Producer Brian Grazer has been behind the scenes of several successes, both in TV (Empire, 24, Felicity) and in movies (Real Genius, Kindergarten Cop, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind). That’s not to say they’ve all been winners, and Grazer laughed about one of these box-office underperformers at a talk about his new book, “A Curious Mind,” at the Aspen Ideas Festival.
An audience member asked Grazer about his regrets, and The Atlantic reported his answer:
“I agreed to be part of a movie called Cowboys & Aliens,” he said, referring to the 2011 box-office bomb starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. “I don’t like cowboys, or aliens! But there were a lot of superstars involved with it — Ron Howard; Steven Spielberg; the director of Iron Man, Jon Favreau. I remember having this one meeting, an early meeting, and they’re talking about the title, Cowboys & Aliens. I said, ‘We aren’t really calling it that, are we?’ (The others said) ‘Yeah, of course we are!’ I was going, ‘I don’t get this at all.’ “
He explained that his decision to get involved came down to a rationalization — “That’s good enough.” Then he joked about the downfall inherent in such a rationalization: “Any time the light bulb goes, that’s good enough, it’s sh*tty!”
OK, but this still doesn’t explain his producing the shot-for-shot Psycho remake starring Vince Vaughn. Oh well. I guess we all go a little mad sometimes.
(Via The Atlantic and Vulture)