Ron Howard celebrates The Grinch and tells the intimate and moving reason why he dedicated the film to his mother, Jean Speegle Howard. The director’s father and his brother Clint also star in the Christmas cult starring Jim Carrey: a true family affair!
Year after year, The Grinch confirms itself as one of the classics of Natale most loved by fans all over the world. But not everyone knows that, however Ron Howardthe cult with Jim Carrey it was a “family affair”. The famous directorin a recent interview with Vulturefocused on the history of the making of the film, released on November 17, 2000. In particular, he revealed why he decided to dedicate the film to his mother, Jean Speegle Howardwho died in September 2000 at the age of 73.
The woman, during the filming of The Grinchwas already very ill, and this profoundly marked the author’s experience on set. “We were filming on the set of Universal – Howard recalled – and she was at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Burbank, so I could reach her. And my father and brother, who both had roles in the film, also came to visit her. I dedicated the film to her because she loved Christmas. My mother died several months before the film came out.”
In the movie, Betty Lou Who (Molly Shannon), or the mother of Cindy (Taylor Momsen), e Martha May Whovier (Christine Baranski), her neighbor, clash over which house is best decorated for the holidays. Betty Lou uses almost every light she has, while Martha May uses a gun that shoots perfect lights over her mansion. Ron confessed that it was his mother who inspired that conflict.
My mother even won the neighborhood contest in Burbank, California for the best Christmas decorations. They were just lights, but tacky as hell.
Howard fondly recalled a year when he tried to help her, because her father Rance and brother Clint, both actors, were away filming the TV series Gentle Ben. “I was old enough to feel like I had to help. I was also lazy enough not to volunteer very early,” he admitted. “As it got late, she got more and more desperate trying to get these lights on, and it was starting to rain. I remember her on a ladder, trying to hang these lights with a cigarette hanging from her lips, wrapped in her muumuu. I was telling her, ‘Mom, I can do it!’ ‘No, you can’t!’ ‘Let me hold the ladder!’ ‘No, it’s raining, go inside!’.”
Read also Jim Carrey and the torture to become The Grinch overcome with the help of the Bee Gees and a Special Forces instructorThe Grinch: Ron Howard’s father and brother also star in the film
Rance Howardwho passed away in 2017, e Clint Howard they both acted in it The Grinch. The former plays the elderly timekeeper, while the director’s brother plays the mayor’s assistant. “My father was a sort of spiritual guide,” he said Ron Howard in the interview – He was around 70 years old and worked on the film every day. I created a character for him, but he was so good that we ended up taking a line here and a moment there, so he could act almost every day. He showed up on time and quietly, sat in that chair for the required three hours and acted like he was having a blast.”
The director added that it was his wife Cheryl to convince him to direct the film. The last time he made a family fantasy, Willow (1988), had been “incredibly challenging and exhausting” and, although he was proud of it, he had no desire to repeat the experience. But then Cheryl helped him get to the heart of the matter. “He said, ‘The story is all about consumerism. What if It’s slow has become so ridiculous, perhaps Cindy Lou he might have a critical attitude towards all this. So, in a way, it could be a story of personal affirmation for her and a lesson for all Not so‘. I thought, ‘What if this was the third act? What if we addressed this consumerism, this alienation of it?’, which was a very Seussian theme.”
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