Ron Howard on meeting Paul McCartney: “I really related to and respected him”

Ron Howard has reflected on his experience directing The Beatles documentary Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years, including meeting Paul McCartney.

The 2016 documentary film charted the band’s touring years from 1962 to 1966, including their final full public concert at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park.

• READ MORE: The Beatles: every song ranked in order of greatness

Speaking to NME during an exclusive Absolute Scenes interview about the project (shown above), Howard said: “I really related to and respected Paul McCartney. What a work ethic. He loves it.

“I feel that way about directing. I feel that way about telling stories.”

While making the documentary, Howard explained that he gained a further appreciation of the band’s songwriting.

“In starting to work on a documentary about their touring years which is what Eight Days A Week was, from the vantage point of having been a director and a storyteller for decades, I was so blown away by the writing,” Howard added.

“There’s the presence that I fell in love with, starting with The Ed Sullivan Show. Of these guys with a different haircut and a great sound and girls going crazy for them, but totally infectious records that you just would play over and over again.

“But what I began to understand was, even in those early records, those first hits, the writing is just brilliant. As they evolved, it became clear to me [that[ you could be in any frame of mind possible within the framework of the human experience and there’s a song they wrote that will speak to you very, very directly.

“I don’t care what mood, or what you’re going through, that’s the genius of the band and why their music is as relevant, in many ways, as it’s ever been.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Howard discussed his collaborations with Tom Hanks and why it’s unlikely that we’ll see a sequel to Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Howard’s latest film is Thirteen Lives, which tells the true story of the 2018 mission to rescue twelve boys and their football coach from Thailand’s Tham Luang cave. The film is available to stream now on Amazon Prime Video.

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