From KCRW Santa Monica and KCRW.com, it's The Treatment.

Welcome to the Treatment Home Edition. I'm Elvis Mitchell. When Ron Howard came by,

forgive me, zoomed by a few weeks ago to discuss

his new film as director, Rebuilding Paradise, a documentary on the California town struck in the 2018

wildfires. Things were different. California hadn't been hit again by wildfires. With that

in mind, Rebuilding Paradise has a different impact and context than it did then.

Here's Ron Howard on his new film, Rebuilding Paradise.

One of the pleasures in doing this show over this time is I get to make a few old friends.

And so it's good when they come back. And our latest old friend to return is a person who in the last 40 years or so has made over 30 films.

And we can say the first part of his career sort of play with fantasy, maybe about people dreaming about what their lives might be like if they ran a whorehouse from a, basically, a mortuary or raced cars.

And the second part of his career was they really moved into real world concerns, starting with the paper, I think.

And I think maybe even some that's rooted in, for me, in gung-ho, which I feel is adapted from the man that corrupted Hattleyburg,

which is kind of about what it's like when idyllic state of life is ruined by the real

world. And we can say that's taking place in a number of his films, including his newest film

of the documentary for Nat Geo, Rebuilding Paradise. I guess, of course, is the Osquenning filmmaker,

Ron Howard. Ron, thanks a much for coming back. Thanks, Elvis. It's good to talk to you.

I mean, it's interesting.

The films, maybe a lot of the films the last 20 years or so have really been about

the real world concerns, I think, and also about maybe kind of an idealic life or an

idealized life being sort of overturned by tragedy.

Yes to both.

And which has also pushed me from moving, not totally, but from this, you know, scripted

...