Episode Transcript
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Ladies and gentlemen, Good afternoon,Welcome on the Culture News. My name
is David Cerebro, and I hadthe pleasure to have to do on iHeartRadio
on the Culture News the wonderful producerPhilip gold Fine. He's absolutely wonderful.
What he has done so many greatwork. We are going to talk about
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all the great things that he hasaccomplished. And guess what, ladies,
gentlemen, he's right now over thephone with us. Philip, how are
you today? I'm doing great.Thanks for asking how are you doing today?
I'm doing amazing. Thank you somuch for being with us to this.
So the first question I have foryou is what brought you to become
a producer. That's a really goodquestion. You know, growing up,
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I didn't really have any connections inthe entertainment industry, although my dad was
a doctor who serviced a lot ofcelebrities. But other than that, we
didn't really have much interaction because wewere up in northern California and they were
down in southern California. Of course, so it really was about being an
actor first, because that's all Ireally knew, right is that you turn
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on your television when you're a kid, or you see a movie and you
watch the people on the screen andyou think, oh, I can do
that. I can do that.Not so easy. But so when I
actually came down to southern California andsaid, all right, I really want
to be in the entertainment industry.I really want to be a producer,
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I started to learn that you don'tjust say that. You have to do
a lot of work. It takesso much preparation and education and knowledge that
it finally came to me that allright, you know what, if I'm
going to do this, what doI really want to do? And I
saw, you know, as anactor number one, you know it's such
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a well, of course, everything'sa tough job, right if you say
it's a tough job. But asan actor, I was discouraged so much
that I said, well, whatelse could I do? I could write.
I wrote stories as a little kid, all the way up until well
still writing them. And so Ilooked around and I saw people rushing around,
and I was wondering who they were. And I kind of learned slowly
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but surely that what I really wantto do is be in charge. I
really want to tell stories, andI really want to get a maid,
and I really want to create abody of work. And I learned at
a really young age. I meanI was probably nineteen twenty and I just
said, okay, you know what, this is what I'm going to do.
And it just kind of unfolded thatyou start from the very bottom,
and I mean the very bottom,like where you are in one hundred and
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twenty degree, you know, storageunits, searching for somebody's props or something
like that, all the way untilnow. And so I pretty much had
every single job which a producer wouldentail. And that's pretty much from the
conception to the distribution, marketing,and the upkeep of every single title you
could think of. So that's along winded way David of saying, that's
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how I kind of started being aproducer. Wow. And that's a beautiful
path. And I love how everythingin your life, you know, just
led you to the place where youare. So let's talk about your greatest
hits, you know, like,let's talk about all the work that you
have accomplished. And also the Ijust said the awards, because you have
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one and you were nominated for severalimportant awards. Can you tell us a
little bit about news. Sure,I always like to say this that,
especially in the entertainment or talk callit is that I learned this a long
time ago. You always want tosay I'm just getting started. But if
we want to talk about the otherstuff, obviously there's a partner, my
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Nick Reid, who is this amazing. He started off as an agent and
he's now a very successful producer aswell. But he is the one who
insisted on it was his vision inMalcolm Clark's vision for The Lady at Number
six Music Saved My Life, whichwas the story of Alice Summers, and
it was this amazing story about awoman who was one hundred and nine years
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old, I believe, and shewas in the Nazi concentration camps and just
had a life just was Anybody lookingfrom the outside end would say, this
is just extraordinary what this woman hasbeen through. How could she possibly survive?
But the way she did and whya lot of people say to me
that it's the best movie they've everseen, even though it's a short talk
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that it's basically it's all about what'scalled PMA positive mental attitude, and she
is a woman who personified and basicallyshowed you that you can survive and thrive
no matter what life throws at youanything. And so that was the one
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that actually won the Academy Award intwenty fourteen for the Best Short Documentary for
the Academy Awards, all thanks toNick Greed. And then the other thing
is that there have been other awardsas well. Obviously that me and I
was part of the team for aBaslon which was years ago with a director
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named Augustine, which also, bythe way, was shepherded by Nick Greed.
And then my forgetting stuff. Sorry, I'm sorry, David. There's
a lot of stuff when I'm forgetting. But what I do actually and hopefully
I'm not getting off track here,but I do think I don't want to
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be flipping and say it's about whathave you done for me lately? It's
really about you always have to becreating, right, I mean, to
thrive in life. My feeling isthat you always have to be moving forward.
Jerry Bruckheimer, who was probably oneof the greatest producers alive today said
one time he said, you alwayshave to be a producer, is like
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being a shark or being a learjet. Can never go and reverse. You
always have to be moving forward,and so I kind of live my life
that way and say I'm so microfocused David on what I'm doing now is
that I don't want to say Iforget because there's such an important part of
my life. But and it's greatto have, of course, but it's
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about it's about now. It's like, what are you doing right now to
to basically make your life extraordinary?So what do you think at the era
where everyone has, you know,an iPhone and they can make their own
movies, what do you think makesa great TV or movie producers? God,
that's such a great question. Look, at the end of the day,
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you're you're you're so right by theway. But at the end of
the day, what I have alwaysthought and really feel strongly about it all
comes down to the story, rightwhat is the story that you're trying to
tell now? If you are passionateabout that story and truly believe in this
story, and you know you wantto get this story made, that's what
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makes a great producer, because thatproducer is going to be with that project
for at least at least one yearwhen you count everything from inception all the
way until marketing and distribution and release. It's never been less than probably a
good two or three year period.And by the way, it doesn't stop
there. But that's another story.It really does come down to actually what
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you're trying to make, what you'retrying to tell, it's the story is
a story that people want to seebecause, believe me, if you make
a great movie, people will come. Oppenheimer is a perfect example, right,
Oppenheimer is a in my opinion,great, great, great movie.
I mean, it was just oneof those movies that came together so perfectly.
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Now that's a producer, you know, that's a producer who is following
the captain of the ship, whichwould be the director. I always look
at the producer as the admiral,if you will, But it's somebody who
is really just totally focused on everything, every moving part of making this product.
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You have to be so aware ofit and so convinced that this is
going to be the one that youjust put everything into it. And that's
what I think the difference is,because you're absolutely right. Everybody has an
iPhone now for example, so theperson walking down the street could be making
a movie which is their definition ofa movie. But it's not gonna have
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the same passion storytelling, and quitefrankly, the resources that you're going to
put into a movie or television seriesor program that you really want to make
sure is gonna last. I walkinto everything, and this is gonna sound
a little flipping and maybe a littlesilly for some people, but I walk
into everything thinking, this is theone, this is the greatest thing I've
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ever done, and I don't carewhat it is. It can be a
horror film, because you and Icould both probably quote our favorite horror films
that a lot of people would justsay, are you know horror? Who
cares? It doesn't count to toagain Oppenheimer, And I'm using that as
an example simply because we're at thattime, right the second and we're talking
about that movie along with the otherBrave Ones nominated for an Academy Award.
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But that is what I think isthe difference, because there are a lot
of people in Hollywood's in my opinion, who are kind of just walking through
life and they're not really staying focusedon exactly what are they here for.
You know, my friend used torun a major studio and now he's a
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major producer, and he I rememberhim always saying that even as a little
kid, we kind of grew uptogether. That it's really why are you
here. You're here to tell greatstories that are gonna live on forever.
Right If you go back, youknow, and look and look at movies
from one hundred years ago, there'sonly a handful, but there's a handful,
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you know, And that's what Idid. That's so inspiring to hear
you talking say all these beautiful things. So before we start to say goodbye
to each other, please tell mewhat are your next projects? And also
what are you working on now?Okay, well it's sort of the same
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thing, right, So the nextthing, we start principal photography on a
film that I'm very excited about.It's a romantic comedy and it starts up
in Canada next month. I can'tsay a lot about it, but I'm
really happy that we have pretty mucha list cast with a really really strong
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budget that's gonna give us what weneed in terms of making one of those
romantic comedies that knock on wood.If you could see me, you'd see
me knocking on foot because one ofthose romantic comedies that people talk about years
from now, I've also branch inthe Broadway. One of the things that
you had mentioned earlier is that theawards, well, one was a Tony
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which won Best Picture, sorry,Best Act or the Best Book for the
Broadway musical Tutsi, which was obviouslybased on the original film. And now
I'm actually working on another one witha lot of the same people, and
I'm very excited about that one,but I can't say a lot about it
yet, but I'll come back andtalk about it when i can. And
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we always have at our company indevelopment, which means that we're always working
on and looking for new projects.We're looking for, you know, obviously
the next great thing, right,and so we we typically shoot a lot
more films and television programs a yearthan most people in that being an independent
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guy, I'll say so we doanywhere between ten and fifteen projects a year,
which is a lot, especially whenyou have to like stay as focused
as we talked about it earlier.And then you know, it's like you
said, and I really appreciate yourwords about being inspiring because one of the
things I'm doing as well to kindof get back is I'm starting we are
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going to run a program this yearwhere you can actually come in and study
with me for five days. Becausethat's part of giving back, right,
is that you want people to peoplewho are really inspired by this business and
want to tell phenomenal stories and wantto be in this business. You got
to get back because I remember whenI was starting out. It's not that
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I had that kind of an opportunity, but I did have the opportunity to
meet a lot of interesting people alongthe way, including when I was a
little kid. After Hitchcock, Yeah, and he was incredibly inspiring that even
in a very short amount of timethat I got to know him, he
was one of those guys who said, and it's really interesting, David,
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I'll tell you why, because hewould say, you know, just keep
going right. What was it itwould like back then? Like keep on,
keep on, keeping on is whathe would say, something like that.
And so it's funny if you goback and watch the movie Hitchcock with
Anthony Hopkins, you'll see that ourbusiness has not changed one iota since then.
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He was putting together Psycho and hehad just come off Paramount's north by
Northwest, and he was having anincredible time getting Psycho made. This is
after coming off the most successful boxoffice film at the time for Paramount north
by Northwest, and he couldn't getthe movie done, so he ended up
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having to do it himself, mortgagehis house and did it and the rest
is history. Right, So it'sinteresting. I hope him answer, because
I know that I tend to no. But that's really really interesting and I
and this is so much proud ofyourself to give back and be inspired and
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always develop and always do new things. So I really really appreciate all the
great things you you you're doing andyou're saying, and I love you know
your how eclectic you are from TVmovies, but also the stage and and
congratulations for all the nominations and allthe awards that that that you have won.
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It's truly inspiring. You're the kindof people I really look up to.
So it's really I really appreciate that. Thank you, really really an
hont What would be your last wordbefore we say goodbye to each other?
You know what I'm gonna use.I'm gonna I'm gonna steal from the greatest
filmmaker in my opinion, that everlived. Keep on keeping on, just
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keep going persistent, right if youwant to do it. Just do it.
Yeah, don't let people, don'tlet people take away your dreams because
remember, they're really pointing to themselves. I always say this to people,
is that if somebody says no toyou, you ever figure out when they're
pointing at you. You ever seehow they're pointing one finger at you and
three fingers back at themselves. They'retalking about themselves. But that's a much
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deeper conversation, a longer conversation.But just keep going exactly and we will
keep going very well with our dayafter this great interview of yours. So
there's so much, so much,Philip really truly means the world to me
that you're taking the time today tobe with us, ladies and gentlemen.
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My name is David, So weright had the pleasure to have today on
iHeartRadio and the Culture News the verytalented producer Philip gold Fine. Philip gold
Fine and us last time truly meansit. Everything he touches turns into gold,
that is for sure. Right now, more music to follow up on
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iHeartRadio. Statue with us. It'sa beautiful day,