Ron Howard Denies Earlier Comments about Chirac

Did anyone happen to see the interview with Ron Howard on the Tonight Show last Tuesday night? On this particular evening, Ron Howard completely repudiated any and all previous interviews and quotes by saying that President Jacques Chirac had never asked him to cast or hire family friends for The da Vinci Code. He looked about as comfortable doing this as any other foreign diplomat hauled on the carpet for ruffling international feathers. After all, it was Chirac who apparently "made a few calls" to smooth the way for them to be allowed to shoot some of the most important scenes in the Louvre itself. Not a small feat in itself.

Just a few months earlier, Howard and his producer, Brian Grazer, had been interviewed -- AND quoted -- in the MSM as having been schmoozed by Chirac in his office during an unusually long visit as part of a lobbying effort to have them cast Sophie Marceau in a leading role, Marceau was a close friend of Chirac's daughter and a staunch supporter in his 2002 presidential campaign. In all of the interviews immediately following that meeting, Ron Howard was quoted laughing it off and saying, "That was hilarious. Fortunately, the deal was already closed." Not a single statement was ever issued to deny or repudiate that the conversation had ever happened. Until last week on the Tonight Show. In his best Opie face, Howard blurts out, "Here's how it happened... To think that the President of a country is going to get involved in the negotiating of contracts is pretty ridiculous." And then they moved on rather quickly. You can watch or download the entire interview for yourself on one of the (many) da Vinci Code blogs here. (This discussion is only about a minute long and happens in the last third of the interview if you want to fast-forward.) What is also obvious is that Ron Howard and his wife are good friends with Jay Leno and his wife (he mentions a big dinner they attended earlier in the interview). So this may well have been a canned PR sweep under the rug.

What's been interesting is that not a single major publication or news station has picked up on Howard's denial/retraction. Was it in fact simply a little bit of backpedalling diplomacy? Might Ron Howard have reason to try and smooth the ruffled feathers of the French aristocracy? Perhaps he hopes to be able to return to France one day without being harassed at Customs.

Personally, I think it DID happen and I somehow don't doubt that Chirac was arrogant enough to make such demands. This from the man who was considered the most corrupt mayor in the history of Paris (from 1977 to 1995!) before moving on to become the President of France. He had also served an unprecedented 3 times as Prime Minister of France before that. And the mantle of his presidency is what is protecting him from prosecution.

I guess the point I want to make is that a lot of stuff goes on behind the scenes that most of us will never know about or understand. All the time. Everywhere. People make deals for whatever reasons, be they political or personal. And it seems that with so much flooding over us every day, it's easy to simply pick and choose an opinion and stick with it regardless of what may really be happening. I guess I'm wondering out loud if this has always been this way. My girlfriend and I have been having a huge blowout over this concept in general and about Ron Howard in particular. (SHE considers herself a staunch liberal and me a staunch conservative -- not my opinion here I might add!) On this particular story, after months and months of hearing the quotes and stories of that fateful visit Ron Howard had with Jacques Chirac -- with absolutely NO official denials anywhere -- he finally makes one single statement on Leno denying it. And voila -- it's the truth! And nothing else matters! All because it's convenient and what you want to hear. Never mind that it's been all over the MSM -- including all of the Hollywood press, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN (heaven forbid, I DON'T want to mention Fox and Drudge -- she'll use that against me!) since December! Even the French press was in an uproar over it (and surprise -- it wasn't favorable to Chirac!).

So despite her conspiracy theory ways, my girlfriend now says that it had to be the truth since she saw this interview on Leno and it came out of Ron Howard's mouth -- ON TELEVISION! So it must be the real story. This from someone who has been drinking the Kool-Aid for months about how 9/11 and the attack on the Pentagon was a major conspiracyy brought on by spooks high up in the Pentagon and other powers that be. The endless clips of the Pentagon crash in which you can't see any plane wreckage confirm that it simply couldn't have been a plane but a bomb. She knows this to be true because I'm the one who has to sit through the re-plays of those stupid clips being replayed ad nauseum. (BTW -- Has anyone ever noticed that these people always seem to pick the same spooky "conspiracy" music in the background? Where the hell did they GET this sound clip anyway?)

Ah but I digress... Back to the point. And it was just a single point that I wanted to make. I think someone got to Ron Howard. Whether it be the State Department or someone back in Paris, I have strong suspicions that he was lectured about the reality of world politics and business. With hundreds of millions at stake (and his reputation as a serious director) on his upcoming movie, hedging your bets by keeping your mouth closed seems like a small price to pay. Eating a little crow is small potatoes in the big scheme of things: money and careers are at stake. Am I faulting Ron Howard? Hell, no! In fact, I admire him for being a pragmatist. It's a rarity in any circle today.

Now back to my earlier statement: Did anyone else see this interview and has anyone anywhere seen anything in the mainstream media covering this little-covered about-face? Despite my sourcing numerous earlier stories containing Ron Howard's direct quotes (for my girlfriend's sake), I haven't been able to find coverage of what would seem to be an important turnaround regarding Chirac's requests. And here's my point: We'll probably never really get all of the facts behind what was siad in that meeting. And that holds true with just about everything else we read and hear and see in the media. If you choose to be narrowly selective about what you want to believe, don't be too surprised if it comes back to bite you later. I hope to be posting more soon about the convenient memory so many political zealots seem to possess these days.

RobertinSeattle opines occasionally but generally tends to post things on the lighter side of blogging at his CrazyInbox. This piece was posted on Blogger News Network and A Centrist Living in Seattle.