'Cinderella' filmmaker — Ron Howard elevates his game with new Russell Crowe movie

As director Ron Howard sees it, James J. Braddock — boxing's "Cinderella Man" — is the quintessential working-class hero.

"He had amazing integrity, without being ostentatious about it," Howard says. "He was noble, but in an unpretentious way. He became heavyweight champion, but only because it was the way to do the chores he needed to perform — the way to feed his family."

Those elements made Braddock the darling of the hard-pressed working class in Depression-era America, and helped make his stunning upset of flashy champion Max Baer one of the great moments in the sport.

And it made a strong enough story to reunite the star and director of the Oscar-winning "A Beautiful Mind." But this time, it would be a true-life tale of brawn instead of brains that brought Russell Crowe back under Howard's direction.

This time, Crowe provided the impetus. He found the "Cinderella Man" project and encouraged Howard to direct it. The mercurial Crowe had thrived under Howard's direction for "A Beautiful Mind," and famously praised the filmmaker at the Golden Globes for his "honor as a man."

More important, Crowe has contributed some welcome grit to Howard's films. They've notably elevated each other's game.

Besides, Howard says, the reports of Crowe being difficult to work with are "grossly exaggerated."

"He can be intense and argumentative. But he never stops the forward motion of a movie. It's just his performer's temperament.

"And Russell finds so much detail for his character. When you see Braddock, it's not Russell Crowe's normal body language and it certainly isn't the way he sounds. It's a complete character.

"Then you have the physical side.

The boxing scenes were hard. Russell dislocated a shoulder that required surgery, but he began rehab in 48 hours. He told me, 'Don't worry, Ron, Braddock fought hurt a lot, so I'll just use this injury for the character.

"He laughed, but he wasn't joking."

Howard, of course, is one of the most admired and well-liked men in Hollywood, a 51-year-old actor and filmmaker whose career goes back to childhood movies and his memorable stints as a youngster on "The Andy Griffith Show" and as a teenager on "Happy Days." He's also a devoted family man, and you'll find his father and brother, character actors Rance and Clint, respectively, in nearly every Howard production.