Opening in theaters on August 22nd is the new survival thriller ‘Eden’, which was directed by Oscar winner Ron Howard (‘A Beautiful Mind’ and ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’) and stars Jude Law (‘Star Wars: Skeleton Crew’), Vanessa Kirby (‘Fantastic Four: First Steps’), Daniel Brühl (‘Captain America: Civil War’), Sydney Sweeney (‘Madame Web’), and Ana de Armas (‘Ballerina‘).
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with legendary director Ron Howard about his work on ‘Eden’, the true story it is based on, why he was passionate about making it, working with the all-star cast, and overcoming unforeseen challenges shooting on location in Australia.
qJbzGlcXK9cJ2FujFFYPn5Related Article: Director Ron Howard and Colin Farrell Talk Prime Video’s ‘Thirteen Lives’
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch the interview.
Moviefone: To begin with, Congratulations on the movie. Is this a film that you had wanted to make for some time?
Ron Howard: Thank you, thank you very much. It was an exciting one creatively. I’d been dreaming of making it for about 15 years, finally got the courage, mostly because we had a good screenplay written on spec by Noah Pink, and a brave group ensemble of talented actors. I thought, “Well, what the hell? I’m outside my comfort zone, but I’m not alone. Let’s make this movie.”
MF: What intrigued you about the true story that the film is based on and why were you so passionate about getting this movie made?
RH: Twist and turns, and the wide variety of characters and personality types, and some of them are very extreme personalities, wild, bigger than life people. Yet, you know, they lived this experience, and they are as we depict them. In fact, we’ve probably dialed them back a little bit from what they really were. They were real outliers. But I felt like that combination and the fact that what they lived ultimately was a true crime thriller. I mean, it’s like a season of ‘Survivor’, only people died. You couldn’t have cast this collision of personalities and characters in a more compelling way that’s it’s kind of funny at times. It’s sexy at times. It’s noble in places, and sometimes it’s terrifying. So, I thought it was a unique blend.
MF: You’ve truly assembled an all-star cast with this film. Can you talk about assembling the cast and working with them on set?
RH: Well, we worked fast because this was a lower budget movie. People weren’t taking their normal salaries by any stretch of the imagination, nor was I. It was a labor of love, but it was a unique opportunity for a film like this to get made. The more they did research into the real events, the more excited they were about it. We just created a strong ensemble and I committed to trying to let every character be as dynamic, entertaining and engrossing as possible, and they just gave it everything they had. The circumstances were raw. We were filming outdoors. It was hot and poisonous snakes and spiders were around and everything. I mean, it wasn’t quite like being on a desert island, but it had its challenges that they were able to draw upon as well. So, it was an adventure making the movie.
MF: Finally, can you talk about shooting on location in Australia, the unforeseen challenges of shooting there and how you overcame them to complete the movie?
RH: Well, because we were shooting the dialogue scenes, not in the Galapagos, because that’s a game preserve, you could never stage enough scenes and so forth there and get licensed and cleared to shoot that. So, we did that in Australia and weather, lightning storms, two or three nights or two or three afternoons a week that would drive us to cover. But one time the camera operator was shooting the scene, it’s this argument scene. People have guns. It’s all kinds of tension, swirling around. Suddenly, it was a female camera operator, and she stood up and shrieked. “What was it?” It’s because a poisonous snake had slithered across her boot while she was looking through the camera, and she looked down and felt it, and freaked out. We had snake wranglers looking for venomous snakes from two hours before we started shooting, and throughout the day, and the snakes quickly slither off. No one was bitten, no problem, but we had to shut down and wait until they could safely find the snake, catch the snake, and safely transport the snake. We had a place where we could take the snakes. It was like a reserve, and that kind of thing happened about every two or three days. So, that was one of the unexpected challenges.
What is the plot of ‘Eden’?
Director Ron Howard’s ‘Eden’ unravels the shocking true story of a group of disillusioned outsiders who abandon civilization, settling on a remote, uninhabited island only to discover that the greatest threat isn’t the brutal climate or deadly wildlife, but each other. As tensions spiral and desperation takes hold, a twisted power struggle unfolds, leading to betrayal, violence, and the deaths of half the colony.
Who is in the cast of ‘Eden’?
- Jude Law as Dr. Friedrich Ritter
- Vanessa Kirby as Dora Strauch Ritter
- Daniel Brühl as Heinz Wittmer
- Sydney Sweeney as Margret Wittmer
- Ana de Armas as Baroness Eloise Bosquet de Wagner Wehrhorn
- Jonathan Tittel as Harry Wittmer
- Richard Roxburgh as Allan Hancock
- Toby Wallace as Robert Phillipson
- Felix Kammerer as Rudolph Lorenz
List of Ron Howard Movies and TV Shows:
- ‘The Andy Griffith Show‘ (1960 – 1968)
- ‘The Music Man‘ (1962)
- ‘The Courtship of Eddie’s Father‘ (1963)
- ‘American Graffiti‘ (1973)
- ‘Happy Days‘ (1974 – 1984)
- ‘The Shootist‘ (1976)
- ‘Grand Theft Auto‘ (1977)
- ‘More American Graffiti‘ (1979)
- ‘Night Shift‘ (1982)
- ‘Splash‘ (1984)
- ‘Cocoon‘ (1985)
- ‘Gung Ho‘ (1986)
- ‘Willow‘ (1988)
- ‘Parenthood‘ (1989)
- ‘Backdraft‘ (1991)
- ‘Far and Away‘ (1992)
- ‘The Paper‘ (1994)
- ‘Apollo 13‘ (1995)
- ‘Ransom‘ (1996)
- ‘EDtv‘ (1999)
- ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas‘ (2000)
- ‘A Beautiful Mind‘ (2002)
- ‘The Missing‘ (2003)
- ‘Arrested Development‘ (2003 – 2019)
- ‘Cinderella Man‘ (2005)
- ‘The Da Vinci Code‘ (2006)
- ‘Frost/Nixon‘ (2008)
- ‘Angels & Demons‘ (2009)
- ‘The Dilemma‘ (2011)
- ‘Rush‘ (2013)
- ‘In the Heart of the Sea‘ (2015)
- ‘Inferno‘ (2016)
- ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story‘ (2018)
- ‘Hillbilly Elegy‘ (2020)
- ‘Thirteen Lives‘ (2022)
- ‘Eden‘ (2025)
