Director Ron Howard on “Rebuilding Paradise”

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: What made you actually want to do this film on that fire?

RON HOWARD, DIRECTOR, “REBUILDING PARADISE”: I knew Paradise. My mother-in-law had lived there the last four years or so of her life. I had been there many times. I knew what kind of a town it was. You know, it’s not a tourist destination, not an industrial center in any way, shape or form, not even logging anymore. It’s a place where people wanted to be because they just loved it there, and they wanted to raise their families there. And, you know, like a lot of things, Christiane, we all see these images. They’re horrifying. We feel empathy, we do what we can about it, or we don’t and move on, but we move on. And in this case, of course, because it was personal to me, you know, my thoughts went deeper. And I turned to our team and said, is this a story to cover? What’s going to happen when the news cameras leave?

AMANPOUR: So, it has that personal gut punch for you, that personal relevance. But let’s just remind people of the facts and figures. I think it’s something like 150,000 acres were burned, almost all, 95 percent of all the structures, houses, whatever other structures were in that town were burned, and about 85 people lost their lives in this fire. You also, though, you know, from the very beginning, you have all these people talking about what it was like to nearly die in this raging fire, and yet, you also have them coming back, or at least a certain number of people coming back wanting to rebuild. I’m going to play a little clip to illustrate that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got a Paradise permit to build my home at 1552 (INAUDIBLE) Road. I’m jazzed. Awesome, man. Awesome. Was sick. Yes. We’re on now. This is the beginning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It’s exciting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I guess it finally caught up with me. Yes, it’s a big deal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a big deal. Very big.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it’s a big deal. New home. New beginning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: So, it’s obviously really emotional. They’ve had a near-death experience, but it’s also that American thing that makes people want to rebuild, to stay, and the eternal optimism. What struck you most about the people there?

HOWARD: Of course, I knew the people well or not personally, but a sense of who they were. Yes, they are this kind of rugged individualists. That’s that brand of thinking and that is that kind of, you know, Americanism there. So, it was particularly devastating, of course, when their entire world is ripped out from under them.