November 14, 2024 • 24 mins
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Academy Award-winning Producer of "Forrest Gump," Steve Starkey, discusses his new book, "Stupid Is as Stupid Does -- The Unlikely Journey of a Producer on Forrest Gump," available where books are sold.
In Stupid Is as Stupid Does, producer Steve Starkey reveals the incredible, behind-the-scenes journey of making Forrest Gump. The film crew, led by director Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks, tackled huge challenges across epic locations, from South Carolina backroads to the Vietnam jungles. Starkey shares the magic and obstacles, from finding iconic sites to creating groundbreaking visual effects. Get an insider's look at how they brought this Oscar-winning classic to life, complete with stories and film stills capturing unforgettable moments on set.
Academy Award-winning Producer of "Forrest Gump," Steve Starkey, discusses his new book, "Stupid Is as Stupid Does -- The Unlikely Journey of a Producer on Forrest Gump," available where books are sold.
In Stupid Is as Stupid Does, producer Steve Starkey reveals the incredible, behind-the-scenes journey of making Forrest Gump. The film crew, led by director Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks, tackled huge challenges across epic locations, from South Carolina backroads to the Vietnam jungles. Starkey shares the magic and obstacles, from finding iconic sites to creating groundbreaking visual effects. Get an insider's look at how they brought this Oscar-winning classic to life, complete with stories and film stills capturing unforgettable moments on set.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Jam Brice Show, All about Movies.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
You're listening to The Jam Price Show All about Movies,
and today my guest is Academy Award winning producer and
author Steve Starkey, and we're going to talk about his
bran new book called Stupid is as Stupid does. For
those who are watching on YouTube, here it is for you,
and it is about the whole process of producing this
(00:28):
film Forrest Gump. It's pretty amazing actually, so I can't
wait to get into it. You know, everybody always asks
what does a producer do? That's always a question I
get and other people get. And after reading this book,
we realized they do everything, absolutely everything.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Which is I think why you know, why it attracted me,
you know, into that role is you know, at the
time I was pretty isolated in the editing room and
my mentor at the time, Frank Marshall, was overseeing directing
this documentary. I was editing, and he would describe his
experiences on the movie set and it seemed all encompassing,
(01:09):
and I thought, wow, that's that would really be fun.
You know, you get to have your fingers in all
the different aspects of filmmaking from beginning to end, and
you know, when you're sitting isolated in an editing room,
you really start fantasizing about this, you know, crazy life.
You could be living like what Frank was doing, and.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Your life became very crazy afterwards. Because it's really fascinating.
It's a fascinating book for for anyone.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I mean, this movie is beloved. It's one of my
top five favorite movies. And I say I got to
see it again on the big screen this past summer.
The wonderful Granada Theater here in Santa Barbara had four
Saturday nights of the Robert Zamtchis films, and the last
one that they showed was for Forst. Company. You were
(01:58):
there a Q and A prior to the film, and
you had so many fascinating stories about it. But as
I said to you, I hadn't seen it in a
number of years.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Here.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
It has been the thirtieth anniversary when it came out,
and it meant it touched me even more. And I
think as we get older or different periods of our lives,
movies have different effects on us at different times, and
this one really did affect me at a deeper level,
even more than the first time. And I've always loved
this movie. Have you had that reaction to people because
(02:28):
you're you're out there showing it now again on a
book tour.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, it's just you know, when you see movies on
the big screen, they affect you, you know, much more personally,
I think than when you're just sitting at home watching,
you know, streaming a film. And so it's kind of
refreshing to go out and let the movie envelop you
in the way that it only happens in a movie theater,
particularly if you have, like in the screen that you
(02:53):
went to, you had a pretty good sized audience, and
the audience you can kind of feel everybody is sort
of feeling the same thing with you when you're sad
or when you're laughing, and it's contagious and so yeah,
people have said to me, you know, they've had a
delight in seeing the movie again on the big strings.
So wow, I didn't realize it was such an epic size,
(03:16):
you know, a movie, and that it was so emotional,
and that Tom Hanks was so wonderful. All these reactions
that I don't think you'd have if you just saw, oh,
there it is again on you know, whatever whatever station you're.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Watching right exactly. I mean I owned the movie. You
know at that time it was a VHS but anyhow,
and you know, periodically and you'd watch it. But there
was a complete different experience. And I talk about this
all the time about seeing movies in the movie theater,
but when it's a movie that's been out for thirty years,
it's harder to do that. So it's nice to bring
(03:49):
them back and to see all of the movies that
they showed at the Granada, you know, Back to the Future,
I mean, Roger Rabbit. You also spoke at that movie too,
So it was fun. It was it was a fun experience.
You can do this again next year. It was so
much fun to see all these different films again on
the big screen. Tell me, how how did you get
(04:09):
into producing and how did you get into producing this
particular film.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Well, it's a long road, really, and you know I
described it in the first book that I wrote, called
Breaking and Entering. But you know, I didn't know anything
about how movies were made. I just kind of fell
in love with them when I was at school at Berkeley,
not in film school, just at school. They screened movies
at the Pacific Film Archive in the Art museum and
(04:34):
they invited directors to come and speak about their films.
And when you're hearing stories about the making of the
film and also hearing their insights into their film, it
sort of broadens your perspective and heightens your emotion. You
know that you you know, how do I get to
do that? When I graduate from college kind of thing? So,
you know, I just went down to la and broke
(04:56):
into the business as a lighting technician, but eventually became
worked at Lucasfilm in the editing room on the two
Star Wars sequels, and then found my way down to
Amblin Spielberg's company when I was editing one of one
of the documentaries, and then through that I got a
job as an associate producer overseeing post production and visual effects,
(05:20):
which led me into Roger Rabbit, the first film with
Bob Zemechus, and that movie was a year and a
half in post production, so during the course of that time,
Bob and I really were joined at the hit and
it was sort of a relationship was formed. Although when
he did the sequels to Back to the Future, he
(05:41):
had producers on the film and I came onto that film.
Those two films in the similar role as Roger Rabbit.
And then when Bob took a hiatus and came back
to make Death Becomes Her, he invited me to produce
the film with him, and then I worked with him
ever since. That's a short story. That was that was
(06:01):
fifteen years. I just told it about three minutes.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Well, let's talk about this movie Forrest Gump in this book,
because gosh it is it's kind of like a you're
kind of rooting for the film.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
You know, you're going, we know what happened, but you know,
there was a lot of.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Intrigue because you had a lot of issues with the studio.
So that's really what I want to get into, because
you really were under the gun with this film.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Yeah, you know that. It's not a conventional film by
any means. No, it's just a story of a simple
man who just finds himself in extraordinary circumstances and you know,
and the only thing guiding him really is is this heart.
You know, his love for his mama, and he listened
carefully to everything she told him, and he abided by
those rules. And then of course he's also guided by
(06:55):
the love of his life, Jenny, and so a very
endearing character, but at the same time as a movie.
When you look at the script, the studio is like, gosh,
you know, despite the fact we have Bob Zamechis, you
know at the Helm, we have Tom Hanks. You know,
in the film, it's a risky venture because it's a
giant film. I mean not it's it's giant in scope
(07:17):
by any standards, but also some very experimental or i
should say untried special effects, particularly the interactions with the
historical characters. So there was a lot of reason for
them to fear fear of the film and it's potential,
you know at the box office, which is what they're
always looking for. So from the very beginning it was
(07:41):
a tenuous relationship, one where they were very trepidacious and
you know, so they wanted it done is inexpensively, unrealistically
inexpensively as possible, and Bob and I kind of stuck
to our guns. And so when the costs started rising
in the making of the film, you know, there were
(08:05):
some battles to be to be one with the studio,
but it all worked out, of course, but along the
way it wasn't easy.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Well let's talk a bit bit, a little bit how
you were trying to pull the wool over it.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Well, a little bit about that budget and how many
days you were going over as far as the shoot itself, well.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
You know, I discovered even up to that point in
my career, although I was quite green going into the
movie because there's only the second picture that I produced,
that the only way really they came in in the
eleventh hour and said, you have to reduce this budget
by twenty percent, you know, and it was like, well,
how do you want me to do that? You know,
and it's like, well, that's up to you, guys. You're
(08:49):
the filmmakers, you figure it out. Well, this was we
were already you know, the cast was already cast. All
the principal people that were working on the film, from
the director of photograph to the designer, all that, everybody
was already hired. So the rates are set, you know,
the scope of the film. The only way that you
could bring the budget down is to start cutting scenes out.
(09:11):
And the filmmakers didn't want to cut anything, and they
were like, just like, just start cutting, so we don't
care what you do, just get this number down. So
we did start trimming a little bit, but that really
didn't add up to enough. And so at a certain point,
I said, schedule, what if we say it only take
five and I say that for every week. Well, now
(09:32):
you're talking about cutting like ten days out of the
shooting schedule unrealistically, But I said, you know, what's the
worst that can happen? Me and naive producer, you know, like,
what do I have to lose? So we did that
not only with the shooting schedule, which then starts reflecting
big budget savings, we did that with departments as well.
(09:53):
It's like, oh, what if we go into the football
stadium and say, well, instead of a thousand extras, we
really only need five hundred, Well, all cut that out
of the budget. But then when the day came to
do it, I put them back into the stadium. So
this there was this ticking time bomb where all these
elements that I had reduced in order to get the
budget done properly or you know, I knew that it
(10:19):
was going to explode, and it did. You know, we
got back to the studio and they you know, they
weren't happy and they really started watching the movie like hawks.
But so, you know, but those are the kinds of
things that you do when you're passionate about the movie,
you just kind of go, whatever it takes, we're going
to lay it down and go you know. So that's
what we did.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
And it shows the belief in the film because and
all of you and keeping the integrity of the script
and of this movie and believing in it and knowing
that did you. I think you all felt you had
something special. I'm sure as you were making that.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Yeah, you know you yes, I mean, And the screenplay
was as emotional as the movie. I mean, the screenplay
was a good script and it really worked. And Eric
Roth is a brilliant writer. And but yeah, you don't
know like that you have something as big as the
movie became because you're just working too hard. You know,
(11:20):
all you're doing is trying to make every scene every
day the best it can be, not knowing because you're
shooting completely out of order, you know, out of continuity.
You don't know, like this piece and how's that going
to fit into that? And is this going to work?
And is that voice over appropriate for there? And is
for us? You know? Is the story moving properly? Is
(11:41):
the timing everything, all the elements that add up to
make the final film are not in front of you,
but you do have this overriding feeling at the beginning
that you know that this is a movie we really
want to you know, we want to hold on to
and do it in the way that we see it,
and so that that's all you can do, you know,
and that's what we did.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
So when you also you were doing a lot of
other work on it. You were working seven days a week,
twenty four hours a day. I think you're pretty much
in this film trying to get things done, you know,
ahead of schedule. I mean, how many days did you
go over the schedule?
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Oh, it was probably it was probably close to ten days,
but it was only a day over the original schedule. Okay,
So in other words, they were days that it was
just like, how do I leak in these you know,
these days over you know, as we were going because
we were heading back to where we started, because we
(12:40):
didn't take anything out. And look, these were professionals who
came up with the schedule. You know, you'd go and
you talk to the cinematographer, you talk to the designer,
you talk to all the people who would contribute to
the pace of the shooting and to Zamechas himself and
how fast do you think you can shoot this much
of the film. And it was very realistic at the beginning.
(13:03):
When we cut it down, it was terribly unrealistic. So
the logic is it was going to go back to
what everybody predicted in the first place, and it did.
Now that was trouble. But you know, we were going
along like we were doing great, we were sticking to
the schedule.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Ignorance is blits. Meantime, back at the ranch of they
weren't so happy, you know, when you were going through this.
So one of the things that you had to work
on this budget and cut this budget quite a bit,
that Tom and Bob Zametkis both decided not to get paid.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Yeah, they reduced you know, their salaries in knowing that
or with the understanding that they would make up their
salary in the success of the film. And that's what
finally put the budget over the finish line. So they
actually had some of their own you know, some of
their own salary at stake while we were making the film.
(14:12):
But that's helped shows how much passion they had for
the film. I mean, they were willing to give up
part of you know, their earnings and or you know,
on behalf of the film, and so it paid off
in the end, you know, so good for them.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Did they get a percentage?
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Yeah, they got I can't tell you the deal. I
don't know them, but yes they did, and so it
compensated them for you know, for their.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Loss going into it.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
The talk.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Let's talk a little bit about the running that, you know,
that the running scene that Tom Hanks running around, you know,
running through America. Let's talk about how that was filmed.
And now you because that had to be huge on
the budget, and you know, you wanted to be in
monument that and they did not want you to film there.
So let's talk about that.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Well, you know, the run, it started out quite simply
because he takes off on his run in the South
from his home and so that was pretty easily. You know,
we could just dress him, you know, he's dressed as
he was you know through the rest of the movie
at that point, and he takes off from the house
and runs down the road and heads out of town.
(15:24):
But then things got complicated because he criss crosses the
country and during the course of this running a few
times back and forth across the country, he changes his wardrobe,
he changes his look, his hair's growing, his beard's growing,
he's picking up followers along the way. And we weren't
shooting any of that in continuity either, So it wasn't like, oh,
(15:45):
let's just shoot his run in order, so he'll slowly
grow his hair and his beard and people will slowly
gather behind him and it'll all be perfect, you know. Well,
it was like all of a sudden, Oh, we're shooting
the sequence where he's running through the mountains in the
you know, the Rocky mountains, and we're going to be
shooting it next week. What does he look like? So
(16:05):
we had to have all hands on deck meeting where
we broke down every single place that was specified in
the screenplay, so we knew what Forrest would look like
at any time when we were filming, and we would
go like chasing fall colors in Vermont, or we'd go
to Maine to shoot when he turns around at the
lighthouse on the East Coast. So anyway, by the time
(16:28):
we got back to Los Angeles and the ticking time
bomb blew up and my you know, my budget was
was revealed that it was really in trouble. The one
big sequence we hadn't done was his where he ends
the run in Monument Valley. And they said, there is
no way you're going to ronie At Valley. And I said,
(16:49):
you know, I came to Bob and he said, well,
we're going to Monument Valley. You figure this out. So
I came up with a plan where if they wanted
me to go to Canyon Country, which is north of
Los Angeles, where like the Lone Ranger was shot, you know,
the TV serial, And so anyway, I came up with
a budget. I said, look, if I can do it
for exactly the same amount of money that going out
(17:13):
and spending time on location outside of Los Angeles and
fly out to Monument Valley, can I go? And they
said yeah, But the problem is is what if there's
a you know what if it rains, you know what
if they had all these problems that could come up.
And they said, we're gonna have to get some insurance,
and Bob and Tom are gonna have to pay for it.
(17:33):
So they did. They said, no, we're ending the movie
in Monument Value, ending the run in Monument Valley, and
they put up the bond for the insurance, and off
we went and The funny thing was is when I
came back, we actually finished the work early and got
back a few hours earlier than planned. And I went
to the production guy at the studio and said, hey,
(17:54):
we came in under budget. And he said, I love
your logic. You're so far over budget on this movie,
and you can him in a few pennies under budget
on the run. And I said, well, you know it's
better than going over budget.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
You were the optimist.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
You were the optimist, you know which you have to
be as a producer. You have to always be the
optimist and the cheerleader and keeping everything going.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
You know, we can do this, we can, we could
go it. So let's talk about when you find it.
So you have a screening that you're showing a private
at private screening, I guess it was you know that
you you didn't want to have it when you show it, well,
you explained when you have these screens, Well, and what happened.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
There's a smaller theater in on the Paramount lot. I
think now it's called the Shary Lancing Theater, but at
the time it was called the Paramount Theater. So that's
where we screened the film for the first time for
the studio executives, which was Sharry Lancing, John Golew and
Michelle Manning. They got to go in and see the
finished film. And when they came out, I was there.
(19:01):
Bob said, can you just attend and take their temperature
when they come out, you know. So I'm there and
they come out and I mean they were teary eyed,
and Sherry said, you got to tell Bob that this
is just a wonderful picture. And so, but we want
to preview it. So I'm thinking, wait a second, you
just said you love this movie. It's working great. They
(19:23):
wanted to show it in front of an audience just
to be sure. So they scheduled a preview in that
theater just a week later or so, and so it
was a smallish theater, and so we said, okay, we'll
preview the movie, but we don't want to have preview cards.
Preview cards they lead the witness. They forced people who
(19:45):
are in the theater to speak about things that maybe
aren't even on their minds. And oftentimes you'll get information
from people that mislead either the marketing or the picture
itself based on what this audience says. So we didn't
want to get it all messy because the movie was
working great. But so I said, okay, we'll do the preview,
(20:09):
but we don't want the cards. And Cherry said fine.
So we go to the screening and lights, you know,
come down.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
I go.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Tom Hanks attended, So I went and led into his
seat so no one saw him in the dark. And
screening played great. I mean, everybody was quiet, no one
left the theater. They were just glued to their seats.
They were laughing, they were emotional, you can feel it.
And so just before the movie ended, I went back.
I said, Tom, you know it's time to go unless
(20:37):
you want to, you know, to leave before the you know,
lights come up. And so he snuck out, and I'm
in the lobby and I see all these people from
the preview group were standing in the line. I said,
what are you guys doing here. We decided not to
have preview cards. He said, well, sharing Lancing ordered them.
They said she ordered them? What she said, she didn't
need them. And they went into the theater and started
(20:59):
marching down the aisleway to hand out the cards and
the pencils for the attendees of the of the screening.
And so I marched in behind him and went up
to the front of the theater and said, I'm sorry,
there's been a mistake. You don't have to fill out
the cards. Pass them to the aisle. Sherry stands up
in the back of the audience and says, no, no,
(21:20):
don't listen to him. Take the cards, pass them out,
and fill out the cards. And I'm like, and this
goes back and forth a few times, you know it was.
And this guy stands up in the middle of the
audience and said, I don't know what you two are
arguing about, because this is the best movie I've ever seen.
And that just quieted everything. So I walked back to
(21:43):
Sherry and I said, what's with the cards? And she said, look,
I decided I want to I want preview cards. And
I said, okay, just thinking quickly, I tell you what,
what if we take all the completed cards back to
the editing room, We'll take a look at him, and
then we'll package them up and send them to the studio.
And she said fine. So that's how we settled things.
And so we got back to the editing room, and
(22:05):
sure enough that people were just in love with the picture,
and that's sort of you know. So there I was wondering.
I remember sitting in my car with preview cards in
the trunk, like I can't believe I stood up in
the front of a movie theater screaming at the head
of Paramount Pictures. But I guess, you know, that's that's
(22:26):
what I felt I needed to do. I don't know,
or I wasn't thinking. Again sometimes when we were young
and footnote to all of it. By the end of
the process, meaning through the release and going to the
Ventice Film festl Sherry and I really kind of bonded
to the point where she said, Steve, I got to
(22:47):
tell you something. If I were the producer of this film,
I would have fought just as hard as you did.
So it was all a sweet you know, ending to
what it was quite an act ammonious relationship.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Yes, yes, you know. And then you win the oscar,
you know, and then when all kinds of oscars and.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
So that I was and I thanked our benefactor who
would allowed us to make the movie.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
It's so great, Oh Steve, I could I could talk
to you further, but unfortunately our time is up.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
But everybody, please, you can buy.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
This anywhere right and on Amazon. I guess that's where
people buy.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Books, right, Okay, Stupid is as stupid does. It's the
It's really fascinating if you're a film of aficionado and
you want to know how a movie gets made and
a brilliant movie. Uh, this book is the book for you,
and and also for anybody just loves this film. So
thank you so much, Steve. It's such a pleasure to
have you on the show, and I wish you much
(23:45):
success with the book.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Yeah, thank you. It's nice of you to invite me.
Jan you know, we'll do it again.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
We'll definitely do it again for sure. Okay, take care,
I have a wonderful day.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Thank you. All Right, The Jan Right Show all above
movies
The Jam Brice Show, All about Movies.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
You're listening to The Jam Price Show All about Movies,
and today my guest is Academy Award winning producer and
author Steve Starkey, and we're going to talk about his
bran new book called Stupid is as Stupid does. For
those who are watching on YouTube, here it is for you,
and it is about the whole process of producing this
(00:28):
film Forrest Gump. It's pretty amazing actually, so I can't
wait to get into it. You know, everybody always asks
what does a producer do? That's always a question I
get and other people get. And after reading this book,
we realized they do everything, absolutely everything.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Which is I think why you know, why it attracted me,
you know, into that role is you know, at the
time I was pretty isolated in the editing room and
my mentor at the time, Frank Marshall, was overseeing directing
this documentary. I was editing, and he would describe his
experiences on the movie set and it seemed all encompassing,
(01:09):
and I thought, wow, that's that would really be fun.
You know, you get to have your fingers in all
the different aspects of filmmaking from beginning to end, and
you know, when you're sitting isolated in an editing room,
you really start fantasizing about this, you know, crazy life.
You could be living like what Frank was doing, and.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Your life became very crazy afterwards. Because it's really fascinating.
It's a fascinating book for for anyone.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I mean, this movie is beloved. It's one of my
top five favorite movies. And I say I got to
see it again on the big screen this past summer.
The wonderful Granada Theater here in Santa Barbara had four
Saturday nights of the Robert Zamtchis films, and the last
one that they showed was for Forst. Company. You were
(01:58):
there a Q and A prior to the film, and
you had so many fascinating stories about it. But as
I said to you, I hadn't seen it in a
number of years.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Here.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
It has been the thirtieth anniversary when it came out,
and it meant it touched me even more. And I
think as we get older or different periods of our lives,
movies have different effects on us at different times, and
this one really did affect me at a deeper level,
even more than the first time. And I've always loved
this movie. Have you had that reaction to people because
(02:28):
you're you're out there showing it now again on a
book tour.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, it's just you know, when you see movies on
the big screen, they affect you, you know, much more personally,
I think than when you're just sitting at home watching,
you know, streaming a film. And so it's kind of
refreshing to go out and let the movie envelop you
in the way that it only happens in a movie theater,
particularly if you have, like in the screen that you
(02:53):
went to, you had a pretty good sized audience, and
the audience you can kind of feel everybody is sort
of feeling the same thing with you when you're sad
or when you're laughing, and it's contagious and so yeah,
people have said to me, you know, they've had a
delight in seeing the movie again on the big strings.
So wow, I didn't realize it was such an epic size,
(03:16):
you know, a movie, and that it was so emotional,
and that Tom Hanks was so wonderful. All these reactions
that I don't think you'd have if you just saw, oh,
there it is again on you know, whatever whatever station you're.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Watching right exactly. I mean I owned the movie. You
know at that time it was a VHS but anyhow,
and you know, periodically and you'd watch it. But there
was a complete different experience. And I talk about this
all the time about seeing movies in the movie theater,
but when it's a movie that's been out for thirty years,
it's harder to do that. So it's nice to bring
(03:49):
them back and to see all of the movies that
they showed at the Granada, you know, Back to the Future,
I mean, Roger Rabbit. You also spoke at that movie too,
So it was fun. It was it was a fun experience.
You can do this again next year. It was so
much fun to see all these different films again on
the big screen. Tell me, how how did you get
(04:09):
into producing and how did you get into producing this
particular film.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Well, it's a long road, really, and you know I
described it in the first book that I wrote, called
Breaking and Entering. But you know, I didn't know anything
about how movies were made. I just kind of fell
in love with them when I was at school at Berkeley,
not in film school, just at school. They screened movies
at the Pacific Film Archive in the Art museum and
(04:34):
they invited directors to come and speak about their films.
And when you're hearing stories about the making of the
film and also hearing their insights into their film, it
sort of broadens your perspective and heightens your emotion. You
know that you you know, how do I get to
do that? When I graduate from college kind of thing? So,
you know, I just went down to la and broke
(04:56):
into the business as a lighting technician, but eventually became
worked at Lucasfilm in the editing room on the two
Star Wars sequels, and then found my way down to
Amblin Spielberg's company when I was editing one of one
of the documentaries, and then through that I got a
job as an associate producer overseeing post production and visual effects,
(05:20):
which led me into Roger Rabbit, the first film with
Bob Zemechus, and that movie was a year and a
half in post production, so during the course of that time,
Bob and I really were joined at the hit and
it was sort of a relationship was formed. Although when
he did the sequels to Back to the Future, he
(05:41):
had producers on the film and I came onto that film.
Those two films in the similar role as Roger Rabbit.
And then when Bob took a hiatus and came back
to make Death Becomes Her, he invited me to produce
the film with him, and then I worked with him
ever since. That's a short story. That was that was
(06:01):
fifteen years. I just told it about three minutes.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Well, let's talk about this movie Forrest Gump in this book,
because gosh it is it's kind of like a you're
kind of rooting for the film.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
You know, you're going, we know what happened, but you know,
there was a lot of.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Intrigue because you had a lot of issues with the studio.
So that's really what I want to get into, because
you really were under the gun with this film.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Yeah, you know that. It's not a conventional film by
any means. No, it's just a story of a simple
man who just finds himself in extraordinary circumstances and you know,
and the only thing guiding him really is is this heart.
You know, his love for his mama, and he listened
carefully to everything she told him, and he abided by
those rules. And then of course he's also guided by
(06:55):
the love of his life, Jenny, and so a very
endearing character, but at the same time as a movie.
When you look at the script, the studio is like, gosh,
you know, despite the fact we have Bob Zamechis, you
know at the Helm, we have Tom Hanks. You know,
in the film, it's a risky venture because it's a
giant film. I mean not it's it's giant in scope
(07:17):
by any standards, but also some very experimental or i
should say untried special effects, particularly the interactions with the
historical characters. So there was a lot of reason for
them to fear fear of the film and it's potential,
you know at the box office, which is what they're
always looking for. So from the very beginning it was
(07:41):
a tenuous relationship, one where they were very trepidacious and
you know, so they wanted it done is inexpensively, unrealistically
inexpensively as possible, and Bob and I kind of stuck
to our guns. And so when the costs started rising
in the making of the film, you know, there were
(08:05):
some battles to be to be one with the studio,
but it all worked out, of course, but along the
way it wasn't easy.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Well let's talk a bit bit, a little bit how
you were trying to pull the wool over it.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Well, a little bit about that budget and how many
days you were going over as far as the shoot itself, well.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
You know, I discovered even up to that point in
my career, although I was quite green going into the
movie because there's only the second picture that I produced,
that the only way really they came in in the
eleventh hour and said, you have to reduce this budget
by twenty percent, you know, and it was like, well,
how do you want me to do that? You know,
and it's like, well, that's up to you, guys. You're
(08:49):
the filmmakers, you figure it out. Well, this was we
were already you know, the cast was already cast. All
the principal people that were working on the film, from
the director of photograph to the designer, all that, everybody
was already hired. So the rates are set, you know,
the scope of the film. The only way that you
could bring the budget down is to start cutting scenes out.
(09:11):
And the filmmakers didn't want to cut anything, and they
were like, just like, just start cutting, so we don't
care what you do, just get this number down. So
we did start trimming a little bit, but that really
didn't add up to enough. And so at a certain point,
I said, schedule, what if we say it only take
five and I say that for every week. Well, now
(09:32):
you're talking about cutting like ten days out of the
shooting schedule unrealistically, But I said, you know, what's the
worst that can happen? Me and naive producer, you know, like,
what do I have to lose? So we did that
not only with the shooting schedule, which then starts reflecting
big budget savings, we did that with departments as well.
(09:53):
It's like, oh, what if we go into the football
stadium and say, well, instead of a thousand extras, we
really only need five hundred, Well, all cut that out
of the budget. But then when the day came to
do it, I put them back into the stadium. So
this there was this ticking time bomb where all these
elements that I had reduced in order to get the
budget done properly or you know, I knew that it
(10:19):
was going to explode, and it did. You know, we
got back to the studio and they you know, they
weren't happy and they really started watching the movie like hawks.
But so, you know, but those are the kinds of
things that you do when you're passionate about the movie,
you just kind of go, whatever it takes, we're going
to lay it down and go you know. So that's
what we did.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
And it shows the belief in the film because and
all of you and keeping the integrity of the script
and of this movie and believing in it and knowing
that did you. I think you all felt you had
something special. I'm sure as you were making that.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Yeah, you know you yes, I mean, And the screenplay
was as emotional as the movie. I mean, the screenplay
was a good script and it really worked. And Eric
Roth is a brilliant writer. And but yeah, you don't
know like that you have something as big as the
movie became because you're just working too hard. You know,
(11:20):
all you're doing is trying to make every scene every
day the best it can be, not knowing because you're
shooting completely out of order, you know, out of continuity.
You don't know, like this piece and how's that going
to fit into that? And is this going to work?
And is that voice over appropriate for there? And is
for us? You know? Is the story moving properly? Is
(11:41):
the timing everything, all the elements that add up to
make the final film are not in front of you,
but you do have this overriding feeling at the beginning
that you know that this is a movie we really
want to you know, we want to hold on to
and do it in the way that we see it,
and so that that's all you can do, you know,
and that's what we did.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
So when you also you were doing a lot of
other work on it. You were working seven days a week,
twenty four hours a day. I think you're pretty much
in this film trying to get things done, you know,
ahead of schedule. I mean, how many days did you
go over the schedule?
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Oh, it was probably it was probably close to ten days,
but it was only a day over the original schedule. Okay,
So in other words, they were days that it was
just like, how do I leak in these you know,
these days over you know, as we were going because
we were heading back to where we started, because we
(12:40):
didn't take anything out. And look, these were professionals who
came up with the schedule. You know, you'd go and
you talk to the cinematographer, you talk to the designer,
you talk to all the people who would contribute to
the pace of the shooting and to Zamechas himself and
how fast do you think you can shoot this much
of the film. And it was very realistic at the beginning.
(13:03):
When we cut it down, it was terribly unrealistic. So
the logic is it was going to go back to
what everybody predicted in the first place, and it did.
Now that was trouble. But you know, we were going
along like we were doing great, we were sticking to
the schedule.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Ignorance is blits. Meantime, back at the ranch of they
weren't so happy, you know, when you were going through this.
So one of the things that you had to work
on this budget and cut this budget quite a bit,
that Tom and Bob Zametkis both decided not to get paid.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Yeah, they reduced you know, their salaries in knowing that
or with the understanding that they would make up their
salary in the success of the film. And that's what
finally put the budget over the finish line. So they
actually had some of their own you know, some of
their own salary at stake while we were making the film.
(14:12):
But that's helped shows how much passion they had for
the film. I mean, they were willing to give up
part of you know, their earnings and or you know,
on behalf of the film, and so it paid off
in the end, you know, so good for them.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Did they get a percentage?
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Yeah, they got I can't tell you the deal. I
don't know them, but yes they did, and so it
compensated them for you know, for their.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Loss going into it.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
The talk.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Let's talk a little bit about the running that, you know,
that the running scene that Tom Hanks running around, you know,
running through America. Let's talk about how that was filmed.
And now you because that had to be huge on
the budget, and you know, you wanted to be in
monument that and they did not want you to film there.
So let's talk about that.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Well, you know, the run, it started out quite simply
because he takes off on his run in the South
from his home and so that was pretty easily. You know,
we could just dress him, you know, he's dressed as
he was you know through the rest of the movie
at that point, and he takes off from the house
and runs down the road and heads out of town.
(15:24):
But then things got complicated because he criss crosses the
country and during the course of this running a few
times back and forth across the country, he changes his wardrobe,
he changes his look, his hair's growing, his beard's growing,
he's picking up followers along the way. And we weren't
shooting any of that in continuity either, So it wasn't like, oh,
(15:45):
let's just shoot his run in order, so he'll slowly
grow his hair and his beard and people will slowly
gather behind him and it'll all be perfect, you know. Well,
it was like all of a sudden, Oh, we're shooting
the sequence where he's running through the mountains in the
you know, the Rocky mountains, and we're going to be
shooting it next week. What does he look like? So
(16:05):
we had to have all hands on deck meeting where
we broke down every single place that was specified in
the screenplay, so we knew what Forrest would look like
at any time when we were filming, and we would
go like chasing fall colors in Vermont, or we'd go
to Maine to shoot when he turns around at the
lighthouse on the East Coast. So anyway, by the time
(16:28):
we got back to Los Angeles and the ticking time
bomb blew up and my you know, my budget was
was revealed that it was really in trouble. The one
big sequence we hadn't done was his where he ends
the run in Monument Valley. And they said, there is
no way you're going to ronie At Valley. And I said,
(16:49):
you know, I came to Bob and he said, well,
we're going to Monument Valley. You figure this out. So
I came up with a plan where if they wanted
me to go to Canyon Country, which is north of
Los Angeles, where like the Lone Ranger was shot, you know,
the TV serial, And so anyway, I came up with
a budget. I said, look, if I can do it
for exactly the same amount of money that going out
(17:13):
and spending time on location outside of Los Angeles and
fly out to Monument Valley, can I go? And they
said yeah, But the problem is is what if there's
a you know what if it rains, you know what
if they had all these problems that could come up.
And they said, we're gonna have to get some insurance,
and Bob and Tom are gonna have to pay for it.
(17:33):
So they did. They said, no, we're ending the movie
in Monument Value, ending the run in Monument Valley, and
they put up the bond for the insurance, and off
we went and The funny thing was is when I
came back, we actually finished the work early and got
back a few hours earlier than planned. And I went
to the production guy at the studio and said, hey,
(17:54):
we came in under budget. And he said, I love
your logic. You're so far over budget on this movie,
and you can him in a few pennies under budget
on the run. And I said, well, you know it's
better than going over budget.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
You were the optimist.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
You were the optimist, you know which you have to
be as a producer. You have to always be the
optimist and the cheerleader and keeping everything going.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
You know, we can do this, we can, we could
go it. So let's talk about when you find it.
So you have a screening that you're showing a private
at private screening, I guess it was you know that
you you didn't want to have it when you show it, well,
you explained when you have these screens, Well, and what happened.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
There's a smaller theater in on the Paramount lot. I
think now it's called the Shary Lancing Theater, but at
the time it was called the Paramount Theater. So that's
where we screened the film for the first time for
the studio executives, which was Sharry Lancing, John Golew and
Michelle Manning. They got to go in and see the
finished film. And when they came out, I was there.
(19:01):
Bob said, can you just attend and take their temperature
when they come out, you know. So I'm there and
they come out and I mean they were teary eyed,
and Sherry said, you got to tell Bob that this
is just a wonderful picture. And so, but we want
to preview it. So I'm thinking, wait a second, you
just said you love this movie. It's working great. They
(19:23):
wanted to show it in front of an audience just
to be sure. So they scheduled a preview in that
theater just a week later or so, and so it
was a smallish theater, and so we said, okay, we'll
preview the movie, but we don't want to have preview cards.
Preview cards they lead the witness. They forced people who
(19:45):
are in the theater to speak about things that maybe
aren't even on their minds. And oftentimes you'll get information
from people that mislead either the marketing or the picture
itself based on what this audience says. So we didn't
want to get it all messy because the movie was
working great. But so I said, okay, we'll do the preview,
(20:09):
but we don't want the cards. And Cherry said fine.
So we go to the screening and lights, you know,
come down.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
I go.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Tom Hanks attended, So I went and led into his
seat so no one saw him in the dark. And
screening played great. I mean, everybody was quiet, no one
left the theater. They were just glued to their seats.
They were laughing, they were emotional, you can feel it.
And so just before the movie ended, I went back.
I said, Tom, you know it's time to go unless
(20:37):
you want to, you know, to leave before the you know,
lights come up. And so he snuck out, and I'm
in the lobby and I see all these people from
the preview group were standing in the line. I said,
what are you guys doing here. We decided not to
have preview cards. He said, well, sharing Lancing ordered them.
They said she ordered them? What she said, she didn't
need them. And they went into the theater and started
(20:59):
marching down the aisleway to hand out the cards and
the pencils for the attendees of the of the screening.
And so I marched in behind him and went up
to the front of the theater and said, I'm sorry,
there's been a mistake. You don't have to fill out
the cards. Pass them to the aisle. Sherry stands up
in the back of the audience and says, no, no,
(21:20):
don't listen to him. Take the cards, pass them out,
and fill out the cards. And I'm like, and this
goes back and forth a few times, you know it was.
And this guy stands up in the middle of the
audience and said, I don't know what you two are
arguing about, because this is the best movie I've ever seen.
And that just quieted everything. So I walked back to
(21:43):
Sherry and I said, what's with the cards? And she said, look,
I decided I want to I want preview cards. And
I said, okay, just thinking quickly, I tell you what,
what if we take all the completed cards back to
the editing room, We'll take a look at him, and
then we'll package them up and send them to the studio.
And she said fine. So that's how we settled things.
And so we got back to the editing room, and
(22:05):
sure enough that people were just in love with the picture,
and that's sort of you know. So there I was wondering.
I remember sitting in my car with preview cards in
the trunk, like I can't believe I stood up in
the front of a movie theater screaming at the head
of Paramount Pictures. But I guess, you know, that's that's
(22:26):
what I felt I needed to do. I don't know,
or I wasn't thinking. Again sometimes when we were young
and footnote to all of it. By the end of
the process, meaning through the release and going to the
Ventice Film festl Sherry and I really kind of bonded
to the point where she said, Steve, I got to
(22:47):
tell you something. If I were the producer of this film,
I would have fought just as hard as you did.
So it was all a sweet you know, ending to
what it was quite an act ammonious relationship.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Yes, yes, you know. And then you win the oscar,
you know, and then when all kinds of oscars and.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
So that I was and I thanked our benefactor who
would allowed us to make the movie.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
It's so great, Oh Steve, I could I could talk
to you further, but unfortunately our time is up.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
But everybody, please, you can buy.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
This anywhere right and on Amazon. I guess that's where
people buy.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Books, right, Okay, Stupid is as stupid does. It's the
It's really fascinating if you're a film of aficionado and
you want to know how a movie gets made and
a brilliant movie. Uh, this book is the book for you,
and and also for anybody just loves this film. So
thank you so much, Steve. It's such a pleasure to
have you on the show, and I wish you much
(23:45):
success with the book.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Yeah, thank you. It's nice of you to invite me.
Jan you know, we'll do it again.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
We'll definitely do it again for sure. Okay, take care,
I have a wonderful day.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Thank you. All Right, The Jan Right Show all above
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