Ron Howard has achieved success on many levels for many years. But success has not spoiled this talented individual. On a professional level, his creative talents have placed him at the top of his profession. On a personal level, he is extremely well-liked and one need only talk to his colleagues and hear their praise to understand why this actor turned director is a joy to work with.

Howard on the set with Dawn Downing and Julie Peters. He says he is very proud of the performances of his main cast.

Born in Duncan, Oklahoma, to actors Rance and Jean Howard, Ron made his feature film debut in 1956 at the age of 18 months in Frontier Woman. He was a part of the twilight of television's Golden Age, when, at the age of 5, he appeared on Playhouse 90 and General Electric Theatre. It was after that, in 1960, that producer Sheldon Leonard cast him in one of his most popular roles as Opie on The Andy Griffith Show.

Between seasons, Ron pursued a motion picture career and was in such films as Five Minutes to Live, The Music Man and Village of the Giants. His performance as the son of widower Glenn Ford in The Courtship of Eddie's Father won special acclaim. After The Andy Griffith Show ended its run in 1967, Ron continued to act and resumed his motion picture career many years later with George Lucas in the landmark comedy American Graffiti. He spent two years in the Cinema Studies program at the University of Southern California, then left reluctantly in 1975 to star in ABC's comedy series, Happy Days. His stretch as the good natured Ritchie Cunningham ran for 7 years. During the off season time, Ron delivered critically-acclaimed performances on such TV dramas as Act of Love, Bitter Harvest and Huckleberry Finn. He also appeared opposite John Wayne and Lauren Bacall in The Shootist, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination.

The year 1978 saw Ron's debut as a director with Grand Theft Auto, an independently financed comedy-adventure financed by Roger Corman. Ron and his father, Rance, co-wrote and co-starred in the film, which was completed in a mere four weeks on a budget of $602,000. The film was a hit and was Corman's first sale to network television. Ron formed his own company, Ron Howard Productions, and produced and directed three TV features: Cotton Candy, Through the Magic Pyramid and Skyward with Bette Davis. His long-dreamed-of directing career was what led to Ron's decision to leave Happy Days in favor of a development contract with NBC to write, produce and direct. Today, with his production company, Imagine Entertainment, Ron is one of the most sought-after directors in Hollywood. His individual creative style has been reflected in his box-office hit films which include Night Shift, Splash, Cocoon and Gung Ho. With Willow, Ron continues his reputation as a thoughtful and creative director.

The Lucasfilm Fan Club recently talked with director Ron Howard about his experience with the world of Willow.

Howard directing actress Joanne Whalley on the proper use of Sorsha's sword.

Ron, what inspired you to take on such an ambitious project as Willow?

I came to really appreciate working with special effects on Cocoon where I worked with Industrial Light and Magic. While I went into that project with some apprehension, I came out really feeling good about what you could do with effects. My kids are also of an age that I was reading a lot of fairy tales and fantasy stories to them. And I just became interested in doing a fantasy film. I think George got wind of that and gave me a call two and a half years ago and said he had a story that he had been working on for about ten years. He invited me to come to Skywalker Ranch and hear him tell the story. When I heard it I almost immediately knew it was something I was going to want to be involved with because it was going to be visually different from anything I had done. It was just the genre that I wanted to work in. I felt that I could grow a lot tackling this kind of movie. I also felt that if I was going to do a fantasy film, who better to have as a collaborator than George Lucas? So I really just jumped at the opportunity to do Willow.

Both Splash and Cocoon were very valuable in that I learned some fundamentals that were useful in Willow. I began to learn the vocabulary of special effects. And I also learned the real storytelling value that fantasy offers. You can deal with traditional themes and ideas and make them more accessible and exciting and visual using the fantasy medium. So I don't think that I would have been particularly open to Willow had I not made Splash and Cocoon.

Did you have any particular worries with this film?

Technically, the only thing I was really worried about was two areas: one was the talking animals. I was concerned that Raziel would be a kind of silly, unrealistic character. And she's so important to the last act of the movie that I was concerned that people would never be able to take her seriously. But as I began to do some research into animation, and see some attempts at making animals talk, I realized that it was going to be tough but that it was possible. And in the end I was very pleased with Raziel's character and her effectiveness as a character.

The other thing that worried me somewhat was Willow's children. I knew Willow was about 3'4" tall and I knew that my two year old children were almost that tall. So I wasn't sure how effectively we would be able to cast those roles. But this movie was kind of blessed all the way down the line. We found these two great kids, Dawn and Mark, and their performances are terrific and they're absolutely the right size to be Willow's children. I think that's the section of the movie I'm most proud of even though it's technically the least ambitious. Most of the Nelwyns had not acted before. Warwick, who plays Willow, was in the Ewoks films but didn't have to do any dialogue and had the protection of a suit and mask. The guy who played Burglekutt, Mark Northover, had done very, very little acting and it was really amateur stuff. Julie Peters, who plays Willow's wife Kiaya, had never acted before and their children had never acted either. So we had some very important characters who had never really been on film before. I love their performances and I'm very proud of the work they did. For me, that is the most satisfying section of the picture.

One of the things that people have commented on was the baby you used to play Elora Danan. How did you get the baby to make some of those wonderful facial expressions?

The baby was actually played by two twins and they were very expressive babies. Some children at a very early age are extremely expressive. These babies were and we were able to see that. We did auditions for the baby--it was all very traditional. One of the things that all parents know but most people don't even think about is that babies are extremely expressive and they really do communicate an amazing range of emotional reactions when you have time to sit and study them. In most movies, there isn't the screen time given to the children so you don't get to know them as people. In Willow, we had so many opportunities to zero in and do close shots of the baby, Elora Danan, that we were really able to capture all the expressions that the child had to offer. And like any good performance, a lot of the best moments were improvisation. The baby would give us a reaction that we hadn't even been looking for but when we would see how amazing it was and how much it brough to the character, we would find ways to work them into the scenes. And suddenly whole scenes would change because of a great little improvisation or reaction we had been able to capture on film. It was mostly just a matter of patience. I would like to say it was my great direction but it was mostly a matter of patience and very expressive babies.

How would you describe your working relationship with George Lucas?

It was very much like other relationships that I've had with producers and executive producers except that it was George's story so in addition to having him on the set and having him there to sort of keep the production going and to offer creative ideas, it was a little bit like having a writer around all the time. Bob Dolman, the writer, was not able to be on-location the entire time. He came and visited a couple of times so having George there was a great luxury. Also, having someone there with his experience in special effects was really valuable.

How did you come up with the look of some of the characters in the film?

One of the things that we were going for with the look of the movie was to blend a lot of cultural ideas into something that would seem fairly familiar but yet look a little different. We had the illustrators from ILM do character work-ups on really everyone from the fairies and Cherlindrea through Madmartigan and Willow, Kael, Bavmorda, the Death Dogs and so on. And George also brought in a couple of illustrators who aren't normal ILM designers: Mobius and Chris Akilios. Mobius actually came up with the Madmartigan design and we altered it very little. We described the character, we said we wanted him to be unusual and mentioned a few cultures we thought might be interesting to draw upon. And he came back with this illustration that was really stunning to look at and we went with it. Chris Akilios came up with the General Kael mask and the Bavmorda look including the mummy wrappings under her robe. He also came up with the Sorsha look. Kael's face is really a powerful mask and fortunately the actor who played him, Pat Roach, carried it off with a great deal of presence.

"I learned a tremendous amount doing Willow," Howard says. "It's going to prove over and over again to be one of the most valuable experiences of my career.

What did you find most enjoyable about working on this picture?

Probably the Nelwyn sequence including the festival. That was pretty interesting. But I think the thing I got the biggest kick out of was probably all the filming we did in New Zealand. We were in the mountains--we had to helicopter to our location. It was extremely rugged, very much like a western except we had these great swordfights and chases and action sequences going on that weren't like western sequences at all. So it wasn't boring but it kind of had that flavor of really rugged filmmaking.

Do you prefer shooting on-location as opposed to shooting on a soundstage?

I do prefer shooting on-location. I create a little torture for myself but I really like being on-location and it's one of the things I really wanted to see us do as much as possible with Willow. We did do a lot on the backlot at Elstree Studios where we built the castles but still we were out in the real weather and we did a tremendous amount outside. The Cherlindrea sequence was mostly done in the woods at night in Northern California among real redwood trees. So our film really doesn't have that sort of stylized, theatrical look that some fantasies tend to take on. And that was something I was pleased with.

What do you ultimately hope to achieve with Willow?

I really hope it will be a film which stimulates the imagination of young people who are just kind of becoming movie fans. And I hope it proves to be a movie that families can go to as a group. And I don't mean just young parents with their little kids but whole families. We've found that teenagers love the movie. And that's great. I hope everybody goes out on a date and has a fun time seeing Willow. I guess the feedback that I enjoy most is when people say, "Our whole family went and we all loved it." My image of the perfect group to go see Willow would be grandparents, their children and their kids all going to see the film together and getting a big kick out of it and going home and talking about it and being enthused about movies and how exciting they can be.

Did you have to prepare for this film any differently than for your other films?

Basically, you have to accomplish the same things that you have to accomplish on any movie. But the details on Willow were almost overwhelming. I had never been through anything like that. Fortunately, George had been there and he was extremely valuable in this area. But there's no aspect of a film like Willow that you can just casually assume will be designed correctly. Everything has to be discussed. Everything has to be decided upon: swords, boots, armor, even speech patterns. You can never just say, "We need a 1978 Chevrolet." It's not that easy when you're working with an entirely new world. You know, we would say, "We need a Nockmaarian war harness for a horse." Well, what does that mean? What is a war harness? So, it's very stimulating and exciting because everyone has a different idea of what that should be. But ultimately, it's up to us to decide so George and I spent a lot of time together working with designers, working with the art department, and kicking around these ideas.

What was your scariest moment during the shooting of Willow?

I was concerned about the movie every day, actually. I can't really point to a single day that was the scariest. But I was concerned with the scenes with the Trolls. It was difficult to find the right degree of intensity for them and to decide how they would act. We spent a fair amount of time working with the Trolls and finding ways to bring them to life. A lot of situations on this film we would just shrug and say, "Well, we've got a couple of rough storyboards here. We kind of know what we're going for but this is definitely one of those situations where we can say 'ILM will fix it.' " And those guys at ILM are used to being problem solvers and they certainly rose to the occasion on this film. I was also very concerned working with the babies. I'm a father and the last thing I wanted was the babies to get sick or hurt working on the film. And we never even came close to that. We were very, very careful. But I had the actors go through a period of training where they had to practice holding babies for two or three hours a day while we were rehearsing. I wanted them to feel comfortable handling the babies. But I was always on edge whenever we were working with the babies playing Elora Danan.

When you were younger and working as an actor, did you ever imagine that you would someday be as successful of a director as you have now become?

Well, I always wanted to be a director and I suppose I wanted to be successful. I don't think I ever would have guessed that I would move along as quickly as I have and I'm very grateful for that. I don't take it for granted at all. I'm thrilled to be doing this job. I feel like a guy who grew up playing little league baseball in the shadow of Yankee Stadium and now has finally made it to the Yankees and is playing center field. And that's very much the way I feel every day when I walk onto a movie set. I just don't take it for granted at all. I know I can be better. I learned a tremendous amount doing Willow. It's going to prove over and over again to be one of the more valuable professional experiences of my career and certainly one of the most memorable. It has been very fulfilling and exciting.

Do you enjoy directing more than acting?

Directing more than acting definitely! My personality is better suited for directing and, creatively, it's one of the most stimulating jobs on the planet. It's tiresome, it's stressful and you feel like you're out there on a limb most of the time. But it's so fulfilling when you can walk into a theater, as I've done with Willow, sit in the back for a few minutes and hear the audience audibly reacting to the film. It's also great to be there when they're leaving and see them smiling and talking about the movie on the way out. Professionally speaking, I can't think of a bigger thrill!

We also had a big thrill the other day. The movie closed the Cannes Film Festival and the comedy in the film is an important part. Many of the jokes weren't getting reactions because they were subtitled and the sense of humor was not carrying over. I really wasn't quite sure what the reaction to the picture was going to be. I could feel the audience, which was international, starting to get caught up and won over by the movie but I still wasn't sure what the reaction would be. I thought maybe polite at best. When it was over, there was a spontaneous standing ovation for the movie. I've never experienced anything associated with my work that was quite as exciting as that. That was a real highlight!

Do you think being an actor has helped you become a better director?

Absolutely! I know that's one of the reasons why George wanted me to do Willow because he wanted to make sure that the performances were strong and that the humanity would be there. He also wanted to make sure that the entertainment value would come from the characters and not only from the special effects and the visual aspects.

Now that you've had such success as a director will we see you acting much anymore?

Not too much. I've really been directing pretty exclusively since 1981. Once and awhile I kind of get the bug but I just haven't had the opportunity to do any acting in recent years. But I've sent the word out and you may see my face pop up from time to time.

Ron, thank you for taking time out to do this interview with us.