{"id":9078,"date":"2009-02-23T16:35:02","date_gmt":"2009-02-23T21:35:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=9078"},"modified":"2022-10-16T19:01:34","modified_gmt":"2022-10-16T23:01:34","slug":"i-decided-to-wear-a-jacket-and-a-tie-because-i-thought-thats-what-directors-from-the-40s-would-wear-and-bette-davis-would-like-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=9078","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI decided to wear a jacket and a tie because I thought that\u2019s what directors from the \u201940s would wear and Bette Davis would like that \u2026\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Also:<\/p>\n

“Skyward<\/i> was really the piece of film that convinced studios I could direct features.”<\/p>\n

— Ron Howard<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I can certainly see why. In the same way that I can see why that one episode of Eight is Enough<\/i><\/a> would convince the powers-that-be in Hollywood that Ralph Macchio could carry<\/i> a film as a romantic lead. Which, seriously, is not obvious on the face of it. He’s a scrawny little guy, and handsome, of course, but lots of people are handsome. He also wasn’t the lead inEight is Enough<\/i>. Unless it was “his” episode, he was a minor character, face in the crowd. So who would have thought: Huh. That kid’s got something? Well, after that one episode I bet a couple of smart people in power did. Being given a LEAD in a film is no small feat, and perhaps looking at Macchio you would see your typical Teen Beat heartthrob, a dime a dozen. But he wasn’t<\/i>. He was more than that, and he showed it in that episode.<\/p>\n

And so you have to know what you’re looking for, to “see” a star. I was 12 years old when I saw that Eight is Enough<\/i> episode, probably one or two weeks after damn Skyward<\/i> came out (it was a busy year) and I felt it. I felt that thing<\/i>, that magic.<\/p>\n

So something like Skyward<\/i> was Howard’s test, his “debut” – although he had done a couple things before. It showed a deftness with story, a knack for creating watchable characters, an obvious ability to deal with huge powerhouses like Bette Davis (very important for directors), a technical know-how to make those flying scenes come off, and – most important – a sense of how to move<\/i> a large audience.<\/p>\n

The germ of Ralph Macchio’s Karate Kid<\/i> smash success is in that one episode of Eight is Enough<\/i>. Not every little cutie-pie on a regular television series can carry<\/i> a movie like he did … but you can see<\/i> it already there. Now why isn’t Eight is Enough<\/i> on DVD? I actually didn’t like the show at all – but I just want to own the Ralph Macchio season so I can check out that one episode again, which I haven’t seen since it first aired, but obviously (if you read my review of it) remember vividly.<\/p>\n

Same thing with Ron Howard and Skyward<\/i>.<\/p>\n

I got these quotes from a television interview with Howard below (or part of it) – where he talks about his early years directing TV movies and how one thing led to another. Big conversation about Skyward<\/i>. Fascinating details, especially about Bette Davis.<\/p>\n


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Also: “Skyward was really the piece of film that convinced studios I could direct features.” — Ron Howard I can certainly see why. In the same way that I can see why that one episode of Eight is Enough would … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9078"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9078"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":182235,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9078\/revisions\/182235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}