Interesting Inside Info on SW2: Attack of the Clones

[MrBaggins]

What part of 'Four years later, aged 35 and still struggling,' don't you understand?

Was a star fixing FFC's door as a favor?

[JohnT]

Also, he was married to a working wife. If she too made a "mere" $150/week (remember we are talking about late-1960s/early 1970's dollars), that would translate to a tidy $15,000 a year - not a bad income in those days, but not anything to shout about either. I'm sure he supplemented his income with carpentry - why not? But he wasn't an "unknown" fixing a door when asked to read somebody else's lines either - that story is complete, PR hogwash.

[MrBaggins]

BTW... Unless imdb has financial records of those 4 roles, that doesn't consitute proof of anything.

[MrBaggins]

I didn't say he was unknown... I said breakout. Breakout means you don't need to do oddjobs to survive

[Asher]

You two are making me cry. Who cares, it's pointless trivia.

[JohnT]

No, "breakout" means that casting agents will actually think of you when casting their next movie - it has nothing to do with money earned. Using your definition, then The Graduate was NOT Dustin Hoffman's breakout role precisely because he went on unemployment after the production was over.

Hey Asher: I wrote that long post just for you, man. Comment on it!

[MrBaggins]

I'll argue any ****ing point into the ****ing ground. Thats just the way I am

I am a nice guy though

[MrBaggins]

Originally posted by JohnT
No, "breakout" means that casting agents will actually think of you when casting their next movie - it has nothing to do with money earned. Using your definition, then The Graduate was NOT Dustin Hoffman's breakout role precisely because he went on unemployment after the production was over.

*snip*

No, breakout means a role important enough to garner a contract.

If you don't have a contract... or own the company... you're no-one

[Imran Siddiqui]

John, the original blockbuster was Jaws, not Star Wars. While SW was important in the whole thing, it was Jaws that set the ball rolling.

[JohnT]

Anyway, a "studio executive" wouldn't be casting roles in a movie - that is usually the film director's and the casting director's responsibility. The studio is usually only interesting in casting when:

1. The film is part of a package brought to it by an agent.
2. The production head is being a **** and throwing his/her weight around on the non-powerful directors.
3. When the big, bad-attitude $20mil. a film star is throwing a hissy fit and saying crap like "I'll never appear in another Fox movie again if I don't get the role of..."

[MrBaggins]

Originally posted by JohnT
Anyway, a "studio executive" wouldn't be casting roles in a movie - that is usually the film director's and the casting director's responsibility. The studio is usually only interesting in casting when:

1. The film is part of a package brought to it by an agent.
2. The production head is being a **** and throwing his/her weight around on the non-powerful directors.
3. When the big, bad-attitude $20mil. a film star is throwing a hissy fit and saying crap like "I'll never appear in another Fox movie again if I don't get the role of..."

A studio exec can do anything he damn well pleases. If he wants something done one way, and a director disagrees then the director can find himself another studio, the film may not get made... but there is definite order, and directors dont supercede studio execs unless they are REAL bigshots...

[Asher]

Originally posted by JohnT
Hey Asher: I wrote that long post just for you, man. Comment on it!

Yes, and it was appreciated.
Thank you.

[JohnT]

A contract? What sort of contract? Stars don't sign long-term contracts with studios anymore - they haven't since the death of the studio system in the late '50s, early '60s. Now they are all free agents and their contractual obligations are to the film, not the studio.

Imran: Hell, if we want to go back further we might as well say the blockbuster era began with The Sound of Music. It easily crushed the competition back in 1965 and made over $163 million in its first and second runs* (this is in 1965 dollars, mind you). Adjusted for inflation however, the most profitable movie ever was Gone with the Wind - but I doubt either of us want to argue that the blockbuster age began in 1939.

http://www.filmsite.org/boxoffice.html

*Today, all films are "first runs", but up until the end of the '70s you had "first runs" and "second runs." First runs were when the film was limited to 1 theater within a 75 mile radius when it was released. When the film played out, it was released in a "second run" to all the small, cheap theaters that didn't get it in the first run. This literally includes all other theaters besides the first run theaters: not just drive ins and dollar theaters, but any theater that didn't lock up the rights to the first run.

[JohnT]

A studio exec can't do anything he "damn well pleases" because: shock! Studios don't make movies any more! Nowadays they just distribute movies made by production companies and provide financing. But the days of Cohn, Thalberg, and Warner are long over and their backlots have either been sold, burned, or converted into amusements parks.

Can studios fire directors? Yes, but it is very rarely done... not even Paramount could fire an unknown Coppola even after he tripled his budget against their direct orders, ran over by a few months, and generally (in the studios eyes) made a disaster of the Godfather from week 1 of production.

Mrbaggins, if you're really interested in this sort of thing, I think you'd do well to find a copy of "Hollywood 101: How to succeed in Hollywood without Connections" by Frederick Levy. Some of your conceptions about who does what and who has the power are not really correct anymore.

[MrBaggins]

Originally posted by JohnT

Stars don't have contracts?

To take just one example straight out of Google, how about Aileen Quinn, who starred in the 1982 film "Annie". After "Annie," Quinn seemed to drop out of sight. Under contract with Columbia Pictures for three films, only one ever materialized.


How about you find any real information contradicting the story regarding Harrison Ford.