Q 6

PLAYBOY: What should someone your age already know about life? And when did you learn it?

Ron Howard: [Quickly] First, you have to realize that life isn't fair. But you can manipulate it. You sure as heck can't wait for anybody. You just can't. However, it's not the easiest thing to do. A lot of anxiety comes with taking control. Not everyone can like you. That doesn't mean you have to go around screwing people like a son of a bitch. But you've got to know you can't always say yes. You've got to know that everyone who comes up with an idea may not have the right idea for you--even if it's your wife, your best friend or someone you're trying to please. Learning to seize control of my own life is the most important thing I've picked up. I didn't know it until I was about 21. One more thing I've learned, especially where directing is concerned, is that the adage "The more you know, the less you know" is true. It's scary to realize you're just out here, floating.

Q 7

PLAYBOY: Since you mention floating, how much fun was it casting the mermaid in Splash? Did you sit in front of a big tank? And why were you so demure about nudity? One critic complained that Daryl Hannah's hair never moved.

Ron Howard: We got very lucky with Daryl Hannah, because we didn't interview people on the basis of their swimming ability. We were looking for an actress and figured we'd use a double for the mermaid stuff. We settled on Daryl after a long, painful search. Then I asked her to go along when we looked for doubles so we could compare shapes. But she said she was a good swimmer and had wanted to be a mermaid since she was little. It was kind of like the actor up for a part in a Western who always answers the question "Can you ride?" with "Like the wind." Then he falls off. But Daryl jumped into the pool and swam with these aqua ballerinas and she was just so beautiful, arresting. I met her on the surface and told her to do herself a favor and get into the best shape possible so she could do her own swimming.

I expected more nudity. But when Daryl took the role, she surprised us by saying she wouldn't do nudity; that she hated it; that she'd had enough of it in her previous films. Her nudity in Summer Lovers was like non-nudity, but apparently it wasn't filmed that way. But I felt there were a few places in Splash where I had to establish that this woman didn't care whether or not she was naked; that she was topless under the water; that she had arrived naked at the Statue of Liberty. I kept running around, saying that we couldn't let the film become a Doris Day Fifties mermaid movie--especially because Disney was releasing it. We designed all sorts of mermaid tails. Some covered the breasts, but they made Daryl look like Esther Williams--hokey. We were always going to have her covered by the hair, but we found we could cover more. In fact, once we'd established our style, people thought it was neat that they weren't seeing too much. It was sexier. In fact, we actually edited out some of the underwater stuff and kept her covered up.

Q 8

PLAYBOY: Which other actresses would you like to direct in a nude scene?

Ron Howard: God, can I name them all? Phoebe Cates. I think she has a great body. I've interviewed her a few times and she can act. Elizabeth McGovern. Her nude scenes in Ragtime were great, because she was sexy but had no idea she was--which meant that she had to know in order to do the scene. For Night Shift, we auditioned lots of girls topless--just taking off their clothes and running around. It was sort of disappointing. I guess I figured I'd get excited by the whole thing, maybe get an erection. But it was just uncomfortable. I felt bad for the women and they felt kind of awkward. So I'm probably more interested in what a girl can bring to the scene besides just a great body.

There's one other woman I'd like to direct, and she's going to kill me for saying this--but it's Penny Marshall. It would be hysterical. I've never seen her nude, but she actually has a pretty good body. What she would say and what she would go through would be hysterical. In fact, I'd like to direct Penny Marshall in those scenes from Ragtime.

Q 9

PLAYBOY: Every director leaves great scenes on the cutting-room floor. What wonderful moment from Cocoon won't we ever see?

Ron Howard: The best was when we were filming in the Coliseum Ballroom in St. Petersburg. It was built in the Twenties and is just like a giant Quonset hut. People still gather there two nights a week to dance, and one dance is everyone's favorite: the chicken. As soon as the bandleader says, "OK. I haven't forgotten. Now it's time for the chicken," all these 75- and 80-year-old people start flapping their arms and poking around like chickens. I managed to get all of our actors doing this--except Wilford Brimley. But to get all this into the film would have been about a six-minute investment. If I had been Michael Cimino filming The Deer Hunter, I might have stayed with it, but I decided instead to move the story along.

Q 10

PLAYBOY: What are three secrets to keeping a marriage together in show business?

Ron Howard: First, you've got to keep sexuality in perspective. Stay virtuous. It's not the easiest town in which to stay that way, because there are so many beautiful and exciting people running around. And when you're working on a film on which money is being spent so fast and people are thrown together, pooling all their resources and sometimes going to strange places to do it, suddenly total strangers can become best friends. And sometimes, although you know there's nothing more there, you almost feel compelled to consummate a relationship.

Second, you have to avoid being seduced by the business to the point where it takes over everything in your life. It's very demanding. There's always someone with a great deal, or someone who's dying to invest $25,000,000 in pictures. There's always an actor or a writer you can meet, a party or a screening you can go to. If you wanted to, you could do the business from a seven-A.M. breakfast at the Polo Lounge until two in the morning--every day! And all of a sudden, you realize you're not married.

Third, never work with your wife. My wife has become a writer. We actually tried to do a script together. It was a bad idea. You don't get good vibes from people. They feel it's nepotism. Even more, it means you can't go home and escape the business. You don't have someone to give you real perspective on what you do. Movies become so important that if your partner, who happens to be your wife or husband, is screwing up a deal, you could go so crazy that it would endanger or end the marriage because--at the moment--the deal seems more important.

Q 11

PLAYBOY: How do you beat stress?

Ron Howard: I don't. I'm a very unhealthy guy. This is a serious question. I've got to work on it. I spend so much time being conscientious in work that I don't play tennis twice a week or play baseball or jog. I get up before my wife and daughter and read a script. I have breakfast and then work all day long. Afterward, I go home and play with my daughter and play with my wife and go to sleep. That's my life. I think I've got to get on the stick here. On Splash, when we were doing all the diving, I was eating like a horse, was getting great exercise and was in great shape. But I found out I couldn't keep eating like that when I was sitting in front of a Movieola. So I ballooned in postproduction. I couldn't do a nude scene. My butt is too lumpy.

Q 12

PLAYBOY: What's the best rumor you've ever heard about yourself?

Ron Howard: That I was the largest dope dealer on the USC campus, a major connection, making millions of dollars a year doing dope while I was acting in American Graffiti. And people really believed it. And I kept hearing it even after I left USC. Marion Ross has a son five years younger than I am. One day she came to me and said he was shattered. At his high school, they were talking about drugs, and she said, "He heard you were the biggest drug dealer at USC." I couldn't believe it! Even producer Brian Grazer, who went to USC, told me he'd heard it.

Of course, no one ever came up to me at school and tried to buy anything. But I never denied it too much, either. I got too big a kick out of it.