Ron Howard's Biggest Career Mistake: The Film He'd Never Make Again
The acclaimed director opens up about his most regrettable project and reveals why he wishes he had seen the warning signs before cameras started rolling.
Ron Howard has built a remarkable career spanning decades, transitioning seamlessly from beloved child actor to respected filmmaker. With two Academy Awards under his belt and a reputation as one of Hollywood's genuinely nice guys, the veteran director rarely expresses public disappointment about his work. Yet even someone with Howard's impressive track record has moments they'd rather forget.
A Career Built on Success
Throughout his extensive time in the entertainment industry, Howard has maintained an unusually positive outlook on his projects. While other directors with half his experience carry twice the baggage, the former Happy Days star consistently demonstrates grace when discussing his filmography. However, this doesn't mean he views everything through rose-colored glasses.
Howard has previously acknowledged missteps, including calling The Dilemma "tone-deaf" in its execution. He also expressed relief about leaving Stephen King's The Dark Tower adaptation, which later became a critical and commercial disaster. Despite these occasional disappointments, his list of genuine regrets remains remarkably short.
The Project That Changed Everything
That short list includes one particularly troublesome entry: his Netflix biographical drama about JD Vance. Released in November 2020, the film quickly became what many consider the lowest point of Howard's directorial career. The movie featured Gabriel Basso in the lead role alongside Glenn Close in a performance that earned both Oscar and Razzie nominations.
The timing couldn't have been worse. Just six months after the film's release, Vance announced his candidacy for the United States Senate, transforming what Howard intended as a straightforward biographical story into something unavoidably political.
Hindsight and Hidden Agendas
"The journalists saw something coming I didn't; JD running for Senate," Howard told The Financial Times. "If I'd realized that too, I wouldn't have pursued the project. Because it was unavoidably going to be politicized. I did ask JD about running for office, and he didn't seem interested."
The director's statement raises questions about transparency during the project's development. Vance had actually discussed seeking political office publicly in early 2018, nearly a year before Howard's production company acquired the rights to the memoir. Filming began in June 2019, well after these political ambitions had become known.
Regardless of the political complications, the film faced criticism purely on its artistic merits. Most viewers found the final product disappointing, making it a regret Howard will likely carry for the remainder of his career unless he produces something even worse.