Ron Howard on HPL: "{Not} an avid reader"

Ron Howard Explains What Attracted Him To ‘The Strange Adventures Of H.P. Lovecraft’ /// Published by Rick Marshall on Thursday, May 7, 2009 (click for full article)

The dark horror tales of author H.P. Lovecraft and the celebrated films of “Angels & Demons” director Ron Howard might seem an unlikely pairing ... “It’s not a literal biography in any way,” Howard told MTV News of the “Lovecraft” story that serves as the inspiration for the film. “It uses him as a way to invoke some of the spirit of his work in a way that’s really, really scary and yet very psychological.”

And surprisingly, Howard was far from finished chatting about the project, even though it’s still in the early planning stages. “I like it because it’s sort of a journey and character study, and at the same time it’s pretty horrifying and frightening,” he continued. “I don’t want to go into it in too much detail, as we’ve just begun writing it, but it’s really fascinating in the way it utilizes Lovecraft.”

While Howard had high praise for the story, he confessed that he wasn’t an avid reader of the author’s Cthulhu-filled tales prior to taking on this project. The filmmaker told MTV he “wasn’t a fan of Lovecraft per se” but was aware of his work and had a great respect for Lovecraft’s “place in the 20th century pulp literary world.”