![\"Ron](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Ron-Howard-Director-2025-Far-Out-Magazine1-1140x855.jpg\")
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Credit: Far Out \/ YouTube Still<\/p>\n
Fri 7 August 2026 19:45, UK <\/p>\n
One of the things Ron Howard<\/a> has always done well throughout his career is casting, but it\u2019s a lot easier to hire the right actor for a part when they actually want to do it.<\/p>\n For one reason or another, he\u2019s faced some pushback. Several big-name stars laughed at the opportunity to play the lead in Splash, and the studio found the idea of Tom Hanks taking the job<\/a> equally funny, but Howard was convinced he\u2019d finally found his man, launching the former\u2019s big-screen career in the process.<\/p>\n Dr Seuss\u2019 widow was heavily involved in the development and production of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and she was adamant that Jack Nicholson was the only person worthy<\/a> and capable of bringing the green grump to life. Howard disagreed, and Jim Carrey proved that he was right.<\/p>\n Carrey also lobbied hard to play John Nash<\/a> in A Beautiful Mind, but the Happy Days alum was convinced that Russell Crowe was the better fit, and when he delivered a \u2018Best Actor\u2019-nominated performance in a \u2018Best Picture\u2019-winning film, the ginger-haired oracle was vindicated once again.<\/p>\n However, what happens when everyone you\u2019ve asked turns you down? In his first feature-length effort for five years, and the first since he made his debut with Grand Theft Auto, Howard stepped back behind the camera for 1982\u2019s Night Shift, but the biggest obstacle was finding anyone to play Bill Blazejowski.<\/p>\n The character, a roguish motormouth who convinces his new colleague to start running an escort service out of a brothel, was a tough nut to crack. Howard didn\u2019t have to try too hard to find his other lead, Chuck Lumley, with his long-time friend and collaborator<\/a>, Henry Winkler, on board, but the other half of the picture\u2019s central double-act was beginning to feel like a lost cause.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had tried to get the late John Belushi, tried to get Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray, talked to John Candy,\u201d the two-time Academy Award winner remembered. \u201cAnd they didn\u2019t want to do it, or thought the part was too small. But I thought it was a great part.\u201d That\u2019s all well and good, but nobody else did.<\/p>\n Further reading: Cutting Room Floor<\/strong><\/p>\n Turning his eye away from established stars, co-writer Lowell Ganz suggested a relatively unknown TV actor called Michael Keaton, saying, he was \u201cgoing to be a star for somebody, and he might be a star for us.\u201d Howard wasn\u2019t convinced, believing Keaton was \u201cjust a bit too frenetic\u201d for his liking, but he gave him a chance anyway.<\/p>\n Hiring the wrong person for Blazejowski could have been Night Shift\u2018s undoing, and in retrospect, the director was thrilled at how Keaton \u201cdid a good job of keeping that character from being completely obnoxious.\u201d So thrilled, in fact, that he cast him as the lead in Gung Ho and The Paper, too, even if he regrets their paths not crossing since<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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