Bryce Dallas Howard Says Christmas with Dad Ron Howard and Family Feels ‘Exactly’ Like Parenthood but ‘Less Dysfunctional’ (Exclusive)

Sometimes Bryce Dallas Howard’s life seems like it’s straight out of a movie — and it’s a movie directed by her father.

The eldest daughter of famed director Ron Howard tells PEOPLE that holidays with the extended Howard family, which now includes six grandchildren, “feel just like Parenthood,” the 1989 Steve Martin classic directed by her father. “I mean exactly,” says Bryce, 42.

“It’s less dysfunctional in the sense of all adults, but just in the sense of chaos and love and little tense moments and then reconciliation,” the upcoming star Argyll he adds.

This year, “the whole family is traveling” to Australia, Bryce says, where Ron, 69, is filming, so they can all celebrate together. “It’s going to be nice and warm and all that, but we’re doing a lot of cakes and stuff,” she tells PEOPLE.

Between Bryce and her three siblings — twins Jocelyn Carlyle and Paige Carlyle, 38, and Reed Cross, 36 — and their families, “he’s very, very, very focused on the grandchildren,” Jurassic World adds the star.

Ron Howard says he would ‘probably’ act again if daughter Bryce Dallas Howard directed it

The actress-turned-director was seven years old when her dad was filming Parenthood — which also starred Keanu Reeves, Joaquin Phoenix and Mary Steenburgen — and was “the first time I was officially allowed to be an extra” on set. “And it was amazing,” she says, revealing that she appears in several scenes, including a chaotic sequence in a school play where Martin’s overwhelmed character feels like he’s on a roller coaster.

“At the end of the day, it’s just this celebration of the madness and wonder of being part of a big family,” Bryce says of the film.

Ron Howard and Bryce Dallas Howard at the 2017 ‘Broken Memories’ Benefit Screening David Livingston/Getty Ron Howard and Bryce Dallas Howard’s daughter wish each other a happy birthday: ‘You Are My Best Friend’

Parenthood isn’t the only movie on Bryce’s mind this time of year. Her father also directed Jim Carrey’s 2000 live-action comedy. How the Grinch Stole Christmasbut he says it’s not one the family cares about at all.

“It’s really one of those things where we’re all a little ashamed of our work,” she admits. “And so it’s not typical for us to look at our own things or things made by our loved ones. It’s a very, very, very strange thing.”

Grinch was one of her father’s films that she was “least interested in” because she was “just starting college” at New York University. But she remembers the “impressive” and elaborate backdrop of Whoville on the Universal lot.

‘Parenthood’ starring Steve Martin, Joaquin Phoenix, Keanu Reeves, Martha Plimpton, Harley Jane Kozak, Rick Moranis, Dianne Wiest, Ivyann Schwan, Zachary La Voy, Alisan Porter, Mary Steenburgen, Jason Robards, Eileen Ryan, Jason Fisher, Helen Shaw, Tom Hulce and Alex Burrall.

Cinematheque/Shutterstock

“I just remember being in awe of it,” recalls Bryce, who was a background extra on one of the Whoville scenes. And the actress fondly remembers the experience of “putting on prosthetics and transforming into Who.” “I did it with my sister, my mom and my best friend. So it was really stupid and funny,” he says now.

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This year, Bryce ventured into directing the holiday spirit Remark, a Christmas short for Coca-Cola starring Colm Meaney. The star, who also recently directed three episodes of the Disney+ series The Mandalorianhe says like his father, who became famous on Happy daysloves acting and being behind the camera.

“I love directing and it’s just as important to me as acting and it’s always been going on in the background,” she says. “Hopefully it’s something I’ll be lucky enough to do both…in every decade of my life.”

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Source: HIS Education