95
DECEMBER 2015
THEHEMIQ&A
by
PHOEBEREILLY
Illustration by
ROYKNIPE
RONHOWARD
‘‘
I
had no idea there was an origin
story for Moby-Dick,” says Ron
Howard between bites of salad. It’s
lunchtime on the other end of the
phone. “And I’ma fanof history. But I
missed that.”
Howard’s not alone:Most peoplebelieveHerman
Melville’s tome about the great white whale to be
rooted inmyth. The director-producer’s new film,
In the Heart of the Sea (out this month), aims to
correct that misperception, while at the same time
thrilling audiences with the overwhelming size of
the sea creature.
Based onNathaniel Philbrick’s book of the same
name, In theHeart of the Seadepicts the tragic fate
of the Essex, a ship that was attacked and sunk by
a spermwhale in 1820, leaving its crew adrift for
months and ultimately inspiring Melville’s Great
The child actor turnedHollywood power player on not being pigeonholed as a
director and on his new film, the great-white-whale epic
In theHeart of the Sea
American Novel. Chris Hemsworth, who stars as
first mate/hero Owen Chase, brought the script to
Howard after the two worked together on 2013’s
Formula 1 racing drama Rush. “I didn’t think the
conceptwas amarketingno-brainer,” saysHoward.
“But the story spoke tome.”
This describes Howard’s directorial approach in
a nutshell. Though he epitomized an aw-shucks
idealizationofchildhood in the ’50sand ’60s, playing
Opie Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show, Howard
has spent the majority of his career behind the
camera,makingfilms thatarebothcommerciallyand
critically successful.
Among his hits are the early TomHanks vehicle
Splash, thecomplexhistoricaldrama Frost/Nixon, the
Oscarwinner A Beautiful Mind, and the blockbuster
space odyssey Apollo 13, which brings me to my
first question….
