Ron Howard Says Jim Henson Felt He Would ‘Not Live to Be an Old Man’

Ron Howard dives into the thoughts of a inventive genius in his newest documentary.

In the Oscar winner’s new Disney+ movie Jim Henson Idea Man, Howard, 70, profiles the life and work of Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets, Sesame Street performer and filmmaker.

As Howard tells PEOPLE, he believes he and Henson share “an pleasure for what’s potential and a love of the method.”

“Jim took a whole lot of dangers financially, took a whole lot of dangers creatively, and he developed very thick pores and skin,” Howard says. “I feel I’ve fairly thick pores and skin, however I do not know too many individuals who gambled their time and their sources the best way Jim did, and I wished to replicate that within the movie as properly.”

Jim Henson Idea Man grapples with the sheer drive of Henson’s inventive energy, one which by no means stopped working till the filmmaker and puppeteer’s dying at 53 in 1990. He died of a bacterial an infection in the future after he was admitted to the emergency room, as The New York Times reported on the time.

“Jim had a sort of this inside sense that there wasn’t going to be sufficient time, and whether or not that’s as a result of he misplaced an older brother who he cherished very a lot early in his life and the fragility of life or innately knew that one way or the other he may not stay to be an previous man — who is aware of,” Howard says.

“Or perhaps he was simply one in all these those who wished to make use of time to its best impact, whether or not that meant high quality time together with his children or getting the work carried out or meditating with a objective to look inward at himself,” Howard provides. “I simply assume he moved by means of life with large urgency and objective.”

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The new documentary tracks the evolution of Henson’s hottest works and likewise peels again the curtain on a few of his lesser-known movies and pursuits outdoors of puppeteering.

For Howard, who met Henson simply as soon as in his 20s after they crossed paths at a range present, Henson’s physique of labor proved extra experimental and modern than a primary look suggests. Howard credit Henson’s curiosity within the counterculture and “hippie revolution of the ’60s” with the late filmmaker’s experimental nature.

“You would not acknowledge these influences, these aspect tasks that we by no means even knew about that truly wound up having a big impact on his aesthetic, his sensibility, and his understanding of what was potential,” Howard says.

“It’s a disgrace that we misplaced him once we did as a result of what he’d be doing with tech at present could be very thrilling, and he in all probability would’ve pushed that medium alongside in a approach that we’d acknowledge.”

Jim Henson Idea Man is now on Disney+.