Week Of April 23, 2007 - Mon / Wed / Fri

April 27, 2007

Drama is easy… independence is hard.

No one actually said that. Or maybe someone did. But it’s true and becoming truer as time goes on. We stand at a crossroads in independent cinema… and by independent, I mean cinema that is not funded by or pre-sold to a major domestic distributor. Fox Searchlight is a very independent minded distributor with high aspirations, but they are a part of Fox, first and last. And as great as it is that they embrace iconoclasts and give them millions to make movies, being made with that magical umbrella over your head is simply different. It isn’t easy. Hell, in some ways, it may be harder than other ways of getting a film made. Being the only person at Baskin Robbins who can only choose from two flavors and then, if they like what you chose, maybe they’ll expand the choice to five…. not so easy. But again, for the purpose of this conversation, different.

Of course, we all think about independent cinema as small, surprising movies that turn up at Sundance and somehow, against all odds, emerge. The classic example for me of that is not Little Miss Sunshine - which deserves a lot of indie cred, as it was private money staked on a movie that studios and their dependents would not fund, but had in fact attracted movie stars to its cast – but In The Bedroom, which had Todd Field behind the camera for the first time and starred actors who were definitively not box office in a dark, tough drama that would have been impossible to get studio funding for short of one of the top five box office stars in the world wanting to star. (Had LMS been out for funding at the same time it arrived at Sundance, on the heels of 40 Year Old Virgin, Carrell alone would have gotten them a $50 million studio budget for the same script.) But when I think of independents, I also think of big names who have carried the banner for everyone who wants to do something truly independent.

I think of Chaplin, building his own small empire even before he teamed with Pickford and Fairbanks. I think of Welles, thrown out of Eden all too early, but still fighting his way to make an impact. I think of Corman, who always acknowledged that he was running a factory, but also gave the freedom of opportunity to so many of the filmmakers who would become seminal figures in the industry. I think of Coppola, aiming for the heavens with Zoetrope and falling and then doing another deal with UA to try to make it work and falling again, but still fighting and now about to launch his first film in years, shot on HD and starring many non-actors, and shot in Eastern Europe as Eastern Europe. I think of Herzog, who owns the copyright for almost all of his films, following his own logic for decade after decade. And I think of Woody Allen, who distributed through studios via long deals, but always had creative freedom at the core of his contracts.

There are a lot of great actors and filmmakers who are independent, invest in indie cinema with both time and money, and make an impact these days. But a few weeks away from his next indie movie, in a Frankenstonian release by MGM, it strikes me that Kevin Costner is
from this breed. I am not saying he is necessarily the same
legendary class as those filmmakers… he has a lot more to prove. But the spirit is strong and he seems committed. (And I will note here that a close friend works for Kevin’s Tig Productions… and will read this at the same time as you are, when I publish it.)

Now, I have had some issues with Costner and the choices he has made since bursting onto the scene in Silverado in 1985. I was around to hear second-hand (but not third or reading it in the paper) about fights on Waterworld and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. (I also know that when Costner talks about the stories about losses on Waterworld being false, that he is right. Media didn’t really get foreign box office at the time… and often, still overlooks it almost willfully.) I am the first guy to get worked up about opportunities he has passed up, like the Michael Douglas role in Traffic or the chance to have Coppola direct Thirteen Days. These things make me crazy and, it always seems to me, have kept Costner from returning back to the top of the food chain. He is, after all, a decade younger than the Michael Douglases and Harrison Fords of this business.

The thing about this guy is that after scoring with Silverado and The Untouchables, he became Mr. Orion, doing smaller budget films - No Way Out and Bull Durham - that became sleeper phenoms. And then, of course, Dances With Wolves, first time directing himself to three personal Oscar nods, winning two... and grossing more than $425 million worldwide on a budget under $25 million.

Even after The Bodyguard and the very chancy JFK, he went to a film that was risky for he and its director, Clint Eastwood, A Perfect World. It bombed here at home, but made over $100 million “foreign.”

I first met Costner, aside from a passing junket or something else I have forgotten, around the release of Open Range, which Disney was pretty much in the middle of dumping in the second half of August. The film was made for under $30 million and Costner had to fight to
keep it long and R. Apparently, the MPAA was willing to give it the PG-13 with just a couple of cuts. Nope. Talking about it then, he was stubborn, but he also was logical. The movie wasn’t for teenagers. Why hurt the film for the sake of chasing something that was futile anyway?

The film opened to $14 million, in spite of extreme disinterest from teenagers (who weren’t marketed to), and went on to gross more than four times that, which is quite unusual these days. Only five of the twenty-one films that outgrossed Open Range that summer did the same.

But even then, we discussed the Traffic and Thirteen Days situations and he was right on point. He wanted it to be the best that he thought it could be. He wasn’t happy with the Traffic role the way it was at that point. (It changed a lot at Harrison Ford’s behest, even though he didn’t take the role in the end.) And he was so confident about David Self’s script for Thirteen Days that he wouldn’t even let Francis Coppola change it. Perhaps that might be seen as pig-headed, but one has to respect his absolute commitment to his own vision, whatever the politics of it. And that alone kept me from arguing the point further.

Next, Costner jumped into the independently financed The Upside Of Anger from Mike Binder, who has independently financed most of his films with his family. The film was released by New Line here… where they never really figured out how to sell it.

He jumped into what is now known as Rumor Has It, which was both a payday and a chance to support a first time filmmaker, Ted Griffin. He still supports Griffin and his vision of the film, but also reminds you that the movie did better overseas and people who give it a chance seem to like it more than the critics did.

The Guardian was made by Beacon for Disney. Costner happily admits that it was an entertainment. But again, the film had release date problems that were not overcome, even though the studio was having great test screenings.

And now, his Tig Productions is about to go through an MGM release of Mr. Brooks, a solid little thriller with Bill Hurt and Demi Moore and the dramatic debut of Dane Cook. It was funded primarily by Element Pictures, which also had Pride in release earlier this year. And aside from the release date, this is one of those situations where Costner really is in control. Gideon & Evans pitched the screenplay, which is the first of what they hope will be a trilogy of films around the Mr. Brooks character. Costner agreed to let Evans direct... his first time in 15 years. The film shot in Louisiana last year, though not set in the state, supporting the state after the hurricane.

The film has Costner as a deeply conflicted man. He is, in a deeply profound way, a murderer of strangers. But he has gotten older, has a family and a place in the community, and really wants to stop. He even attends a 12 step program for alcohol… since there really isn’t a Murderer’s Anonymous.

In some ways, this character is like a grown-up and cleaned up version of Butch Haynes from A Perfect World. He also carries a history of Costner-As-Movie-Star with him. He is a charismatic, but he does his best to hide it except when he is going to kill. It’s a smart, adult turn.

One of the interesting elements of the film is that his character mirrors Demi Moore’s, with her playing a hard edged cop who knows exactly what she looks like, how it effects men, and will make most men pay for noticing. Both of these characters are being chased by demons, though one lives on the side of enforcing and the other, breaking. But both also are seeking some sort of greater solace in the effort.

Ironically, there is the strong feeling that this is a movie that women will like even more than men. There is something about Costner. It doesn’t much matter that he used the word “neat” with Madonna. He still seems to be catnip. And here with a loving daughter and wife, he is more accessible than ever. (The big love scene with Marg Helgenberg that doesn’t happen may have sold a few
more tickets to guys.)

Costner knows what he is. He knows what he is after and what is expected from him. He’s completely candid about the limitations of this film and others, whether they are perceived as huge successes or failures. But he is also proud of what the intentions were and where the vision was. Every film rolls out in a conversation as though he
was making it last week… as though it was his most recent “at bat.”

Mr. Brooks is really another start for Costner, somewhat of an extension of his Open Range effort. He will not play in other people’s sandboxes unless he can do what he thinks is best. Love him or hate him, you have to respect him for the stand. It is what we all claim we want to see in people in this industry… except when we don’t like the film that comes out of it. But that is really not the point.

And as this film gets ready for release on June 1 (shoot the release date), Costner is about to have a couple of new babies. One is an actual child. He and his wife are expecting any day now. And he is also revving up for his next film. It’s a Political Comedy. Sound hard to finance? It is. So Costner is willing to put his money where his mouth is to make it happen. Maybe another funder will come along before its done. Maybe not. But Kevin Costner will go on, doing the work he wants to do, speaking for an audience of adults who want something that not too many films offer these days.

E Me.

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