Can you believe it’s been 25 years since Apollo 13 hit theaters?

Well, Ron Howard is looking back in celebration of the milestone and reflecting on his personal connection to the cast.

In a virtual interview with Entertainment Tonight, Ron spoke about how the movie came out back in 1995, and how his own mother played a role.

Ron cast his mother, Jean Speegle Howard, to play the mom of astronaut Jim Lovell, who was portrayed in the film by Tom Hanks. Turns out, he was encouraged by his father to do so.

“I’m so happy my dad twisted my arm,” he told ET. “I really didn’t think Mom was old enough to do it, and I was also just frankly nervous about it because I knew what a pivotal role it was. But she really knocked it out of the park.”

Of course, the film focuses on the story of the aborted 1970 Apollo 13 lunar mission and stars Tom alongside Kevin Bacon and the late Bill Paxton.

When the film came out, Ron boasted that he’d love to be the first director to ever direct a film on the moon. Well, it seems like he’s changed his tune. LOL!

“I think I’ve lived a few too many years and have a little too much going on here on Earth to want to take that risk,” he said. “But somebody will, and it will be really, really exciting when it happens.”

“The television world, filmmaking world, storytelling world, it’s made up of a lot of really bold and ambitious individuals and somebody’s going to do that sooner than we think,” he added. “I think that’ll be thrilling. I’ll be cheering them on.”

Gotta love Ron!