Ron Howard's new documentary,
Rebuilding Paradise, tells the story
of Paradise, California after
95 percent of the town burned
down in wildfires in 2018.
I sat down with Ron to talk about
the film and the connection between
these wildfires and climate change.
I'm Lucy Biggers, and this is a One
Small Step Spotlight.
What drew you to tell that story?
You know, it's like a lot of things
related to this sort of
crisis. You know, these
catastrophes.
I was growing a little numb to all
of that imagery, but then there was
a huge fire.
This is late 2018.
That hit Redding, California and I
have a lot of relatives in Redding.
So, of course, I was paying
attention. Within weeks, Paradise,
which is near Redding, a place that
I also knew because my mother-in-law
had lived there for four or five
years before she passed.
And it didn't just get burned,
ninety-five percent destroyed.
And those images were not images
I could just absorb, feel bad about
and move on.
I just kept obviously thinking about
it. I went to our documentary team.
The title was tossed out,
"Rebuilding Paradise" and it became
my first vérité documentary.
Went there without knowing what the
story would be.
And we just began to embed,
follow storylines and try to tell a
story of a once the cameras leave,
once the spotlight has dimmed on a
crisis, what's it really about
surviving this thing?
Navigating it, what does it do to
the people?
Do you think personal stories like
that are really going to help push
the narrative on climate to get
people to really start taking this
seriously?
The ones who talk about it are
firefighters.
They're talking about the increased
incidence of these devastating
fires. The ones who talk about are
people, townspeople who said, of
course, we've prepared for
a big fire. It's always
on our minds. This is where we live.
We know that.
But it overwhelmed us.
Why?
Because of the intensity of the
issue.
And so this is not a,
you know, a movie about climate
change. If it was it would be full
of graphs and data and all
kinds of things. It's about the
people in the wake
of these fires.
And scientists
are telling us that it's climate
change, I believe them.
We just saw these fires in
Australia.
What was your reaction to seeing
those fires having been so close to
this topic for over a year?
Well, it's becoming an all too
regular of thing.
Russell Crowe, a colleague, I've
directed him twice in movies.
I know how precious that farm is
to him.
Completely burned.
Now, you know, he has resources.
He can absorb it.
But it's a blow.
Two years before in the Santa Rosa
fire, I had very dear friend of mine
of 40 years, Walter, lost his
entire place.
So suddenly this issue
is hitting home every year in
some way, shape or form.
And but it's not just fires,
obviously, you know, we have
a series of images at the end of the
movie when some of the kids
who have survived the fire, you
know, from Paradise have
gathered around. And they're raising
money for tornado
victims for a reason because they
said, "Now we know what that feels
like." Just reminding us
that just in very recent
history, the range of catastrophes
that the globe has faced.
And it's impacting more and more
people every year.
More and more every year, it's
undeniable.
You can argue about why,
but you can't argue
that it's happening.
And then what?
And so it gets back to this question
of preparedness.
And, you know, if I were to say one
thing about it, I'd say that
what our film I think suggests
is there are a lot of people
and organizations,
government agencies that,
you know, are there to help, but
they're not coordinated.
There's not a clear cut plan.
And I feel like we're very
reactive, that we sort of wait
for the thing to happen because,
look, in
my lifetime up until, you
know, maybe five, six, seven years
ago or, you know,
it's it
has been a thing to react to.
It might be a hundred years before
something like that would hit your
town again or your area.
Well, that's not the case anymore.
We have to recognize that and
problem solve it.
Would that be the advice that you
would kind of give to the greater
public to be prepared?
Preparedness, yes.
But you know this,
that we're all unsettled by so many
things right now
in culture. And there are a lot of
reasons. Right.
But one of the things that I
witnessed is a kind of an object
lesson in watching the townspeople
who we followed, the ones
that move the needle and also
seem to be sustaining themselves.
They're the ones who show up.
They're the ones who engage.
They are active in the
problem-solving.
They're not just complaining.
They're going to meetings, they're
informed.
And this is the most American of
things when communities
come together and
get rid of the divisions and
work the problem.
To borrow a line from one of my own
movies, 'Apollo 13', which was a
real line from the real Gene Kranz,
who was the flight director 'work
the problem, people', amazing
things happen.
And they achieved much more
than many expected that they
possibly could. And by the way, the
scar tissue from that
event is going
to be with those thousands
of people for the rest of their
lives and
Paradise, we don't know what's going
to happen to Paradise.
This is the year.
There's a lot to be optimistic
about. And
there's also plenty of uncertainty.
So the fallout from
these events need to be something
that we in a very direct way
make a problem to be solved.
And that's interesting that you said
just take action and it goes back
to the series that I hosted, One
Small Step where we're trying to
inspire people to take an action.
It can be the smallest thing like
recycling a little bit more
composting.
Is there one One Small Step that
you would suggest people take
or that you take in your life to
deal with this topic?
What I would say
and I have a couple of times done
this and not as
often as I should.
But again, looking back to what I
think I've learned from recording
and witnessing with the people
of Paradise, have done that I
admire.
I mean, it's actually understanding
how the city council works.
It's understanding how your
community works and engaging
with those people.
And then you can make
a remarkable difference if you get
good at it and your group gets
good at it.
You suddenly in a culture like ours,
you can have a lot of reach.
You can go to the governor.
You can get to the president in some
way, shape or form.
If you learn how to do it, it's not
that mysterious.
But you do have to you have to
engage,.
Start locally.
Start local.
I really think so.
You care about it more as a person.
You might care about the big stuff
and who to vote for and all.
And that's important to engage on
all levels, of course.
But roll up your sleeves and get
involved in your community.
The value of that community is
something that's easily taken for
granted. And I witnessed
the importance of it
in the lives of the people in the
wake of a catastrophe like that.
Well, thank you so much for sitting
with us.
It sounds like an amazing film and
such an important topic.
It's great you're asking these questions.
Thank you.
Take care.