddie's Father." By the time he was 8 or 9, he was studying directors and immersing himself in the filmmaking process.

"I was put in front of the camera. And I could do it, and I liked it. Someday I wouldn't mind doing it again," Howard said. "But I don't think I have a performer's personality. Making movies is like an expedition, and I like leading that expedition."

Grazer, 50, grew up in suburban Los Angeles. Starting as a writer, he sold some story ideas for TV projects in the 1970s, but soon realized that producing was what he wanted.

"The kind of producer I enjoy being is the one either that comes up with the idea or is at least some part of contributing to the birth of an idea," Grazer said. "That part's exciting to me."

Howard has not settled on his next directing project, but Imagine is producing its second Dr. Seuss adaptation, "The Cat in the Hat," due out in 2003. The company also is producing "Eight Mile," a hip-hop drama starring Eminem.

Last year, Howard and Grazer renewed their production deal with Universal, which has distributed Imagine's films since the late 1980s.

"It's not an exaggeration or false flattery to say they represent a cornerstone of our program every year," said Stacey Snider, chairman of Universal Pictures. "We make our schedule knowing they're going to have two or three great films every year for us."