Ron Howard on Filming ‘The Shootist’ With John Wayne and Don Siegel Amid Their Feud

Decades before he became one of Hollywood's most respected directors, Ron Howard was a 22-year-old film student watching two Hollywood titans clash in real time. Now, he's sharing what that experience taught him about handling conflict on set.

Ron Howard is looking back on a formative chapter of his career. The Oscar-winning director, 72, recently reflected on what it was like filming the 1976 western "The Shootist" alongside co-star John Wayne and director Don Siegel.

A promotional portrait of Ron Howard as he appears in the movie "The Shootist" in 1976 | Source: Getty Images

The period drama centered on a dying gunfighter searching for the least painful way to die with dignity intact. Having absorbed plenty of lessons on that set, Howard noted the film still "holds up well" nearly 50 years after its release.

"It's paced slowly, deliberately, but it builds beautifully. The acting is good," Howard told Ben Mankiewicz during an appearance on the "Talking Pictures Podcast."

"The Shootist" (1976) movie poster | Source: Getty Images

"Don Siegel was a very strong director. I really went to school on Don Siegel there. That was just great, and [I] learned so much from him. I also learned a lot in a rather uncomfortable way because Wayne and Siegel were feuding. They did not get along," he added.

Although Wayne and Siegel didn't see eye to eye, Howard said he personally got along with both of them just fine. 22 years old and studying film at USC at the time, Howard bonded with Siegel over filmmaking craft and showed up on set daily brimming with questions.

John Wayne, Lauren Bacall and Ron Howard in scene from "The Shootist," circa 1976. | Source: Getty Images

Wayne, for his part, respected his drive. "I also had the guts to sort of say, 'Hey, do you want to run lines?' No one really would talk to him in between setups. It was John Wayne. It was Duke," Howard shared.

He noted, "He had a couple of people, a guy he would play chess with, who was the still photographer who had worked with him on a lot of films, but it was a very closed little bubble that he was operating in."

Ron Howard, Lauren Bacall and John Wayne in a scene from the 1976 movie "The Shootist." | Source: Getty Images

"He was perfectly friendly to me, and he said, 'Yeah, I'd like to run lines,'" Howard continued. "We had a lot of scenes together, heavy dialogue, and it was very interesting to see him take a scene and shape it into a John Wayne performance in the most positive ways."

Throughout the shoot, however, Howard found himself on the receiving end of an "earful" about Wayne's "dissatisfaction with Don Siegel and the way he was shooting [the film]."

Ron Howard and John Wayne in a scene from the 1976 movie "The Shootist." | Source: Getty Images

He explained that Siegel gave him a reality check early on: once a couple of weeks into production, it's always the director who gets pushed out if tensions escalate with the star, since replacing him at that stage simply isn't realistic.

Siegel made clear he wasn't budging, though — he was too invested in the project to walk away before finishing what he'd started. Howard added that he assumed Wayne understood the dynamic the same way.

John Wayne (1907 - 1979) as JB Books in a scene from the film "The Shootist" (directed by Don Siegel), circa 1976. | Source: Getty Images

Even so, Howard felt Siegel "didn't do a great job of bridging the gaps."

"It was pretty intense, but I remember saying, there's a better way to deal with even superstars than this," he reflected. That experience on set would go on to shape how he approached his own productions in the years that followed.

"I felt that the key was that a lot of things were allowed to fester for a long period of time. The strategy that I've followed over the years is that when there's a difference of opinion, go right into it," he explained.

"You don't have to make it a fight, but you're there to achieve something together and talk it through. Don't let it become something that's petty and emotional when, in fact, it's a creative concern or a neurotic concern."