Ang Lee, Antoine Fuqua, More Directors on How Great Movies Are Made

Ang Lee, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

Ang Lee was pulling his hair out. He was in preproduction in China on his formidable martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon when a silent investor pulled out. “It was the hardest film I’d ever tried to make,” remembers Lee, who thought it was throughout. However Columbia got here to the rescue, because of a brand new initiative to help local-language filmmaking in overseas markets. Gareth Wigan, a broadly revered Sony exec, turned concerned, as did Barbara Robinson, who lived in Hong Kong and headed up Columbia Photos Movie Manufacturing Asia, and was requested to satisfy with Lee in Taiwan. A coalition got here collectively, together with Columbia, China Movie Co-Manufacturing Corp., Good Machine Worldwide, Edko Movies and Zoom Hunt Productions. Michael Barker and Tom Bernard’s Sony Photos Classics signed on to distribute Crouching Tiger domestically, whereas Columbia Worldwide dealt with worldwide territories (excluding China). Lee was given a funds that will in the end quantity to $17 million. 

“About midway by means of the shoot, I noticed I didn’t know what I used to be doing. A martial arts movie is meant to be trashy and pulpy, however I used to be making an attempt to make it beautiful and culturally correct,” says Lee. “I used to be utilizing my A-plus commonplace to do a B film.”

Lee, who’s susceptible to fret, got here out on prime. Crouching Tiger was nominated for 10 Oscars ­— and gained 4, together with for greatest foreign-language movie — for its mixture of martial arts, surroundings and drama. It’s thought to be one of many best wuxia, a subgenre of martial arts, ever made. The film — starring Chow Yun-fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen — turned the primary foreign-language movie to cross the $100 million mark within the U.S. on its solution to resting at $128 million, which continues to be essentially the most ever grossed by a Chinese language-language movie. Globally, it pulled in north of $213 million. The movie’s memorable choreography and results had been the envy of each director in Hollywood, with some speeding to include them into their very own movies. Lee stays grateful for the rescue mission. “I miss these days,” he says. “That type of factor doesn’t occur anymore.”

After the primary take a look at screening for 22 Leap Road, administrators Phil Lord and Chris Miller knew that they had an issue. Audiences beloved the film, however they hated the ending. The sequel to their 2012 re­imagining of the ’80s TV present 21 Leap Road as soon as once more starred Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill as undercover cops posing as college students, and within the authentic ending, their captain (Ice Dice) invitations them on a brand new mission that teases a fictional third movie: medical faculty. However as an alternative of accepting, the fellows flip off their captain and say they’ll by no means once more go undercover. The take a look at viewers revolted.

“They’re like, ‘We love the film, however the ending is miserable,’ ” remembers Miller of viewers reactions. “ ‘We wish to suppose we’re going to see tons of of flicks with these guys.’ ”

With the film’s opening simply 12 weeks away, then-studio boss Amy Pascal requested them to create a brand new ending, and so they determined that if the viewers needed extra adventures with Tatum and Hill, they’d ship. Lord and Miller stuffed a white board with concepts for fictional sequels — vet faculty, culinary faculty, firefighter faculty — and spent a day working across the lot, taking pictures purported scenes from as lots of them as they might with their main males and visitor stars like Invoice Hader, Seth Rogen and Anna Faris.

“We principally shot in each single nook of the lot. Prefer it was Columbia Photos within the outdated days and we had been simply utilizing the backlot,” says Lord. 

The one second they remorse not getting? They deliberate to movie on the set of Jeopardy! for a mission a couple of scandal at a quiz present. However they had been denied permission, because it was the day of the present’s season finale.

In the long run, the last-minute work paid off. Says Miller: “It was everybody’s favourite a part of the film as a result of it was simply so outrageous.”

Antoine Fuqua 

On receiving the “greatest studio be aware you would get” for The Equalizer (2014).

“After I did the very first minimize, we had an enormous assembly with Amy Pascal. She got here within the room and seemed on the preview playing cards. We scored actually excessive. She stated, ‘Nicely, simply don’t screw it up.’ We had our pens and pads out ready for notes! And on [The Equalizer 3], we shot in Italy and many of the film is in Italian. After the primary preview, it was clear that the viewers had no downside with that. ‘Simply don’t screw it up!’ ”

Will Gluck, Anybody However You (2023)

Filmmaker Will Gluck had no scarcity of gives from streamers eager to make his romantic comedy Anybody However You — a style many legacy studios had been terrified of embracing — however he knew from the get-go that he needed audiences to see it on the large display. And he knew there was just one studio he’d even ask: Columbia, the place he’s made most of his movies, together with Annie and two Peter Rabbit films (he made a number of others for sister label Display screen Gems, together with Simple A). “It was a little bit little bit of a battle to persuade all people,” Gluck says. “I simply needed to clarify how good the folks within the film are and the way impactful a theatrical expertise may very well be.”

Impactful is true. Anybody However You, starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, opened to $8 million over Christmas weekend, earlier than grossing $88 million domestically — an unheard-of a number of of 11 p.c — because of robust phrase of mouth. (A a number of of three or 4 is dreamy, whereas 5 is usually attainable for successful vacation movie.) Gluck’s pic made $131.6 million abroad for a worldwide cume of $220.2 million towards a $25 million funds. “There’s nobody higher to sit down down with than Tom [Rothman] to speak about your film script. Your script and your film get higher,” says Gluck. “I’m not simply saying that. It will get higher.” 

This story first appeared within the July 31 challenge of The Hollywood Reporter journal. Click on right here to subscribe.