2 l June
14 - 20, 2020
Northeast Oregon TV Weekly
Bryce Dallas Howard salutes ‘Dads’
in Apple TV+ documentary
BY GEORGE DICKIE
Bryce Dallas Howard
and Ron Howard
541-786-8984
Ask 100 different men what it means to be a father and
you’ll likely get 100 different answers. Which is something
Bryce Dallas Howard found when making a documentary that
begins streaming in honor of Father’s Day on Apple TV+.
In “Dads,” an 80-minute film that premieres Friday, June
19, the actress and filmmaker talks to regular and celebrity
fathers such as Jimmy Kimmel, Conan O’Brien, Judd Apatow,
Will Smith, Neil Patrick Harris and her own dad, actor/
filmmaker Ron Howard, about their experiences with child-
rearing and explores how the role has changed over the years
and the juggling act that it continues to be.
The stories are funny, poignant and revealing. Some, like
Kimmel, are visibly moved when they talk about their own
fathers while others, like Smith, recall feeling absolutely
dumbstruck when baby arrived home, wondering how his
brand new TV could come with a thick owner’s manual but
his newborn child could have none.
The tone is humorous and a lot of it comes from the
comics, who Howard felt were the ideal people to describe the
paternal condition.
“Stand-up comedians, they are prepared,” she says with a
laugh. “They’re looking at their lives through that lens. And so
I just thought of a bunch of guys who are dads who I hoped,
aspired to interview and started the process of reaching out to
folks and just saying, ‘Hey, I’m making a documentary about
dads. Would you be willing to come in for an interview?’ ”
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The documentary also comes with a good bit of Howard
family history, including the events surrounding the birth of
Bryce in 1981, filmed by parents Ron and Cheryl. There are
also stories about her grandfather Rance Howard, who died in
2017, and how he played a critical role in how young Ron’s
character of Opie would be portrayed on “The Andy Griffith
Show.”
“The interview with my grandfather was something
that I did in 2013,” she says, “... and that was kind of
an afterthought as well where it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I
interviewed Grandad. I wonder if there’s anything in there.’
And so I went back and rewatched his tapes and found that
story.”
What comes through is there is no one definition of a father
or the paternal role. The dad as the traditional breadwinner
while Mom stays home with the kids is no longer the rule,
replaced by fathers who are home and taking a more active
role in child-rearing. Toward that end, Howard felt that those
men were unfairly being maligned as layabouts who don’t pull
their weight and thus wanted to remove that stigma and get
them a little credit.
“All this stuff that is just absolutely bananas,” she says, “and
totally undermines family, undermines men, undermines
women and most of all the children who are growing up.
So that really got me and so yeah, I made a documentary
about that.”