(bright music)
- [Rebecca] Movies are not easy to get made.
They sit in development for a long time.
You have to fight every step of the way.
Tell me how you know a movie is worth fighting for,
that you're gonna put in the commitment
and fight for this film.
- For me I ask two questions.
Why tell this story?
And why tell it now?
The values and themes of a movie,
if they align with my personal values
I think I'm much more motivated in telling that story.
But also I look at why tell the story now.
With the Pope, we're in a moment in time when you have
two Popes,
two living Popes here at the same time.
We have Pope Francis who's like a rockstar Pope.
There's a story to be told.
The world is in dissension right now.
All these different sides fighting,
and each of these Popes represents a different side,
a different point of view.
So we felt like now's the time to tell the story
because it's going to resonate with audiences
and there's an important message to get out there.
So I think timing is important too.
All of our movies here were tough movies to get made,
so we were fighting against the marketplace.
The marketplace doesn't want to make these movies,
so you're already going in with people wanting to say no.
And I find it's a fight for talent too.
So on The Two Popes, how do I keep my director locked in?
You know, it takes a long time from development
all the way through to get a movie made.
In this case, Fernando Meirelles sold the pitch with us,
and we were developing it, and he wanted to make the movie.
And then his country, Brazil,
asked him to direct the Olympics.
So how am I gonna say no to that?
That completely takes the director out of the picture.
So we lost him for several years,
and like, how do you keep him engaged,
how do you make him feel like
he's still part of the process, very much shaping the movie?
Because he's ultimately our leader.
And then luckily the Olympics finished
and then we brought him back.
So I think also it's not only a fight against
kind of the market but also like,
how do you keep your talent locked in
when everyone is chasing the top talent?
I think all of us here work with great directors,
and every studio,
every producer's chasing that same director.
(bright music)
- [Rebecca] Do any of you have a project
that is the one that got away,
a movie you're still hoping to make that's been stuck?
- I think we all do, yeah.
- [Rebecca] Tell me about them.
- [Dan] Rebecca, I want to knock on wood
so I don't jinx myself,
but we're trying to make the last Lethal Weapon movie.
And Dick Donner's coming back,
the original cast is coming back.
- [Group] Oh wow, amazing.
- Yeah, and it's just amazing.
The story itself
is very personal to him and to the cast
so I really want to make that one.
But it's a knock on wood, it's a lot of (mumbles).
- How long have you been trying?
- Several years.
Yeah, Jez Butterworth, I don't know if you guys know,
he's an amazing...
- [Group] Yeah, sure.
- Yeah, so Jez is doing the rewrite right now,
and Mel and Danny are ready to go, so it's about the script.
- [Emma] That's amazing.
Oh my God, amazing.
- [Dan] But for me it's like,
I wasn't part of the other four,
but I was like a huge fan. - I love them.
- [Dan] I almost feel like as a fan
I want to help to make it happen, so...
(bright music)
- [Rebecca] I'm curious, you know,
there's been some discussion about the star,
the value of a star.
Is it like it was, you know, a few years ago?
How important is it to have that name leading your movie?
What do you think?
Does it still need a big movie star like Tom Cruise
or someone to get a movie made these days?
- The Two Popes is critical.
I mean, Stuber, I love him.
And he was very clear with us,
saying this is the cast you need to get,
and you'll get the green light.
It was Jonathan Pryce and Anthony Hopkins.
There was literally no backup.
If you want the green light, this is the assignment.
So I appreciated the honesty
but also it's very clear as a producer.
This is the assignment.
You land these actors, you have a green light.
You don't, you have no movie.
But it was very specific in that case.
- Interesting.
- [Dan] When Charlize talks about give in and surrender,
I think that's like a huge thing for us.
I think all of us here are probably control freaks,
And we want to control everything,
and part of being a producer,
sometimes you do have to give up and surrender.
- I'm not. - [Dan] You're not?
- Not at all.
- Major. - (mumbles) I don't freak out.
- I'm a major one, and so in our case,
the difference between Bombshell and our movie,
our issue was not a green light issue,
but in the middle of shooting we took a huge hiatus.
And it was much longer than we expected.
So we shot in Rome, and there was an expected hiatus,
and it ended up being much longer for weather issues...
- Why was it longer?
- Yeah.
- Weather issues, scheduling issues,
and then so we're like,
are we even gonna be able to finish the movie?
We have actually two halves of the movie,
and so that's when you have to just kind of give up
and surrender and go, okay,
it's all just gonna come together at the right time
and the right place.
But there's nothing you can really do
at a certain point, true?
- How long did it end up being?
- It ended up being four months.
- [Group] Wow, oh my goodness. - Yeah, yeah.
So luckily everyone came back.
- And everybody came back?
- Yeah, but it was tough to make sure
everyone's schedule was...
- Who ended up gaining weight?
(laughing)
- But what about like the key crew though?
They all came back?
They like took jobs in between and came back?
- [Dan] They all came back. - Wow.
That's...
- Yeah.
(jazz music)