Ron Howard and astronaut Jim Lovell interview on "Apollo 13" (2002)

six go Ron Howard is one of the most successful Hollywood directors working today it's table of movies include cocoon splash How the Grinch Stole Christmas and less just Oscar champion a beautiful mind these films produced with partner Brian Grazer have grossed over two and a half billion dollars worldwide their 1995 suspense drama Apollo 13 received nine Oscar nominations at one to this month it returns to the big screen in IMAX format this is the first live-action picture to be digitally remastered for giant IMAX screen projection Ron Howard joins me with jim lovell I am pleased to have them Jim was selected as an astronaut in 1962 he has logged more than 5,000 hours of flying time more than 3500 hours in jet aircraft during Apollo 13 he served as spacecraft commander Impala Jimmy 7 commanded Jimmy 12 and over to the moon on Apollo 8 he is the first man to journey to the moon twice to top that off the oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks played Captain Lovell in Howard's film I'm pleased to have them both here what a nice introduction by me yes tell you anything about him you didn't know the Oscar thank you I really produced a director it was a thrilling walk up there and say that was great and then and then you know with a moment later I Mel Gibson handed me my Oscar then we walked off in a moment later Tom Hanks announced his Best Picture this means an Oscar for Brian and myself and it was just thrilling and so and really fantastic that tom was there to share that moment with us it was great you two pretty close yeah you know and and and and and also Tom and Brian have been you know sort of surfing buddies over the years and top of everything else and so it just it felt great and it was a it was a terrific it was a terrific night and people were waiting for you to get one because they thought you've been cranking out one good movie and we were waiting to see what you movie would be like what six years ago you well it's a great tradition and look it's you know it's one I've always been a fan of the Oscars and on the on the one hand I was proud of the fact that without without winning an Oscar I was able to accomplish everything that I really wanted to in terms of working with people I wanted to work with tell stories that I was interested in get the support from the studio system that I needed to make the films the way I wanted to make them without the Oscar so it wasn't like I I felt like I needed it on a career level but you know it's a fun tradition it's great and I'm glad I had that that moment you know as a result of that film if I had to tell you that of all the movies you're about to make and I listed them the game your career and I said a beautiful mind the story of a professor who's it'sa phrenic yeah would not be the one that you think I might have done it for you well you know I am NOT good at predicting those things I am I am also not good at predicting the commercial 'ti of the film was not a Hollywood movie not at all and and you know you've got to give universal and then DreamWorks who came on board a lot of credit for for backing that movie and believing in it because it's not a formulaic picture by any stretch of the imagination and and we approached it in you know a very adult kind of sophisticated way and audience has embraced it around the world I mean that's that's thrilling thrilling that the critics were with us and that the Academy voted for us but but also really rather surprising that it was that it was as commercial as it turned out to me you have you seen this movie Apollo 13 and IMAX they saw about three weeks ago what's it like well that's fantastic because he I didn't have the event three experiences you up there you've seen it in the movie well right and I know he knew you know he watched it you know being produced I hadn't seen the regular Apollo 13 for some time we have it on DVD and things like that but you know after a while we don't we don't show anyone and somebody I go to the IMAX theater I don't know I've seen you at the supermarket say hey come over here watch a guy I am in Chicago they the fellow who had the IMAX theater there was said would you like to see I have a private showing I said of the IMAX theatres pathar he said yes and I said well fine can I bring my family said oh sure bring your family I I said anybody else come and he says no I said well how many seats is that place hold and he said 400 I said can I invite some friends and so we had about 152 people that's great and that's the first time I saw it so for me it was a you know almost a complete different movie where you're really in the scenes itself and of course I can really kind of nicely I can almost put myself into Hanks a spot there and see what's gonna happen so for me it was especially throwing no tell us what IMAX is well you know I said IMAX is this large screen format and 70 millimeter they projected this way so you've got more top and bottom but and it's huge tremendous sound system always you know the stadium seating and and they generally show stadium seating yeah you know instead of it's you know this way the policy and seating not a bad seat in the house tremendous sound systems as I said and and and there the idea of an IMAX movie is to just sort of immerse you in a world and they do a lot of nature films they do historical films great films about you know the Grand Canyon I mean it just they've been doing it for a lobbying about Everest climbing Mount Everest great great films I've seen a number of them of course as a father of a bunch of teenagers over the years I've always gone and and I've always been blown away and always thought wouldn't it be great to you know to follow a narrative line in that format wouldn't it be great to shoot something for IMAX and and that opportunity never really presented itself I never had the right idea but when they when they came to us through Michael Rosenberg our president and imagined had been talking to the IMAX folks and Michael and the IMAX gang said you know we'd like to would like to create a test we have a new software which allows us to digitize the movie and blow it up and take out the grain which means we can take the 35 millimeter negative and make it as rich equality and as textured in detail as if we shot it with the IMAX cameras which are huge and really preclude you from from making a dramatic movie and doing camera movement and making us a sort of a contemporary cinematic experience you know and I was I was elated by that but also rather guarded because if I saw the test and it wasn't up to snuff I knew the studio would be excited it might be represent a commercial opportunity for the film but Apollo 13 is one of my cherished babies and I really was not gonna let it you know go out there and be as sort of just a sort of a marketing gimmick you know but that was not a concern when I saw the test I was completely blown away so was Bryan in fact I remember thinking of myself as I was walking out you know I'd always dreamed about making an IMAX movie who knew I'd already made one it is a perfect story for for that format the action scenes are more exciting and and the suspense is you know it's all more more compelling where it works oh the software's spectacular Charlie I mean it's incredible with it it's it's as a movie lover this is a tremendous breakthrough it's just great and and I'm thrilled that you know the initial outing it turns out to be Apollo 13 it's you know the other thing that surprised me you know I love directing actors that's you know primarily that's what I love to love to do and and if I had a concern it was that the movie which has a lot of close-ups because I really shot it as a human interest story I know as a character drama I was afraid that the close-ups would overpower on that huge screen and in fact if there was if there was a sort of an IMAX director's handbook you know big close-ups would sort of be in the nono section but the when I was watching the test and they get to this close-up of Kathleen Quinlan looking up as the rocket launches it's always been a favorite shot of mine but you could see into her soul even more so I mean they're just this the the eyes every nuance of of these performances which are very nuanced because they're all playing characters they're kind of understated in astronaut kind of way you know it's it's just it's it's a richer drama in this format alright take it we have that clip wrote not from IMAX from but from the movie here it is [Music] [Music] when you watch that can you remember where you were at that moment and you knew where you were but would you tell oh yeah the my fourth flight and this big you know thing rumbled and rocketed and kept on going so that's put me right into it yeah of course the regular movie did but I mean with yeah yeah next thing is I'm actually you're sitting there if you're surrounded by spectacle because it is you know that you're sitting close fairly close to the screen wherever you're sitting in the theater you know it's almost total immersion so it's very it's really enveloping and and that's also Tracy Reiner I want to add it was wonderful in that in that in that close it's a two-shot with with Kevin Quinlan and Tracy Reiner but the the balance between sort of the what you pick up from the performances and the spectacle makes it a pretty rich experience you know when we when John Glenn saw the movie in Houston when we premiered it there in Houston this is not the IMAX version this is but in the initial release he came up to me and he said I was like I was living a launch all over again and he got this gleam in his eye and I swear to you that he began lobbying to go on the shuttle after that I Gary I guarantee you one was very worried about showing this premiere the regular movie it to the NASA people because he was afraid that you know they've been so close to the the program that that they would criticize the movie and get out the newspapers that hey this was not right that was not right but they were really thrilled with the movie everybody who saw it that was associated with NASA said that's the greatest movie because it captured the emotion and the feel yes that's right yeah you know there could have been some wrong things to it but I mean it's so captured the idea of going to the moon and and that what the people felt what the astronauts felt what the flight controllers felt no oh that the job they were doing that they hey they would do it for nothing you know because he soon enjoyed the movie or still enjoyed the job and Ron put that whole concept into the movie so the audience would then get that same feeling that he did an excellent job of editing this IMAX version to keep that going without losing the the real thrust of the movie my boy that laryngitis when you look up at the moon you see it differently I mean morning what do you see well it's not as romantic Charlie as it used to be yeah I I say you know can I was I really there did I really go there on Apollo eight then I go back on Apollo 13 was I disappointed that I didn't land yes up until I think years later when I said well 13 was a disappointment it was a failure but in some aspects it was really a triumph to the the ability of people but the ground control people working with the flight crew to get a almost certain catastrophe back to a successful recovery I think it's it you know it's their most successful endeavors the fact that they will pull that off don't you I do too and and of course at the time it was sort of I mean it was reported but it wasn't really understood quite the level of Jeopardy that and and by the time I learned you know the details of the mission and also this balance this this tremendous commitment that the mission controllers felt to to get these guys back I mean when I when I was doing research went one of them explained to me he said you know imagine you're mash surgeon and you're your best buddy from high school just got dragged in off the front line and is dying when you're gonna do everything you can as a surgeon to keep that man alive and that's the way we felt about these guys who were like brothers to us who were you know up there in in trouble and when I understood that it I began I began to really you know it sort of dramatically develop the human side of the story and the emotional side of the story roll tape take a look at this [Music] that's mine that's me around more come on hold them down Wow you said to me that this was one of the things a technique you develop for Paulo I didn't think you'd ever use it ripped it out of the manual didn't have it with you that's right and all of a sudden you know when we are out of the quarter and had to get back in the corner for his safe landing they call up and said say Jim do you remember back on Apollo 8 those procedures that you had the back of the flight manual I said yeah we tore them out after that he says you'll have to use a bow I could also mention James Horner's score it's a you know he was he was nominated that here it's a great score but again IMAX also you know works with the sound we completely remixed the movie and it's one of the things that sort of makes it you know even more enthralling and the any action scenes you know more more intense it definitely the movie flows more and and it's it plays more like an action-adventure movie in a lot of ways and I really when I see it you know I really feel that in some way this great story kind of always was destined to be seen in this format what's the future for IMAX now that they've got this software because other movies like gladiator have been put on it had that grain equal well they just all I do is project the Terminator or the and you know onto the big screen and it's not not the same thing at all look I think it's very exciting I I don't I don't you know I will yet to be known what the the economic you know ramifications are of this of this kind of reissue but you know Brian and I were talking about it the other day it may also be an exciting possibility to go out concurrently with just a handful of prints in these pre and premiere kind of in these IMAX theaters at the same time that you're going out with your normal two or three thousand screens as well you know that's a possibility it's exciting as a movie goer you know it's it's it's it just takes you that extra step toward being utterly transported that you know sort of I love as a movie goer and of course I always strive for as a as a director it's a you know I think I'm really excited about it you you went from what ignored the Grinch to to Green Street of a mind for my right where are you going from beautiful money hi I'm working on a number of scripts Charlie and I don't know quite what I'm gonna do I'm eager to get behind the camera again I've had a little rest and it's time to get with and take off after the Oscars I did yeah yeah I did a little traveling and was able to spend some time with a family this summer and but you know definitely looking forward to to finding something and I have a number of stories great stories and it's really just a matter of kind of getting the casting together and getting the scripts well first I said you were gonna do the Alamo then well we're still producing the home by our protein correcting well look there was there were a number of a number of factors you and I never committed to directing it and by the way it was reported that I was absolutely doing it it was it was it was a done deal not not really the case although I was I was very interested in this story did a lot of research but I'd say if there I was gonna choose one one sort of issue the my approach to the story wasn't was a lot tougher I want I wanted to do a hard raw rather graphic war story and it's going to be it was going to be an expensive movie it's reported that it all fell apart over economics I was not not not the case we wouldn't do that you know the but I did feel that for me right at this moment if I was going to tell that story I wanted to tell it as sort of truthfully and realistically as I possibly could and that would probably yield an r-rating and Disney really felt that if they were going to make that kind of investment that with that story they wanted to be pg-13 they wanted you know they wanted kids to be able to go to see the movies 150 million dollar movie not gonna be that it wasn't gonna be that much and and john lee hancock is now directing and it'll be you know it'll be a little less than if i made it look that's always going to be a controversial story some in texas are gonna be a controversial about the story oh you know it's it's controversial in that question it's controversial in that you know at that time Texas belong to Mexico and this is really this is not the story of America coming in and annexing Texas that's not what was happening but it was a Texas revolution perhaps so not supported but encouraged by Andrew Jackson and the United States government and perhaps not no one quite knows that's controversial and you also have to look at it as what as a revolution it was a number of people revolting against a and established government led by General Santana so much wrong with this so far well it's all pretty interesting but people you know if the if it's if it's played sort of you know the some some people feel like for example the John Wayne version right was to sort of jingoistic it's just trying to find that balance which I was interested in John Lee Hancock is also interested in it he's you know his screen his version of it in his screenplays coming along great I think would be a terrific when you talk about the Gritty of it no but you don't might a war movie that looks like Saving Private Ryan did at first 25 minutes yeah well you know I'm it's a different kind of warfare but I wanted to have that laughing element its I wanted to have that loudest horrible war yeah whereas if you look at a studio executive in the eye I look at a Disney and I say it's gonna be pg-13 I promise you gonna be fine then I I don't want to play any games with him I want to mean that and I wasn't sure that's a vague line and so I wanted the latitude to be able to go tell the story and you know I might have been able to wrestle around and kind of fight for that and gain it but it's not the kind of relationship that I want to have with a studio when I'm making a movie involved in poverty in the movie did you get any great you fall in love with the movie business I did for this movie I you know I had not known too much about movies or actors and actresses or how they were done and so I was a little worried when the book was sold to you know I said you know I've heard a lot of you know wild stones but I have to tell you quite honestly and not just because Ron is here but I you know that was the greatest group of people to work with these guys worked their tails off during that short period I found out that the actual Thummim was only what three and a half months something like that yeah and there's a lot of pre-production a lot of post-production but they really worked hard but Ron and I got together one time because I they asked me to be a consultant but he said looking it's okay to be here sometime during the filming but it's sort of you know it's sort of hard for a good actor even like one like Tom Hanks a superb actor to do to portray somebody who's still alive and hanging on the back of the camera and I said you're absolutely right I said they're also be my tennis to beat Tom step aside reminded me of this that they had your nickname all over the screenplay and it was a nickname you weren't too fond of it was shaky-shaky they read a lot of research at one time some of the guys call me shaky and I hated that I hated that and so what I what I met Ron he said look I read about you you're called shaky if you don't call me Opie I won't call you Jimmy this thing starts September 20th yeah about only about 22 theaters throughout the country and you know yeah it's a I hope that people will experience it for the first time if they haven't seen it and you know I think it was a win-win situation everybody was happy NASA was happy you know the people that they portrayed were happy and I'm sure that Universal and ron abboud of course they make some money you see you again congratulations again you know well deserve thank you thank Jim Thank You Josie we'll be right back stay with us

Channel: Manufacturing Intellect

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Id: YrexRdiP-TY

Length: 21min 46sec (1306 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 21 2017