Being the daughter of Ron Howard, Bryce Dallas Howard could be considered Hollywood royalty, but you would never know it. In person she is probably one of the most down to earth people you could ever meet. Howard, who plays Gwen Stacy in ‘Spider-Man 3’, was thrilled to take on the role. “I was so excited. I love this franchise. I was a huge fan of the first film. When I saw the second film I was completely blown away. I liked it better than the first, which I didn’t think was possible. I became one of those people who started going on the Internet seeing what are the rumors and what’s going on. When I found out they were having another female character I was all over that.”
Howard did a great deal of prep for the role, but in her research of the character she found a few surprises. “When I did start doing research and a picture popped on the Internet, I thought, are you serious? They really want to cast me? She has a specific look and I never envisioned myself doing or being able to do. There were a lot of hair and make-up meetings.” Howard who is a natural redhead had to go blonde for the film. So do blondes have more fun? “Well I feel comfortable as a red-head because that what I am naturally, but I had fun getting to do it. I got a lot of attention at grocery stores, like a lot of people coming up to me saying do you need some help ma’am.”
In the film there is an intense action sequence that Howard had to prepare for, that took months to shoot. “That was so much fun to shoot. They built a three or four story structure inside a sound stage that would just collapse and they would set it all back up again. They put a harness on me, but they really let me fall. I was scared so there was no acting involved in that scene literally.”