One of the great living directors is a major fan of Ron Howard’s “Thirteen Lives.”
In a recent awards-season conversation with Howard, moderator Paul Thomas Anderson stated “Thirteen Lives” was “absolutely [my] favorite film of the year.” Further praising the film, PTA said, “You’ve had a remarkable career but to get this point and just suddenly swing and make this remarkable film, it’s kind of great.”
I already wrote about my bafflement regarding Ron Howard’s “Thirteen Lives” being dumped by Amazon during the dog days of August. When MGM, who had originally positioned the film as a November release, sold the rights to Amazon the streaming company clearly decided Howard’s film wasn’t worth campaigning for. Then, they saw voters’ responses …
Howard’s film received the best test scores in MGM history — earning a 97 in the top two boxes and an 86 “definite recommend”. Critics and audiences were positive on it as well with an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 95% audience score. This would have been perfect fodder for TIFF audiences — one can imagine it finishing in the top 3 for the coveted Toronto audience award.
You can to listen to the official audio of Howard/PTA’s conversation here or watch a crowd-shot version here.