As far as hustling movie producer archetypes go, I tend to prefer Joel Silver over Harvey Weinstein. Sure, Weinstein played a role in some of the great American independent films from the last decade of the twentieth century, but Silver's production credits have more spice to them -- The Matrix, Predator, 48 Hrs. -- hinting at the zany force behind their existence. The movies he has produced don't always please everyone (consider those last two Matrix movies), and sometimes his productions run into unforeseeable setbacks (Joss Whedon's troublesome Wonder Woman script). But now, Silver's trying a radical maneuver that reaffirms his maverick abilities: He's shopping around Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla, which tells the story of a drama surrounding a stolen painting and stars Gerard Butler, to other studios despite the plan to release it through Warner Bros. in October. According to Patrick Goldstein in The Los Angeles Times, Silver said he showed the movie to Lionsgate and Sony Pictures to get some advice on how to market the film. However, when Goldstein asked Warner Bros.' top executive Alan Horn about the situation, Horn called the movie "very English," not "broadly commercial," and said the studio "might not be willing to spend the marketing money he wants us to." So it follows that Silver probably wants to sell the movie to somebody else.
This kind of thing has happened before. Jonathan Levine's teen horror flick All the Boys Love Mandy Lane was set for a release through The Weinstein Company, but when it was determined that the distributor might not provide the best home for the film, it went to the more agreeable Senator Films (although Senator has yet to release it). What troubles me is Horn's assertion that RocknRolla is "very English." Yeah ... so?
1. RnR has tremendous potential, and a lot of fans are waiting to see Ritchie's film. The -+6000 crowd at ComicCon loved it and there are a lot more film fans that didn't make it to CC who are travelling to Toronto Int'l. Film Festival to see it. And fans will travel to major cities to see it too - not only for Gerard Butler, but for Jeremy Piven, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton and the rest of the talented cast.
Perhaps another more "wordly" studio will see what Mr. Horn of WB obviously can't and take on this film and show the world that WB is wrong - and be laughing all the way to the bank.
Posted at 11:01PM on Aug 13th 2008 by LESVAN