Ron Howard's Internet Movie Database bio reads like a who's who of the last ten years in filmmaking: "Apollo 13," "Parenthood," "Ransom," and "Backdraft" are just a few of the notables. And during all of this he retained his image as a nice guy who just happens to really love movies. When he accepted his Best Director and Best Picture Oscars this year for "A Beautiful Mind" you could almost hear people all across America exhale in a long sigh of relief.

Here, Howard discusses the complexities of bringing "A Beautiful Mind" to life onscreen and how he did the not so nice thing of cutting his own father from the theatrical release of the film (don't worry - the scene made the DVD).

When you watch "A Beautiful Mind" you see that many of John Nash's theoretical breakthroughs are made very cinematic. When he applies Adam Smith to picking up girls in a bar, that becomes extremely clear for the audience. How did you go about making what occurs in Nash's mind so visual?

Much of what goes on in Nash's mind had to be made cinematic. First of all, Nash is not particularly communicative of that sort of that thing. He's not particularly forthcoming either. He's not grumpy about it, either. He just doesn't talk about it. I found other mathematicians who were more articulate about the creative process. And I thought it was my job to try to put the audience inside this character's head. I borrowed from a few areas.

A biography I was reading about (Croatian-born mathematician) Nikola Tesla that was particularly interesting. He was able to visualize his inventions coming together in his mind. Sometimes he could even see problems in the engineering of his concept. I thought this was pretty remarkable. I talked to a lot of mathematicians and some had visual clues for me, and others didn't.

So, I started to borrow from phrases that people used to describe those kinds of insights and breakthroughs. You know, "suddenly the clouds lifted," or "the light went on," or "it was like a bolt of lightning." So I began to use those and work with those ideas.

What surprised you most about dealing with Nash in working with this movie?

At first I thought he was very, very fragile. And, as I said, he was a bit elusive and not very forthcoming. I thought that his life's struggle had just been so difficult that he was a bit wounded. As I came to meet with him and talk to him more I realized that he's always been a bit cryptic and disconnected in his communications but if you stay with him long enough and let him keep talking his answer will loop around and sort of find its way back with real clarity. So I began to feel sort of better and better about where Nash is today. He seems to be quite healthy and quite functional.

You've been very careful to say in making this picture that it's a story "inspired by" the life of Nash.

Right. We never set out to make a biographical picture. But it is an extraordinary story and you couldn't tell this story if it was fiction because it's one of those that is so strange and triumphant that it has to have been real or else it you would find it contrived or you would find it incredible and unbelievable. So, sort of the headlines and key pivot points of his life that the movie lands on sort of capture the spirit of his journey and his relationship with Alicia.

This film is in many ways a much more daring project dealing with a much more daring subject than something like "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." Why were you so passionate about getting this movie made?

Well, "Grinch" was in some way more daring than this because it cost about three times as much to make. But it was a much more marketable movie, that's true. I'm thrilled that the studio wanted to make "A Beautiful Mind." Accommodations were certainly made. I made this movie efficiently and people cut their salaries and cooperated. Primarily, we had a wonderful screenplay and a greenlight from the studio and without a commitment from a star even.

Russell Crowe has a reputation as a challenging actor. How was it to work with him?

We got along well. And I had many conversations with directors who had worked with him before so I had a sense of what his process was going to be like. Each and every director said the same thing about working with Russell which was that I shouldn't miss this opportunity, that there's a kind of intensity, and not to mistake it for intractability. It's all about being as good as he can be and well worth the collaboration.

I hope to get to work with Russell again. We got off to a great start and worked well together because we were seeing the movie the same way. We also had a wonderful screenplay we had confidence in. And I think it was pretty obvious to Russell that I was there to do each and every thing I could do everyday to provide him the opportunity to excel and realize the potential of each scene. I'm not loud about it but I am dogged.

Can you tell us about any of the scenes that you had to leave out of the movie that we'll see on the DVD?

Well, there was one scene featuring my father (actor Rance Howard) that wound up being cut. He did a great job.

You cut your own father out of the film?

Sure. I'm a cold-blooded bastard. It's the movie first. But I'm going to include that scene (on the DVD) because it's sort of right on theme. My father plays a schizophrenic who Nash observes and is ranting and raving to no one. And the psychiatrist mentions to Nash that the person's reality is his own. It's not that it doesn't exit. (The reality) just exists for that person alone. I thought that was an interesting insight.

If you're not personally available to participate in a DVD - say if you're working on a feature at the time - would you rather that it come out anyway?

Well, sure. But I do participate in at least sort of knowing what's going on with the DVD. There's a lot of material (from previous films) that I'd like to review and put together on future DVDs...

Your directing career has taken you through an enormous variety in the subject matter of your films. Do you see a common thread that runs through all of them.

Well, if there is, it's a curiosity about how characters deal with the loss or the threat of loss. I'm always intrigued by a character who thinks they're going down one path and then has to face or deal with the threat of a loss. Even with a film like "Parenthood" that was very much about thinking you had it under control and then finding out that you just don't. That's parenthood. And, of course, "Apollo 13" is completely about that. They thought they were going to the moon and they're confronted with the threat of not only losing that dream but the threat of loss of life.

I found that that was very much apparent with "A Beautiful Mind" as well. It's kind of what's life's journey is all about. It's about coping with all the twists and turns along the way.

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