Bryce Dallas Howard on What She’d Look for in Directing a Franchise

Jurassic World: Dominion star Bryce Dallas Howard isn’t just the face of one of the biggest movie franchises around right now (Jurassic World), she’s also followed in the footsteps of her dad Ron Howard, going from acting to being one of the more acclaimed directors in the industry. Howard’s main breakout success as a director has been bringing some of the best and most beloved episodes of Star Wars: The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett to the screen – in fact, fans think she did such a great job in the Star Wars TV Universe that a blockbuster movie franchise is inevitably next. 

However, for her part Bryce Dallas Howard isn’t in any rush to take on a blockbuster franchise – just for the sake of directing one. ComicBook.com had the chance to speak to Howard at the promotional event for Jurassic World: Dominion’s Blu-ray release, and she explained just what she looks for when directing within an established franchise. 

“Because I love the spectacle of these [blockbuster] films; I love how complicated it is; I love that it requires like thousands of people cooperating – like I just can’t get enough of that. But, I don’t think I would for sign up for something that I didn’t have a relationship to in my life organically. So if there was… Like I was in a conversation about a franchise that is really wonderful and amazing and I was like, ‘I’m scared of that world.’ I don’t lean into it, I lean away from it; I don’t seek out the other movies and I feel like if I’m not a person that’s foaming at the mouth to be on set, then I shouldn’t be the storyteller.

 And so there are many incredible movies and franchises and all of that that I would love to be a part of as an actor, a director, a writer, as a producer. It is so fun to traffic in this space – but only if I totally, authentically, obsessed with it. ” 

Seeing what Bryce Dallas Howard creates when she’s “authentically obsessed” with a franchise like Star Wars makes us think that she has the right mentality to how to approach these career choices. Comic book movies and other genre films are littered with examples of the disappointing outcomes when directors get saddled with the massive undertaking of a franchise film they have no real passion for. No one needs more of those… 

Jurassic World: Dominion is now available on home video.