Bryce Dallas Howard may still not have gotten a chance to direct her dad, Ron, but she’s at least been able to see someone else do so. Speaking at a recent Q&A for a live version of Josh Horowitz’s “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, Bryce revealed that she was on hand for her father’s recent cameo on Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s hit Hollywood satire “The Studio.” The Apple TV+ comedy sees Howard play a much more aggressive version of himself caught up in the middle of a difficult editing process with executives.
“I was very nervous for him, so I went with him. I was like a ‘momager,’” said Bryce. “I went with him to set. I liked what he was wearing, I approved of that.”
Bryce also joked about making sure “he was hydrated.” In truth though, Ron proved a pro, being “so on point” during a rehearsal that “everyone was sort of baffled by it, frankly.” To be fair, Howard has played himself before, but Bryce felt this was a different level entirely. Not only did he have multiple scenes to learn, but the style of the show required him to know his lines backwards and forwards.
“He’s done some stuff in ‘Arrested Development,’” she said, “he’s done some cameos here and there, but [this was] a real part — with, like, dialogue — and they are shooting it all with ‘oners’, you cannot mess up!”
After watching her dad in action, Bryce was convinced he must have picked up a few tricks from one of his stalwart collaborators.
“I guess you have learned a bit from Tom Hanks over the years,” Bryce said to her father on stage during the live Q&A. “You were great before Tom Hanks, but he definitely rubbed off on you.”
Howard and Hanks have worked on five films together including “Apollo 13” and “The Da Vinci Code.” Though she hasn’t directed her father, Bryce was recently produced by him, as his company Imagine Entertainment worked with her on the new Disney+ documentary “Pets.”
“It’s kind of an out-of-body experience,” Ron said of watching Bryce flourish as a director. In watching the final cut of “Pets” with the New York audience at the 92nd Street Y, he added, “I thought I had seen the final cut and yet you were still at it. It’s even funnier and more emotional than the last time I had seen it.”
Watch her full Q&A with “Happy Sad Confused” below.
“The Studio” is currently streaming on Apple TV+.
