Howard followed up “Remember the Titans” with “Ali,” the Michael Mann-directed biopic of the greatest boxer of all time, Muhammad Ali. This was an early dramatic turn for its star, Will Smith, who packed on the muscle to play The Champ and was rewarded for it by being nominated for the Best Actor Oscar.
Funnily enough, Howard wrote “Ali” first and only stumbled upon Herman Boone’s story when he moved back to his native Virginia after completing the first draft of the script. He found the story so compelling he put his paid work on hold and wrote “Remember the Titans” on spec, meaning he wrote it without being hired to, so there was no guarantee of his work ever making it to the screen, let alone getting bought. Of course, we know how that turned out.
Before his success in Hollywood, Howard was known for his play “Tinseltown Trilogy,” which focused on three men in Los Angeles over Christmastime as their stories interconnect and inform each other.
