April 9, 2025 • 32 mins
Abhijay Prakash has built his career on bridging creative ambition with smart business strategy—an approach that now shapes Blumhouse, where he leads as President. The studio has become an empire built on bold ideas, small budgets, and massive cultural impact.
Starting as an intern at Universal Pictures, Abhijay worked his way through key roles at Focus Features, DreamWorks Animation, and Universal, where he helped guide major creative and business decisions. His passion for film was sparked by a love of Bollywood and Hollywood classics, and today, that passion fuels his approach to taking smart risks, championing daring stories, and evolving the horror genre.
In this episode of Seen on the Screen, Jacqueline Coley chats with Abhijay about his journey from strategy to scares, the creative freedom that drives Blumhouse, and why horror is one of the most exciting spaces in modern filmmaking.
Starting as an intern at Universal Pictures, Abhijay worked his way through key roles at Focus Features, DreamWorks Animation, and Universal, where he helped guide major creative and business decisions. His passion for film was sparked by a love of Bollywood and Hollywood classics, and today, that passion fuels his approach to taking smart risks, championing daring stories, and evolving the horror genre.
In this episode of Seen on the Screen, Jacqueline Coley chats with Abhijay about his journey from strategy to scares, the creative freedom that drives Blumhouse, and why horror is one of the most exciting spaces in modern filmmaking.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:20):
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Speaker 2 (00:28):
I love Michael Mann and I love Thief. It's my
favorite film out of all of his movies. I love
the score in particular.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Oh so you love it, so you're one of the
people too, Go again.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I think it's criminal that it got a Razzi.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Hello, I'm Jaquil and Coley. Welcome to Scene on the Screen,
brought to you by Make It Universal and Rotten Tomatoes,
where we talk movies with some of the people behind
the scenes at NBC Universal. When entertainment works best, sometimes
it opens a window into a world we've never imagined.
Other times it shows us mirror image of our lives
with a heighth and sense of home. Today, we're going
(01:02):
to dig into the question what have you seen on
the screen that has done that. My guest today is
President of Blumhouse, Abajet Prakash. You'll learn how Blumhouse has
changed the horror game, what benchmark convinced his parents that
a career in film was a great job, and which
Universal Pictures icon he used to visit on the lot
and he needed to pick me up. Abaja, Welcome to
(01:31):
the podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Okay, so first things first, it's my favorite question, but
I have to tweak it a little bit for you.
Who are you and how are you associated with NBC Universal.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Well, I'm Abaje Prakash. I'm currently president at Blumhouse. I
worked at Universal for a long time, for almost seventeen years.
I started here as an intern way back when, and
then about two years a little over two years ago,
I moved over to Blumhouse. So not at NBC Universal,
but still in the family. Obviously, are most important film
partnership is with Universal.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yeah, and I would say Universal works with a ton
of partners, but Blumhouse has become synonymous with Universal Pictures
from everything we do at Halloween Horror Nights to everything
at the box office. I mean, it's really it's bigger
than just even the films. But tell me a little
bit about how that was for you transitioning. I would
imagine this is one of those things where that's actually
(02:23):
the benefit of working at a place like this is
there's tons of stories like yours where they worked here
for a while and then grew into other parts of
the business.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Yeah, I mean it was super organic, like you said,
And even my experience at Universal, I had worked in
kind of different divisions at Focus and A DreamWorks, as
well as kind of at the main studio, and so
this in some ways kind of felt like another version
of that. I over the time working at Universal got
to know Jason and a lot of the team at
Blumhouse pretty well, and when I was looking to do
(02:51):
something that was, you know, a little smaller and being
a little bit closer to the filmmaking process, it was
kind of a natural or organic thing that happened, you know,
pretty easily, really, And like you said, because I've worked
here for so long at Universal, so much of our
business still is me talking to people like Donna and
(03:13):
Peter Kramer and Michael Moses and Dwight on the phone,
and so I still have all those connections and it's
super helpful for how we do business. And you know,
Jimmy Horowitz is on our board and I work with
Jimmy for like almost twenty years, so it's really easy.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Yeah. So Donna Langley Chairman of Content for Universal, Michael Moses,
Head of Marketing CMO, and then Peter Kramer, head of
production for those that are not as in the registry.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
All the names like everybody's you know, on the same
phone sheet as.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
There's this is the podcast. Drop them if you got them, Like,
if you have the names, we are down to hear
them because it is a well, look, it's a heavy
it's a heavy room. As they say, when you walk
the halls of Universal, you know, there's a lot of
there's a lot of people that are making culture, they're
making art, and Blumhouse is a huge part of that.
But I'd love for you to talk talk about how
you started as a film fan. I would assume to
(04:03):
then eventually lead you to be a Universal Pictures in turn,
before we get into your time more recently with Bloemhouse.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, sure, you know. I'm the child of immigrants. My
parents immigranted from India in the late sixties and I
grew up in suburban Boston and going all the way back.
I know, this is like the full therapist couch answer.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I'm here for it.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I would I you know, in retrospect kind of psychoanalyzing.
Myself was really looking to fit in, you know, as
one of the only brown kids in a largely white suburb.
And I think my way of doing that was pop culture.
Was movies, music, sports, even politics, things that I could
connect with other people over and just in that process,
(04:46):
I mean, I fell in love with storytelling and movies
and growing up in the you know, cable TV era,
you know, had access to you know, way more than
people before me, not as much as people today, but
in that process fell in love with movies. It even
also started with my parents being from India. They're big
Indian film fans, you know, Bollywood fans. There's a great
(05:07):
picture of me, I think when I was just tiny,
like in the late seventies, on an Indian movie set
with a star and my mom and you know, he's
must in my hair's this actor, Seshi Kapor and so
it's been there from the beginning. So there were going
to the movies with my dad. There were Indian movies
when I was a kid, and it just instilled in
me this you know, fascination with filmmaking and storytelling and
(05:31):
not just in being enthralled with getting lost in it
and the imagination, also how it in formed points of
view also how I could speak to your personal experience,
and that just stayed with me until I don't know,
some point after college when I kind of realized, oh,
you could have a career in it. I always just
thought I would have this distance. It's like it's a
thing I consume with the money I make and the
(05:52):
time I have. But when I made that connection that
there was a possibility of like working in it and
I could contribute in some way, you know, that's sort
of that changed everything for me, you know, personally and
professionally moving to LA and trying to find a job
in the business.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
I mean, I think that's so cool and I love that.
That's a part of this podcast is because there's so
many positions out there that folks didn't even know existed before.
You kind of you can dare to dream to be there,
but they can see, you know, interviews with folks like
you and other folks that we've spoken to, and they'd
be like, oh, this is a job like they pay
people for this. I think it's so funny that you
talk about how you grew up loving cinema and loving storytelling,
(06:30):
because I'm sure your parents, who cultivated and nurtured your
love of art and filmmaking and storytelling, we're almost feeling betrayed.
I'm sure they were like, what movies.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
No, yeah, no, there was a list. It was doctor first,
engineer second, and that was a whole list. You know,
maybe being a lawyer like crept to the bottom of
the list. And it was very much built in this
mentality of I came here with nothing, and you guys
are here and I need to know that you can
be fed and have a life and you know, give
me grandchildren one day, and those are the only careers
(07:00):
that I can be assured, you know, will it'll happen
for you. And even though the we watched a lot
of movies that went to the movies and you know,
engaged in the consumption of pop culture, they never made
the connection of oh, you might work in it.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
That was not allowed.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
It's just something you do with your free time. And
it was always the joke was, you know, for me
and other people like me who are considering careers in
that area. It was like, you can do that on
the side. I mean, that's a nice hobby.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
You know.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I had a friend who was trying to be an
actor at the same time that I moved out here,
and they're like, he should do that on the side
and then apply to.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Med school and med school and acting.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
And it took. Yeah, of course, those things naturally go together.
It's like peanut butter and chocolate.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
It took. It took a long time, I think, until
I had the trappings of a real job, like an office,
a reserve parking space. Uh, you know, a phone number,
someone who occasionally answered my phone if I wasn't there.
That they were like, oh, this is a thing, and
I'm okay with it. But it took. It took a
long time because they had to to, you know, to
(07:57):
reframe themselves. But also I painment too negative light. They
were supportive of anything that gave me passion and joy,
and they never tried to block it or stop it
or cut me off or anything like that. They were like,
are you sure, seems risky. But when it worked out
in the end, they were always obviously, you know, pretty
pretty happy.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
I would admit I would imagine, like, you know, head
of a studio. I'm sure they've they've gotten a peek
inside of some of the perks. But let's talk a
little bit about your work at Lumhouse too, because I
know that you definitely worked with Jason a lot prior
to going over there. But that is in a way
a Hollywood story within Hollywood. To see how that studio
has just grown in the past few years and more importantly,
(08:37):
really changed the way Hora is seen.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Yeah, yeah, I think it's remarkable. There's so much of
what Jason and the team have built that is kind
of revolutionary and totally different than you know, the norms
of how the business conducted, right, micro budgets, building failure
into the system, even being willing to change the way
distribution works. You know, one of my favorite things in
(09:02):
the time I was at Universal and engaging with Jason.
Usually I get the phone call it was like we've
got a problem, or we have a thing where you
don't know how to figure it out, or we're thinking
about doing this and would you mind talking to Jason
Or he'd call me and say they're thinking about doing this.
In one of those moments, actually was Invisible Man when
and it wasn't so much find the movie was was
(09:24):
was starting, you know, a part of this shift where
IP became part of what Blumhouse was doing, but still
within the Blumhouse model. Obviously the great success, but I
remember right after the release is when COVID started, and yeah,
there was like this moment of Okay, what are we
going to do with this movie that's doing so well
at the box office. And that's when we were rolling
out the plan at the studio of doing premium video
(09:45):
on demand. And then it's you know, being one of many,
but one of the people who was explaining to Jason
like house is going to work and how it would
still be you know, result in a yield a good
result hopefully for the company, and then updating him. I
remember every like Thursday and Saturdays we get the results
from you know, the Home Entertainment team of saying like
(10:05):
this is what it means and translating Okay, this much
pivot revenue would have been this much box office. But
Jason was on board the whole time, right of like, Okay,
I want to figure this out. I want to be
a part of how things are changing, and I really
always admired his willingness to lean into new things, and
now being at the company, I still feel that. Right
we're growing our volume. We've got a lot of great
(10:26):
movies coming in the next year. We've got a mix
of IP and originals. And so it's not even like
I did one thing and I did it great and
I'm only going to do that, But just being able
to evolve and still grow and still try to push
the boundaries of what can be done in the business
I think so remarkable. And there's two elements of it.
There's the scary stories part of it, and then there's
(10:48):
also the you know, low cost, high creative freedom, bet
on yourself philosophy, and both of those things, you know,
permeate through the halls of everything we do at Blumhouse.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
I really dig it. And that brings me to my
next question before we dive into some of the stuff
that you've seen on the screen, and that's what you're
been most proud of that you've done, either at your
time at Universal or at your time at Blumhouse, Because
this is something I think folks in your position take
very seriously, is that you influence culture. It's more than
just the two hours that somebody is escaping from whatever
(11:19):
they're escaping from. They cry, they laugh, they giggle, whatever
it's really can influence more than that.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah, boy, most proud. It's hard to pick like a thing.
I'd say. The first time when I moved out of
I was I was like running the strategy department side
of the film studio. And then I remember having this
real honest conversation with Donna about Focused Features, and you know,
we wanted to change how things were operating there and
(11:47):
kind of written up a plan and I handed her
this piece of paper and she handed it back to
me and she's like, I think you should do it
this time, and I was like I kind of was
thinking that too, And so then going over there and
then building a slate with my partners with Peter Kajowski,
who's obviously still killing it there, and building that slate
and having movies like The Darkest Dowur and Phantom Thread
(12:10):
come out in that first stretch, but really resetting the
company on this new trajectory at the time, and now
that it's still continuing and flourishing, it gives me great
joy even today to see how well it's going. And
I had a similar experience in DreamWorks animation, honestly, which
started with a couple of years. It takes a lot
longer to build the slate because of the animation process.
But how to Train Your Dragon three being one of
(12:33):
the first things that emerged post the combination with Universal.
That movie's incredible. I love that franchise. I'm so excited.
I remember talking about the live action possibility and I'm
so excited that's coming too. So if I had to
point to a couple of things, it's really how those
businesses trajectories changed in the role I got to play
in it, and then every honestly, every single one of
(12:54):
the releases that comes out, I take great pride in
because I know that there's a whole system and behind
it that's allowing that to sustain itself. And I've always
thought about my job that way or my contributions, honestly,
as there's this incredible thing which is filmmaking movies, and
(13:14):
I want to be able to sustain its creation. And
so my rule is what can I do to make
this sustainable and thrive? Because on one phase that you're
like you're making art, and like that seems really hard
to sustain and make money and employ all these people
and grow and function as a business. But I love
that challenge of like, oh no, no, there's a way
(13:36):
actually for this to really work and to flourish and
to empower people and influence people and form people and
capture their imagination. And so putting my own particular spot
inside the system is okay, how do I sustain the
creation of this thing and how it can keep going?
Is is kind of what I've always thought of as
my mission.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Well, thank you for talking a little bit about your
journey and how you are still very much associated with
MVA Universal. But now we're going to dive into our
popcorn buckets and the things that you have seen on
the screen. So I'm going to read these out. It
is going to be a quote from a film that
you've hopefully seen on the screen. If you have a
special connection to it, let it fly. But I think
(14:17):
you're gonna be great on this. Let's go. Life is
just like that. Sometimes we're hoping for a unicorn and
we get a goat.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Oh that's despicable me. Yes, that is WI one, but
I remember it's a despicable me.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
It's Despicable Me. Three. The house that the Minion's built.
I know it's grew story and Despicable me, but I
just do have to say that we're on the lot,
there's a huge Minion like right overlooking us, like right
here in between the Despicable means.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
You overlooking like the one on one I see the office.
I see that one every day.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Yeah, sorry, I should say that, Yes, overlooking basically all
of the valley, not just me, but I stare at it.
But no, it's just between that and the Minions and
just how like it's a global.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Brand totally, totally. It's incredible. Every time you're in some
far flung place in the world and you see one
of the Minions, it's yeah, it's kind of an amazing
thing of like, oh this is this is this what
it was like when like Mickey Mouse or Superman was
first created and it just popped up all over and
everybody's attachment to it. It's kind of unreal.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Also, I really love the Minion speak. It's like a
real thing, like this is like a whole like language,
and like it's not just gibberish, like there's a there's
a science behind it. I was like, I did not
know this. I've seen the video. Is there anything else
that you have attached to Despicable I mean.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
I remember my kids were very young, but that was
one of I mean, the Despicable Me premieres and the
Minion premiers are incredible. They're like a whole amusement park
for the opening of a movie. And I brought as
soon as they could, like be awake for that long
I brought. We brought them to one of those premieres.
It was incredible, and then they went to every single
(15:58):
one and like can we bring for Like there's a
limit to how many people we can bring, but they
are some of the most cherished memories we have, and
there's great photographs of that time and rides, and yeah,
it was. It was one of those really special moments
when you can bring you know, work and the enjoyment
that I had at work, when I could do that
to my family. It doesn't happen all the time, but
(16:19):
when you can, it's just it's like a real exponential effect.
And that was one of those things where you can
marry the work that you do with you know, enjoyment
for the family and have that all happen in one go.
And definitely, all the Despicable mean, movies even now are
still like that for us.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
I dig it. Please let the dreams be real.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Oh, this is black.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Phone, This is Black Phone, which was I shouldn't say
this because nobody who makes a movie wants to think
that it's surprising how successful it is. But that was
a surprise hit for some people, like and I mean,
looking at the slate, we're gonna obviously do the sequel
and yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Yeah, well we're going to Blackphone too. Now it's it's
it'll come out later in twenty twenty five. We're super
excited about it. I remember, though, going back to when
the first one was just dating and you know, you
can hear the concept and sound spooky. I mean it
was the way I was raised that in like the eighties,
(17:17):
that was the most terrifying thing could ever happen, which
is stranger with balloons in a van. But all of
that just went to another level when the visage the
mask became the iconography of the movie, became a part
of it. I mean, for me, everything clicked into place
(17:38):
when you see that, because, like, already what was a
pretty chilling spooky concept went to another level when you
could just see the visual that Scott Dereckson and the
team came up with to accompany the story. And then
the way that Ethan carried it off. I mean, it's
just Ethan Hawk carried it off. It's just all was
executed at such a high level. And I think that's
a secret of how the movie became so successful. It
(17:59):
opened to a pretty good number, but then it's multiple
was was great. So really just played and played at
the box office and got to this amazing almost two
hundred million worldwide box office performance.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
And it's another example I think of sort of the
Blumhouse model. I mean, this is a house that was
built on paranormal activity, in which case I say, if
it's a good idea, you can do it again. It's
true though, but it is absolutely true because but that's
not the only sequel. I mean, we're going to get
a Megan two this year.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Megan two and five Nights at Freddy's too. Yeah. So
three of our kind of biggest franchise is all going
to have sequels coming in twenty twenty five, which is remarkable,
and we really feel like there's a lot more storytelling
to be done in all of those worlds.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
We'll be right back after.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
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Speaker 1 (19:21):
And now back to the show, and we're going to
put our quotes away, and now we're going to dive
into our other popcorn buckets.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
I should have looked at those beforehand.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
No, no cheating. This one's gonna be true or false,
all right. A giant shark used in Jaws was nicknamed Bruce,
after Steven Spielberg's lawyer, Bruce Ramer.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
True or false, that's one hundred percent true. Jaws is
my favorite movie. And there was always a special thrill
to work at Universal. And you know, if my energy
level is low, like in a video game, the way
your energy level for a character can go down, I
go for a walk or maybe even get to take
a card out and just cruise around the back loot
for a minute during my lunch break, and just seeing
(20:09):
the shark or people reacted to the shark, and then
seeing you know that they're all these sound stages around.
My energy will come right back up and be ready
to go tackle whatever I had attack for the for
the afternoon. So, Bruce, Jaws, iconic movie. Deep you know,
spot in in my brain and in my heart as
(20:29):
as my favorite film. I spent a lot of time
in Martha's vineyard actually in this in the summers, and
which is where Jaws is famously shot. You can still
see remnants of the Orca, you know, at a place
not too far from my house, and like all the
locations where they filmed, so I can't even avoid it,
Like I love it and it's around me, and I
(20:50):
know I've read so many of the books about the
filmmaking of it and the shooting of it. When I
was in film school, I took a course on Spielberg's
movies and spend a lot of time breaking it down
shot by shot. So yeah, there's there wasn't going to
be a Jaws question that I wasn't going to get right.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
And when you say the Orca because I'm not as
big of a Jaws fanatic as you. I saw it
once and then it just made me never want to
go to the water again.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
So I still watch I watch it all the time.
I still am terrified of the water, although I do
go in it quite a bit. But every time there's
a shadow, you're like, what am I doing doing it?
The orca is Quin's ship that he goes out to
try to hunt the shark on, and they'd built it
for for the movie, which obviously now fifty years ago,
(21:33):
so it's like pieces of wood. Now, it's not like
anything that resembles the ship, but you can still see
it when you cruise around in the little harbor there
in chill mark.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Message that is instagrammable. I would go, I would go,
all right, next tru or Falls. Ramesh Sippy's film show
La ran uninterrupted for three years and Move buys Minerva Theater.
True or false?
Speaker 2 (21:57):
I remember that film and it was a huge hit.
It was kind of this iconic Bollywood classic.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
I think true false because it ran for five years.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Oh my god, but that doesn't mean it's crazy five.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Years cynically true. Technically true.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
So it did run for three and then it ran
for two more and.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
By the way, I've seen Shelly, but I'm like looking
at this and I'm like, I'm like this is correct, right,
I'm like figuring about to it because this is one
of the few films that was like known in like
California film schools really before people started caring about Bollywood.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
It makes sense. I remember watching that as a young
child because my family would go they'd rent Bollywood movies
from like the local Indian grosser, and we would rent
that one over and overan because I loved it. And
there was even a play I was in as a
kid where I played the bad guy and Gubber Singh,
who I'm jed Con played in the movie, and like
that's some of the dialogue. I can still if pressed,
(22:53):
I can still do it.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Really, I'm not gonna make you do it. But now,
anyone who watches this podcast, if you see him in
the water, I wouldn't make him do it, Like make
him do it.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Yeah, I mean I could do some, but I'm not.
I dig it.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
We're gonna move into the final trivia question. Okay, yes,
this is the final trivia question. This is a great one,
and I have a feeling this is also gonna be
one You're not gonna get wrong. Michael Mann's nineteen to
eighty one film Beef was nominated for a Razzie Award
for Worst Score.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
True or False, Boy, I can only that feels too
specific not to be true, so I'm gonna say true.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
It is true, and it was composed by Tangerine Dream,
and despite being nominated for worst score, Michael Mann use
them again for the nineteen eighty three film The Key.
There must be like a book out there of all
of the weird score stories with Tangerine Dream, because that
also has two scores on the legend the Ridley Scott
for nineteen eighty five. Yeah, one of them's Tangerine Dream.
(23:53):
The other one is Jerry Goldsmith. I think Jerry Goldsmith
was the one they put in theaters like Tangerine Dream.
That's an acquired TAKEE.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
I would have said, if you hadn't finished the question,
I would have said, I know all about the score.
I love that movie. I love Michael Mann, and I
love Thief. It's my favorite film out of all of
his movies, and I love the score in particular.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Oh so you love it, so you're one of the
people to go again.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
I think it's criminal that it got a razzy. I
think it's just so iconic and it fit the theme
in the time was nineteen eighty one. I think I
think it is criminally under recognized and yeah, you said it.
The Tangerine Dream then went on to do other movies
risky Business. A lot of people heard that score and
they liked it.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
But they've had like several like instances because there's such
I think an acquired taste, because it's very, very heavily synthy.
It's like they're really ethereal I think with some of
their stuff, and like also very gritty. I don't know
if that's everyone. Like they are the perfect version of
like urban paranormal activity, you know what I mean, Like,
I don't know if that is.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
We kind of bring that back and I take that
back to the office. See if you get it.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Into another urban paranormal Listen, now you get to ask
me questions.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Oh love it? Okay?
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Are you ready as I'll ever be?
Speaker 2 (25:06):
All right, here's the first one. You can't kill a ghost,
and the choices are a candy man, be the born
ultimatum or see the dead don't.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Die the dead don't die. You can't kill a ghost. Uh,
I'm it's either candy man or the born ultimatum. So
I'm gonna go with candy Man. Is a born ultimatum.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
It's the born you said if you I could do it.
You knew it.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
I know, because like I was, like, I think I
can actually picture you can't kill a ghost because he
was supposed to be dead. Yeah, that's fair. I knew
it was one of the two. So we're fine.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
You're that. That's still pretty good. You got there. I
got there. I give you that one. Thank you that one.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Nobody else I.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Get to decide.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
You can decide. This is true.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
I enjoyed being having the power of being with the greater. Okay,
here's another one. If you want Time by the magazine? Okay,
all right, the choices are a about time be while
we're young, or s the Fast and the Furious.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
This is what's sad. I think I know, but I
don't remember the quote. Say it again, if you want
Time by the magazine Fast and Furious?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Yes, okay, who says it?
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Though? I just don't remember the quote.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
I don't remember either, but it is like just cheeky
enough to.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Like, that's what I'm saying, who says oh in the movie,
Paul Walker says it?
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Does he really?
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Yes, Paul Walker says it. Okay. I was just like,
who says that? That's what I can't picture, And I
think it's because I try to think about Paul anymore,
because it just makes you sad.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Whenever you see that title for Fast and Furious, you
have to really parse the where the articles are and
the language to know which one it is, because sometimes
the numbers aren't in there. So that was what I
was most focused on. M Okay, here's another one. Break
off limbs and heads, pile them up, easy peasy, got it? Okay.
(26:59):
The choices are a five nights at Freddy's, b the
Witch or see the Bad Guys.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
I guess this is gonna be five nights at Freddy's, right, yeah,
answer this question, yea, yeah, it's.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Got to be five nights.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Got it?
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Totally? Totally.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
So shout out to Matthew Lillard in that movie. Can
I just say, like, I don't know you as a person,
but him in that movie was my favorite thing ever.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
He is great. He's so great. He's doing an unscripted
show for us called Killer Cakes and it's just such
a great personality. And yeah, like a horror legend from
from from from Scream yea too.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
And that's also kind of tipped me off as a
movie person the minute I saw him, Like, you are
not just here to be the kickoff exposition, sweetie.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
There's another Matthew a Lord of moment coming in the movie.
You knew?
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Oh yeah, I was like, you are going to return
at some point.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
All right, are you ready for another one? Okay, here
we go. This one's longer. Now you're stuck in this day. Congrats.
Oh and by the way, you're gonna die again again
and again. The choices are death Race, Happy Death Day
to You or Puss in Boots the last wish?
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Uh Happy death Day to you? Right, yeah, that's uh.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
The Plumbhouse ones are obviously going to be the answer here.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Well, no, but Happy death Day. I've did a lot
of stuff with Happy Death Day. I would never forget that.
Jessica is the cute sweetheart.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
She's really great thematically. They'll just could totally work with
Puss and Boots.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
It could work with Yeah, totally. No, I got that one. Well,
that was great. I did. Okay, I feel like I
was serviceable.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
You did great.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
I didn't miss fast serious. The gearheads will not come
for me. They would have. They're worse. Some swifties don't
let it, don't let you get it to.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Is it great to have fans that are that passionate
and care about something though so lovely our Five Nights
at Freddy's fans are like that. Anytime anything there's a
whiff of it in social or they read something about it,
it just like blows up. It feels like you're, you know, unsheathing,
like the like the bazooka and you're bringing out You're like,
this thing's going to go off. It's gonna seem innocuous,
(29:12):
and then there's going to be a giant explosion.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Would you want to be any other place? No?
Speaker 2 (29:16):
No, It's it's amazing. We were talking about it earlier,
but it's amazing to see the things that you work
on have an impact in the world and in culture,
and boy, anything that we do that touches the Five
Nights at Freddy's. You know that property from what Scot
Coughlin created and then what we amplified with the movie,
it is just still so potent in the world.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
So I'm going to give you a little rapid fire questions.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
First things, like a series of tests. That's what this is.
It feels like a cop for.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
A bit to begin. It's not just that, but I
want to know more about you, So yeah, how else
can you do? That? First thing comes to mind? No
wrong answers, favorite movie, snack, popcorn, lots of popcorn, nor better,
but like, yeah, popcorn, okay, last show you binged?
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Oh I don't get to make the choices in my house,
so don't judge my answer. But like other folks of
a certain age, the perfect couple, Oh that was a
good one.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Mine the worst roommate, se love it, You're on brand.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
That should have been my answer, I know, but it
was mine.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
I'm literally telling you the truth. What actor can do?
No wrong in your estimation?
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Oh boy, Well he's no longer with us, but Paul
Newman was always my forever Any choice.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Popular answer my answer as well? Really yes, go to
the movie theater alone? Yes or no?
Speaker 2 (30:36):
One hundred percent?
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Yes, awesome, favorite classic universal film?
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Oh boy, I love the monsters. It's when I was
working at the studio, spent a lot of time figuring
out how we bring them back in different ways. But
I'm partial and I'll stay on brand. The Invisible Man
was I think as a classic, but also how it
was reinvented and brought back to relevance most recently, you know,
(31:01):
is one of my favorites.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
It's not The Invisible Man. But did you know also,
since you were part of Blumhouse, who again the folks
that made Paranormal Activity where the very first jump scare
happened in cinema. No, I don't think I do Phantom
of the Opera. Really, yeah, it's in the universal classic
films Phantom of the Opera. It is attributed as the
first cinematic jump scare when they pull off his mask
(31:24):
and the organ goes right.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
That's the first one.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
That is the very first jump scare attributed on cinema.
Maybe somebody in their backyard did it, but that's the
one that that that's got the credit in the book.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
That's incredible.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
So you were within the house that literally built jump scares.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Yeah, yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Well, abuj, this was great. It was so great to
with you. I would say come back, but it's a
one time thing, but I'll see you around. This is great.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Thank you. So much for having me. It was a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
It's not a pa
This episode of Scene on the Screen is brought to
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Stream hit films from Universal Pictures, Illumination, Focus, Features, DreamWorks, Animation,
(00:20):
and more. Sit back, relax and enjoy the show. Because
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Speaker 2 (00:28):
I love Michael Mann and I love Thief. It's my
favorite film out of all of his movies. I love
the score in particular.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Oh so you love it, so you're one of the
people too, Go again.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I think it's criminal that it got a Razzi.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Hello, I'm Jaquil and Coley. Welcome to Scene on the Screen,
brought to you by Make It Universal and Rotten Tomatoes,
where we talk movies with some of the people behind
the scenes at NBC Universal. When entertainment works best, sometimes
it opens a window into a world we've never imagined.
Other times it shows us mirror image of our lives
with a heighth and sense of home. Today, we're going
(01:02):
to dig into the question what have you seen on
the screen that has done that. My guest today is
President of Blumhouse, Abajet Prakash. You'll learn how Blumhouse has
changed the horror game, what benchmark convinced his parents that
a career in film was a great job, and which
Universal Pictures icon he used to visit on the lot
and he needed to pick me up. Abaja, Welcome to
(01:31):
the podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Okay, so first things first, it's my favorite question, but
I have to tweak it a little bit for you.
Who are you and how are you associated with NBC Universal.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Well, I'm Abaje Prakash. I'm currently president at Blumhouse. I
worked at Universal for a long time, for almost seventeen years.
I started here as an intern way back when, and
then about two years a little over two years ago,
I moved over to Blumhouse. So not at NBC Universal,
but still in the family. Obviously, are most important film
partnership is with Universal.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yeah, and I would say Universal works with a ton
of partners, but Blumhouse has become synonymous with Universal Pictures
from everything we do at Halloween Horror Nights to everything
at the box office. I mean, it's really it's bigger
than just even the films. But tell me a little
bit about how that was for you transitioning. I would
imagine this is one of those things where that's actually
(02:23):
the benefit of working at a place like this is
there's tons of stories like yours where they worked here
for a while and then grew into other parts of
the business.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Yeah, I mean it was super organic, like you said,
And even my experience at Universal, I had worked in
kind of different divisions at Focus and A DreamWorks, as
well as kind of at the main studio, and so
this in some ways kind of felt like another version
of that. I over the time working at Universal got
to know Jason and a lot of the team at
Blumhouse pretty well, and when I was looking to do
(02:51):
something that was, you know, a little smaller and being
a little bit closer to the filmmaking process, it was
kind of a natural or organic thing that happened, you know,
pretty easily, really, And like you said, because I've worked
here for so long at Universal, so much of our
business still is me talking to people like Donna and
(03:13):
Peter Kramer and Michael Moses and Dwight on the phone,
and so I still have all those connections and it's
super helpful for how we do business. And you know,
Jimmy Horowitz is on our board and I work with
Jimmy for like almost twenty years, so it's really easy.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Yeah. So Donna Langley Chairman of Content for Universal, Michael Moses,
Head of Marketing CMO, and then Peter Kramer, head of
production for those that are not as in the registry.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
All the names like everybody's you know, on the same
phone sheet as.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
There's this is the podcast. Drop them if you got them, Like,
if you have the names, we are down to hear
them because it is a well, look, it's a heavy
it's a heavy room. As they say, when you walk
the halls of Universal, you know, there's a lot of
there's a lot of people that are making culture, they're
making art, and Blumhouse is a huge part of that.
But I'd love for you to talk talk about how
you started as a film fan. I would assume to
(04:03):
then eventually lead you to be a Universal Pictures in turn,
before we get into your time more recently with Bloemhouse.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, sure, you know. I'm the child of immigrants. My
parents immigranted from India in the late sixties and I
grew up in suburban Boston and going all the way back.
I know, this is like the full therapist couch answer.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I'm here for it.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I would I you know, in retrospect kind of psychoanalyzing.
Myself was really looking to fit in, you know, as
one of the only brown kids in a largely white suburb.
And I think my way of doing that was pop culture.
Was movies, music, sports, even politics, things that I could
connect with other people over and just in that process,
(04:46):
I mean, I fell in love with storytelling and movies
and growing up in the you know, cable TV era,
you know, had access to you know, way more than
people before me, not as much as people today, but
in that process fell in love with movies. It even
also started with my parents being from India. They're big
Indian film fans, you know, Bollywood fans. There's a great
(05:07):
picture of me, I think when I was just tiny,
like in the late seventies, on an Indian movie set
with a star and my mom and you know, he's
must in my hair's this actor, Seshi Kapor and so
it's been there from the beginning. So there were going
to the movies with my dad. There were Indian movies
when I was a kid, and it just instilled in
me this you know, fascination with filmmaking and storytelling and
(05:31):
not just in being enthralled with getting lost in it
and the imagination, also how it in formed points of
view also how I could speak to your personal experience,
and that just stayed with me until I don't know,
some point after college when I kind of realized, oh,
you could have a career in it. I always just
thought I would have this distance. It's like it's a
thing I consume with the money I make and the
(05:52):
time I have. But when I made that connection that
there was a possibility of like working in it and
I could contribute in some way, you know, that's sort
of that changed everything for me, you know, personally and
professionally moving to LA and trying to find a job
in the business.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
I mean, I think that's so cool and I love that.
That's a part of this podcast is because there's so
many positions out there that folks didn't even know existed before.
You kind of you can dare to dream to be there,
but they can see, you know, interviews with folks like
you and other folks that we've spoken to, and they'd
be like, oh, this is a job like they pay
people for this. I think it's so funny that you
talk about how you grew up loving cinema and loving storytelling,
(06:30):
because I'm sure your parents, who cultivated and nurtured your
love of art and filmmaking and storytelling, we're almost feeling betrayed.
I'm sure they were like, what movies.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
No, yeah, no, there was a list. It was doctor first,
engineer second, and that was a whole list. You know,
maybe being a lawyer like crept to the bottom of
the list. And it was very much built in this
mentality of I came here with nothing, and you guys
are here and I need to know that you can
be fed and have a life and you know, give
me grandchildren one day, and those are the only careers
(07:00):
that I can be assured, you know, will it'll happen
for you. And even though the we watched a lot
of movies that went to the movies and you know,
engaged in the consumption of pop culture, they never made
the connection of oh, you might work in it.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
That was not allowed.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
It's just something you do with your free time. And
it was always the joke was, you know, for me
and other people like me who are considering careers in
that area. It was like, you can do that on
the side. I mean, that's a nice hobby.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
You know.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I had a friend who was trying to be an
actor at the same time that I moved out here,
and they're like, he should do that on the side
and then apply to.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Med school and med school and acting.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
And it took. Yeah, of course, those things naturally go together.
It's like peanut butter and chocolate.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
It took. It took a long time, I think, until
I had the trappings of a real job, like an office,
a reserve parking space. Uh, you know, a phone number,
someone who occasionally answered my phone if I wasn't there.
That they were like, oh, this is a thing, and
I'm okay with it. But it took. It took a
long time because they had to to, you know, to
(07:57):
reframe themselves. But also I painment too negative light. They
were supportive of anything that gave me passion and joy,
and they never tried to block it or stop it
or cut me off or anything like that. They were like,
are you sure, seems risky. But when it worked out
in the end, they were always obviously, you know, pretty
pretty happy.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
I would admit I would imagine, like, you know, head
of a studio. I'm sure they've they've gotten a peek
inside of some of the perks. But let's talk a
little bit about your work at Lumhouse too, because I
know that you definitely worked with Jason a lot prior
to going over there. But that is in a way
a Hollywood story within Hollywood. To see how that studio
has just grown in the past few years and more importantly,
(08:37):
really changed the way Hora is seen.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Yeah, yeah, I think it's remarkable. There's so much of
what Jason and the team have built that is kind
of revolutionary and totally different than you know, the norms
of how the business conducted, right, micro budgets, building failure
into the system, even being willing to change the way
distribution works. You know, one of my favorite things in
(09:02):
the time I was at Universal and engaging with Jason.
Usually I get the phone call it was like we've
got a problem, or we have a thing where you
don't know how to figure it out, or we're thinking
about doing this and would you mind talking to Jason
Or he'd call me and say they're thinking about doing this.
In one of those moments, actually was Invisible Man when
and it wasn't so much find the movie was was
(09:24):
was starting, you know, a part of this shift where
IP became part of what Blumhouse was doing, but still
within the Blumhouse model. Obviously the great success, but I
remember right after the release is when COVID started, and yeah,
there was like this moment of Okay, what are we
going to do with this movie that's doing so well
at the box office. And that's when we were rolling
out the plan at the studio of doing premium video
(09:45):
on demand. And then it's you know, being one of many,
but one of the people who was explaining to Jason
like house is going to work and how it would
still be you know, result in a yield a good
result hopefully for the company, and then updating him. I
remember every like Thursday and Saturdays we get the results
from you know, the Home Entertainment team of saying like
(10:05):
this is what it means and translating Okay, this much
pivot revenue would have been this much box office. But
Jason was on board the whole time, right of like, Okay,
I want to figure this out. I want to be
a part of how things are changing, and I really
always admired his willingness to lean into new things, and
now being at the company, I still feel that. Right
we're growing our volume. We've got a lot of great
(10:26):
movies coming in the next year. We've got a mix
of IP and originals. And so it's not even like
I did one thing and I did it great and
I'm only going to do that, But just being able
to evolve and still grow and still try to push
the boundaries of what can be done in the business
I think so remarkable. And there's two elements of it.
There's the scary stories part of it, and then there's
(10:48):
also the you know, low cost, high creative freedom, bet
on yourself philosophy, and both of those things, you know,
permeate through the halls of everything we do at Blumhouse.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
I really dig it. And that brings me to my
next question before we dive into some of the stuff
that you've seen on the screen, and that's what you're
been most proud of that you've done, either at your
time at Universal or at your time at Blumhouse, Because
this is something I think folks in your position take
very seriously, is that you influence culture. It's more than
just the two hours that somebody is escaping from whatever
(11:19):
they're escaping from. They cry, they laugh, they giggle, whatever
it's really can influence more than that.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah, boy, most proud. It's hard to pick like a thing.
I'd say. The first time when I moved out of
I was I was like running the strategy department side
of the film studio. And then I remember having this
real honest conversation with Donna about Focused Features, and you know,
we wanted to change how things were operating there and
(11:47):
kind of written up a plan and I handed her
this piece of paper and she handed it back to
me and she's like, I think you should do it
this time, and I was like I kind of was
thinking that too, And so then going over there and
then building a slate with my partners with Peter Kajowski,
who's obviously still killing it there, and building that slate
and having movies like The Darkest Dowur and Phantom Thread
(12:10):
come out in that first stretch, but really resetting the
company on this new trajectory at the time, and now
that it's still continuing and flourishing, it gives me great
joy even today to see how well it's going. And
I had a similar experience in DreamWorks animation, honestly, which
started with a couple of years. It takes a lot
longer to build the slate because of the animation process.
But how to Train Your Dragon three being one of
(12:33):
the first things that emerged post the combination with Universal.
That movie's incredible. I love that franchise. I'm so excited.
I remember talking about the live action possibility and I'm
so excited that's coming too. So if I had to
point to a couple of things, it's really how those
businesses trajectories changed in the role I got to play
in it, and then every honestly, every single one of
(12:54):
the releases that comes out, I take great pride in
because I know that there's a whole system and behind
it that's allowing that to sustain itself. And I've always
thought about my job that way or my contributions, honestly,
as there's this incredible thing which is filmmaking movies, and
(13:14):
I want to be able to sustain its creation. And
so my rule is what can I do to make
this sustainable and thrive? Because on one phase that you're
like you're making art, and like that seems really hard
to sustain and make money and employ all these people
and grow and function as a business. But I love
that challenge of like, oh no, no, there's a way
(13:36):
actually for this to really work and to flourish and
to empower people and influence people and form people and
capture their imagination. And so putting my own particular spot
inside the system is okay, how do I sustain the
creation of this thing and how it can keep going?
Is is kind of what I've always thought of as
my mission.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Well, thank you for talking a little bit about your
journey and how you are still very much associated with
MVA Universal. But now we're going to dive into our
popcorn buckets and the things that you have seen on
the screen. So I'm going to read these out. It
is going to be a quote from a film that
you've hopefully seen on the screen. If you have a
special connection to it, let it fly. But I think
(14:17):
you're gonna be great on this. Let's go. Life is
just like that. Sometimes we're hoping for a unicorn and
we get a goat.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Oh that's despicable me. Yes, that is WI one, but
I remember it's a despicable me.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
It's Despicable Me. Three. The house that the Minion's built.
I know it's grew story and Despicable me, but I
just do have to say that we're on the lot,
there's a huge Minion like right overlooking us, like right
here in between the Despicable means.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
You overlooking like the one on one I see the office.
I see that one every day.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Yeah, sorry, I should say that, Yes, overlooking basically all
of the valley, not just me, but I stare at it.
But no, it's just between that and the Minions and
just how like it's a global.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Brand totally, totally. It's incredible. Every time you're in some
far flung place in the world and you see one
of the Minions, it's yeah, it's kind of an amazing
thing of like, oh this is this is this what
it was like when like Mickey Mouse or Superman was
first created and it just popped up all over and
everybody's attachment to it. It's kind of unreal.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Also, I really love the Minion speak. It's like a
real thing, like this is like a whole like language,
and like it's not just gibberish, like there's a there's
a science behind it. I was like, I did not
know this. I've seen the video. Is there anything else
that you have attached to Despicable I mean.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
I remember my kids were very young, but that was
one of I mean, the Despicable Me premieres and the
Minion premiers are incredible. They're like a whole amusement park
for the opening of a movie. And I brought as
soon as they could, like be awake for that long
I brought. We brought them to one of those premieres.
It was incredible, and then they went to every single
(15:58):
one and like can we bring for Like there's a
limit to how many people we can bring, but they
are some of the most cherished memories we have, and
there's great photographs of that time and rides, and yeah,
it was. It was one of those really special moments
when you can bring you know, work and the enjoyment
that I had at work, when I could do that
to my family. It doesn't happen all the time, but
(16:19):
when you can, it's just it's like a real exponential effect.
And that was one of those things where you can
marry the work that you do with you know, enjoyment
for the family and have that all happen in one go.
And definitely, all the Despicable mean, movies even now are
still like that for us.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
I dig it. Please let the dreams be real.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Oh, this is black.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Phone, This is Black Phone, which was I shouldn't say
this because nobody who makes a movie wants to think
that it's surprising how successful it is. But that was
a surprise hit for some people, like and I mean,
looking at the slate, we're gonna obviously do the sequel
and yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Yeah, well we're going to Blackphone too. Now it's it's
it'll come out later in twenty twenty five. We're super
excited about it. I remember, though, going back to when
the first one was just dating and you know, you
can hear the concept and sound spooky. I mean it
was the way I was raised that in like the eighties,
(17:17):
that was the most terrifying thing could ever happen, which
is stranger with balloons in a van. But all of
that just went to another level when the visage the
mask became the iconography of the movie, became a part
of it. I mean, for me, everything clicked into place
(17:38):
when you see that, because, like, already what was a
pretty chilling spooky concept went to another level when you
could just see the visual that Scott Dereckson and the
team came up with to accompany the story. And then
the way that Ethan carried it off. I mean, it's
just Ethan Hawk carried it off. It's just all was
executed at such a high level. And I think that's
a secret of how the movie became so successful. It
(17:59):
opened to a pretty good number, but then it's multiple
was was great. So really just played and played at
the box office and got to this amazing almost two
hundred million worldwide box office performance.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
And it's another example I think of sort of the
Blumhouse model. I mean, this is a house that was
built on paranormal activity, in which case I say, if
it's a good idea, you can do it again. It's
true though, but it is absolutely true because but that's
not the only sequel. I mean, we're going to get
a Megan two this year.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Megan two and five Nights at Freddy's too. Yeah. So
three of our kind of biggest franchise is all going
to have sequels coming in twenty twenty five, which is remarkable,
and we really feel like there's a lot more storytelling
to be done in all of those worlds.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
We'll be right back after.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
This do you love movies? Whyt to explore how they're
made and marketed. Check out Don't Kill the Messenger, the
podcast that dives deep into the careers of Hollywood luminaries.
Posted by entertainment research expert Kevin Getz. The interviews are
(19:03):
intimate conversations between friends and a powerful filmmaking masterclass. Discover
what it really takes to bring your favorite movies to life.
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favorite podcast platform.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
And now back to the show, and we're going to
put our quotes away, and now we're going to dive
into our other popcorn buckets.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
I should have looked at those beforehand.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
No, no cheating. This one's gonna be true or false,
all right. A giant shark used in Jaws was nicknamed Bruce,
after Steven Spielberg's lawyer, Bruce Ramer.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
True or false, that's one hundred percent true. Jaws is
my favorite movie. And there was always a special thrill
to work at Universal. And you know, if my energy
level is low, like in a video game, the way
your energy level for a character can go down, I
go for a walk or maybe even get to take
a card out and just cruise around the back loot
for a minute during my lunch break, and just seeing
(20:09):
the shark or people reacted to the shark, and then
seeing you know that they're all these sound stages around.
My energy will come right back up and be ready
to go tackle whatever I had attack for the for
the afternoon. So, Bruce, Jaws, iconic movie. Deep you know,
spot in in my brain and in my heart as
(20:29):
as my favorite film. I spent a lot of time
in Martha's vineyard actually in this in the summers, and
which is where Jaws is famously shot. You can still
see remnants of the Orca, you know, at a place
not too far from my house, and like all the
locations where they filmed, so I can't even avoid it,
Like I love it and it's around me, and I
(20:50):
know I've read so many of the books about the
filmmaking of it and the shooting of it. When I
was in film school, I took a course on Spielberg's
movies and spend a lot of time breaking it down
shot by shot. So yeah, there's there wasn't going to
be a Jaws question that I wasn't going to get right.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
And when you say the Orca because I'm not as
big of a Jaws fanatic as you. I saw it
once and then it just made me never want to
go to the water again.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
So I still watch I watch it all the time.
I still am terrified of the water, although I do
go in it quite a bit. But every time there's
a shadow, you're like, what am I doing doing it?
The orca is Quin's ship that he goes out to
try to hunt the shark on, and they'd built it
for for the movie, which obviously now fifty years ago,
(21:33):
so it's like pieces of wood. Now, it's not like
anything that resembles the ship, but you can still see
it when you cruise around in the little harbor there
in chill mark.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Message that is instagrammable. I would go, I would go,
all right, next tru or Falls. Ramesh Sippy's film show
La ran uninterrupted for three years and Move buys Minerva Theater.
True or false?
Speaker 2 (21:57):
I remember that film and it was a huge hit.
It was kind of this iconic Bollywood classic.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
I think true false because it ran for five years.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Oh my god, but that doesn't mean it's crazy five.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Years cynically true. Technically true.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
So it did run for three and then it ran
for two more and.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
By the way, I've seen Shelly, but I'm like looking
at this and I'm like, I'm like this is correct, right,
I'm like figuring about to it because this is one
of the few films that was like known in like
California film schools really before people started caring about Bollywood.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
It makes sense. I remember watching that as a young
child because my family would go they'd rent Bollywood movies
from like the local Indian grosser, and we would rent
that one over and overan because I loved it. And
there was even a play I was in as a
kid where I played the bad guy and Gubber Singh,
who I'm jed Con played in the movie, and like
that's some of the dialogue. I can still if pressed,
(22:53):
I can still do it.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Really, I'm not gonna make you do it. But now,
anyone who watches this podcast, if you see him in
the water, I wouldn't make him do it, Like make
him do it.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Yeah, I mean I could do some, but I'm not.
I dig it.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
We're gonna move into the final trivia question. Okay, yes,
this is the final trivia question. This is a great one,
and I have a feeling this is also gonna be
one You're not gonna get wrong. Michael Mann's nineteen to
eighty one film Beef was nominated for a Razzie Award
for Worst Score.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
True or False, Boy, I can only that feels too
specific not to be true, so I'm gonna say true.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
It is true, and it was composed by Tangerine Dream,
and despite being nominated for worst score, Michael Mann use
them again for the nineteen eighty three film The Key.
There must be like a book out there of all
of the weird score stories with Tangerine Dream, because that
also has two scores on the legend the Ridley Scott
for nineteen eighty five. Yeah, one of them's Tangerine Dream.
(23:53):
The other one is Jerry Goldsmith. I think Jerry Goldsmith
was the one they put in theaters like Tangerine Dream.
That's an acquired TAKEE.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
I would have said, if you hadn't finished the question,
I would have said, I know all about the score.
I love that movie. I love Michael Mann, and I
love Thief. It's my favorite film out of all of
his movies, and I love the score in particular.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Oh so you love it, so you're one of the
people to go again.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
I think it's criminal that it got a razzy. I
think it's just so iconic and it fit the theme
in the time was nineteen eighty one. I think I
think it is criminally under recognized and yeah, you said it.
The Tangerine Dream then went on to do other movies
risky Business. A lot of people heard that score and
they liked it.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
But they've had like several like instances because there's such
I think an acquired taste, because it's very, very heavily synthy.
It's like they're really ethereal I think with some of
their stuff, and like also very gritty. I don't know
if that's everyone. Like they are the perfect version of
like urban paranormal activity, you know what I mean, Like,
I don't know if that is.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
We kind of bring that back and I take that
back to the office. See if you get it.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Into another urban paranormal Listen, now you get to ask
me questions.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Oh love it? Okay?
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Are you ready as I'll ever be?
Speaker 2 (25:06):
All right, here's the first one. You can't kill a ghost,
and the choices are a candy man, be the born
ultimatum or see the dead don't.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Die the dead don't die. You can't kill a ghost. Uh,
I'm it's either candy man or the born ultimatum. So
I'm gonna go with candy Man. Is a born ultimatum.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
It's the born you said if you I could do it.
You knew it.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
I know, because like I was, like, I think I
can actually picture you can't kill a ghost because he
was supposed to be dead. Yeah, that's fair. I knew
it was one of the two. So we're fine.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
You're that. That's still pretty good. You got there. I
got there. I give you that one. Thank you that one.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Nobody else I.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Get to decide.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
You can decide. This is true.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
I enjoyed being having the power of being with the greater. Okay,
here's another one. If you want Time by the magazine? Okay,
all right, the choices are a about time be while
we're young, or s the Fast and the Furious.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
This is what's sad. I think I know, but I
don't remember the quote. Say it again, if you want
Time by the magazine Fast and Furious?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Yes, okay, who says it?
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Though? I just don't remember the quote.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
I don't remember either, but it is like just cheeky
enough to.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Like, that's what I'm saying, who says oh in the movie,
Paul Walker says it?
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Does he really?
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Yes, Paul Walker says it. Okay. I was just like,
who says that? That's what I can't picture, And I
think it's because I try to think about Paul anymore,
because it just makes you sad.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Whenever you see that title for Fast and Furious, you
have to really parse the where the articles are and
the language to know which one it is, because sometimes
the numbers aren't in there. So that was what I
was most focused on. M Okay, here's another one. Break
off limbs and heads, pile them up, easy peasy, got it? Okay.
(26:59):
The choices are a five nights at Freddy's, b the
Witch or see the Bad Guys.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
I guess this is gonna be five nights at Freddy's, right, yeah,
answer this question, yea, yeah, it's.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Got to be five nights.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Got it?
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Totally? Totally.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
So shout out to Matthew Lillard in that movie. Can
I just say, like, I don't know you as a person,
but him in that movie was my favorite thing ever.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
He is great. He's so great. He's doing an unscripted
show for us called Killer Cakes and it's just such
a great personality. And yeah, like a horror legend from
from from from Scream yea too.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
And that's also kind of tipped me off as a
movie person the minute I saw him, Like, you are
not just here to be the kickoff exposition, sweetie.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
There's another Matthew a Lord of moment coming in the movie.
You knew?
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Oh yeah, I was like, you are going to return
at some point.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
All right, are you ready for another one? Okay, here
we go. This one's longer. Now you're stuck in this day. Congrats.
Oh and by the way, you're gonna die again again
and again. The choices are death Race, Happy Death Day
to You or Puss in Boots the last wish?
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Uh Happy death Day to you? Right, yeah, that's uh.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
The Plumbhouse ones are obviously going to be the answer here.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Well, no, but Happy death Day. I've did a lot
of stuff with Happy Death Day. I would never forget that.
Jessica is the cute sweetheart.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
She's really great thematically. They'll just could totally work with
Puss and Boots.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
It could work with Yeah, totally. No, I got that one. Well,
that was great. I did. Okay, I feel like I
was serviceable.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
You did great.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
I didn't miss fast serious. The gearheads will not come
for me. They would have. They're worse. Some swifties don't
let it, don't let you get it to.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Is it great to have fans that are that passionate
and care about something though so lovely our Five Nights
at Freddy's fans are like that. Anytime anything there's a
whiff of it in social or they read something about it,
it just like blows up. It feels like you're, you know, unsheathing,
like the like the bazooka and you're bringing out You're like,
this thing's going to go off. It's gonna seem innocuous,
(29:12):
and then there's going to be a giant explosion.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Would you want to be any other place? No?
Speaker 2 (29:16):
No, It's it's amazing. We were talking about it earlier,
but it's amazing to see the things that you work
on have an impact in the world and in culture,
and boy, anything that we do that touches the Five
Nights at Freddy's. You know that property from what Scot
Coughlin created and then what we amplified with the movie,
it is just still so potent in the world.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
So I'm going to give you a little rapid fire questions.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
First things, like a series of tests. That's what this is.
It feels like a cop for.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
A bit to begin. It's not just that, but I
want to know more about you, So yeah, how else
can you do? That? First thing comes to mind? No
wrong answers, favorite movie, snack, popcorn, lots of popcorn, nor better,
but like, yeah, popcorn, okay, last show you binged?
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Oh I don't get to make the choices in my house,
so don't judge my answer. But like other folks of
a certain age, the perfect couple, Oh that was a
good one.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Mine the worst roommate, se love it, You're on brand.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
That should have been my answer, I know, but it
was mine.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
I'm literally telling you the truth. What actor can do?
No wrong in your estimation?
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Oh boy, Well he's no longer with us, but Paul
Newman was always my forever Any choice.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Popular answer my answer as well? Really yes, go to
the movie theater alone? Yes or no?
Speaker 2 (30:36):
One hundred percent?
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Yes, awesome, favorite classic universal film?
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Oh boy, I love the monsters. It's when I was
working at the studio, spent a lot of time figuring
out how we bring them back in different ways. But
I'm partial and I'll stay on brand. The Invisible Man
was I think as a classic, but also how it
was reinvented and brought back to relevance most recently, you know,
(31:01):
is one of my favorites.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
It's not The Invisible Man. But did you know also,
since you were part of Blumhouse, who again the folks
that made Paranormal Activity where the very first jump scare
happened in cinema. No, I don't think I do Phantom
of the Opera. Really, yeah, it's in the universal classic
films Phantom of the Opera. It is attributed as the
first cinematic jump scare when they pull off his mask
(31:24):
and the organ goes right.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
That's the first one.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
That is the very first jump scare attributed on cinema.
Maybe somebody in their backyard did it, but that's the
one that that that's got the credit in the book.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
That's incredible.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
So you were within the house that literally built jump scares.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Yeah, yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Well, abuj, this was great. It was so great to
with you. I would say come back, but it's a
one time thing, but I'll see you around. This is great.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Thank you. So much for having me. It was a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
It's not a pa
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