Word: apollo
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This was the heroic story of Apollo 13, which would have made the third landing on the moon had the in-flight explosion not occurred. And it has been thrillingly captured by director Ron Howard in his latest movie, "Apollo 13," releaed last weekend...
...right, then. Imagine a minivan towing a small boat to the beach. The minivan is Odyssey, Apollo 13's command module (named after the Stanley Kubrick film about a man lost and transformed in space); the boat is Aquarius, the lunar module (after the song from Hair, Broadway's hymn to hippie insurrection). Now imagine that, on a nowhere stretch of road, your van just about blows up. How do you get home...
Child stars lose it once their hormones kick in, nice guys finish last, and you can't shoot a movie in zero gravity. Those are just a few of the show-biz verities broken by Ron Howard, whose assured direction of Apollo 13 may finally help people get past his image as the TV tyke who grew up in our living rooms on The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days...
Unlike many directors who chafe under studio involvement, Howard says, "I grew up comfortably within the system and never felt terribly hindered by it. My instincts don't frighten them." Maybe that's because his instincts are so, well, comfortable. What attracted him to Apollo 13 was not the techno-wizardry but the human story. "The bittersweet quality of Jim Lovell's experience definitely drew me in," says Howard. "Here was a guy, arguably the best-equipped individual to walk on the moon, and the opportunity was pulled out from under him. It was devastating, and we can all relate...
Everyone, maybe, except Howard, whose career disappointments have been precious few. Yet he is typically modest about the technical feat of making Apollo 13. "I always feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants," he says, chuckling. "I could carry the analogy further and say I haven't even come close to making a movie on autopilot yet. I hope I never...