Yet, Howard found a lot of common ground between them.
“I was shooting the two projects simultaneously,” Howard tells EW.
We haven’t fully delved into what that looks like."
Credit: Apple TV+
And that’sDads, that’s what dads do."
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Youve directed shorts and TV episodes, but this is your first feature.
Was that something youve always aspired to or what made you want to try it?
BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD:I’ve definitely always wanted to do it.
But it was mostly directing theater.
I directed my first short film when I was 24.
I was pregnant with my first kid.
And then I did my second short film when I was pregnant with my second kid.
From that point on, it didn’t stop.
Why wasDadsthe project that felt right to you to make it your feature debut?
I would never have expected a documentary to be my first feature.
And I would have never expected a film focused on men, frankly.
It’s something that just came about.
That always really rubbed me the wrong way.
I found that to be incredibly disrespectful.
Especially because it didn’t represent any dads that I knew.
They wanted to finance a feature documentary about modern dads.
But then when I was in the meeting, I was instantaneously completely passionate about it.
It just became really, really clear.
How did you find your subjects around the world and select which ones to feature?
It was amazing because there were so many extraordinary fathers, and it was really hard to narrow down.
But it’s specifically fresh because it’s from the perspective of fathers.
He’s a hero dad.
Did he help point you to any of the other subjects?
Not specifically, but in conversation there were always names that would come up.
Shuici [Sakuma, in Japan], there was a comic that had been written about him.
And he was like, “Yeah, sure, no problem.”
So I did and Conan said yes.
Because I had been on their shows, I felt more comfortable asking.
It was a running joke in our family that my parents had done this.
I was so stoked that they had that.
My brother was not too eager to watch.
You get to see the way in which the family has grown over the years.
She was so game.
She has zero vanity.
She was like, “Oh, that’s great, I love that.”
Or were you really determined to stay separate from that?
And I’m like, “That would be interesting, but that’s not what this is.”
It’s a ride.
It’s not intellectual.
It’s just all about feelings, so it can be really immersive.
Like afraid of me putting it in the movie!
So I just didn’t really talk about it that much with him until after the fact.
These weren’t my stories to tell.
Then also, I just [needed] to have the ability to be curious.
It wasn’t, “This is a dad; this is a definitive thing.”
It was an exploration.
It depends on what the project is, but absolutely there’s a lot of value in it.
I assume you want to keep directing.
Do you have a next project on the horizon?
Youve done a documentary, but do you want to do a narrative feature next?
Oh, absolutely, I would love that.
I directed on the second season ofThe Mandalorian,which was great, and I absolutely loved it.
I’m developing a few things right now that I’m really excited about.
Sometimes your story is that you got out of the way for someone else.
