Although a slight man, when Jerry Bruckheimer enters a room, his presence commands attention. Smartly dressed in a designer suit with an impressively expensive Stein watch prominent on his wrist, Mr. Bruckheimer sat down at the head of a small table at the Ritz Carlton last week to discuss the release of his newest film, "Glory Road."
After reminding myself to breathe, I think "So this is what it's like to be in the presence of power." Simultaneously one of the most successful and highly criticized Hollywood producers of our time, Bruckheimer has almost single handedly created a film genre. With credits including "Top Gun," "Bad Boys," "The Rock," "Armageddon," and "Pirates of the Caribbean," the name Bruckheimer is synonymous with big. His television shows "CSI" and "The Amazing Race" keep with this tradition of fast-paced, high-energy entertainment.
But it is perhaps unfair to categorize Bruckheimer and his work as solely explosion driven. "Remember the Titans" and "Glory Road" can hardly be considered action films, yet they touch on an energy that is both highly emotional and highly kinetic. Bruckheimer sat down with the Daily to dispel some of our broad misconceptions of his work, discuss the complexities of producing Hollywood blockbuster and the influence his career has had on American culture.
Question: Do you think you consciously made that effort to make narrative films [that] are more popular because fewer people tend to see documentaries?
Jerry Bruckheimer: Yeah, I think if you have an interesting character that should be remembered. Both the coaches from "Remember the Titans" and Haskins from this movie should go down in the history books. And anybody usually under 40 has no idea that this ever happened; they think that African-Americans always played basketball, always played for the big schools, always were a big part of athletics - whether it's football, baseball, or basketball - and that just wasn't the case. That was '66, which is not really that long ago, when you think about it. So it's a seminal team in history, and I believe...that music and sports have done more for integration than any of the sit-ins, the bus sit-ins, everything. That was the beginning that brought everybody's attention to it. When you have athletes who were so gifted, as these kids were, that should have had every opportunity to play and get a college education, it just broke the race barrier, and the flood gates kind of opened.
Q: James [Gartner] is a first-time director, and he also did commercials like Michael Bay [director of many Bruckheimer pictures]. Why do you choose new directors like this, and what does it bring to the film? Is it so that you can mold someone with your own vision?
JB: No, we look for unique talent. And it's hard for me to see a unique talent when a writer comes to us and says, "Oh, I want to direct." But he's never done anything; he might be a real good writer, but I don't know visually what he can bring or if he can handle a crew or a cast. It's very hard; you have 100 people staring at you: "What do we do next?" And writers, they freeze, you know? I've worked on movies with writers who [are directing] for the first time; it's terrifying. Where a commercial director - especially the top ones like Jim [Gartner], who's been doing it for a long time, or Michael Bay - first of all, they've won numerous awards; they're the best of the best at what they do. And you can see what they do; there's no surprises. You know how they can handle a camera. The ones we pick have a strong visual style, so I know what I'm getting. It's our job to give 'em a good screenplay...
Q: How was the whole process of finding these players?
JB: Difficult, very difficult. I mean, we went through a lot of maturations, because Jim and myself really wanted them to be able to play basketball and be really good players. And our casting director kept bringing us Hollywood actors who said, "Oh yeah, we can play basketball." And you throw them on a court, and they're worse than me, and I'm not very coordinated. 'Cause every actor walks in thinking that they can do anything until you try them out. And so we just tortured this poor casting director and said, "Go out; find these kids who can play basketball, and we'll see if we can get them to act. Find us players who can play, and then we'll see if we can figure out the acting part." Fortunately, some of them were actually actors who had played either high school or college basketball and were very proficient at it. And that's how we kind of arrived at this group of guys...
Q: In some of the press notes, it said that Ben Affleck was originally attached to the role. How did that come about?
JB: Well, you know, Ben is an old friend and a wonderful actor, and we had kind of given him a big break in "Armageddon." We cast him before "Good Will Hunting" came out, so he had no idea he was gonna be successful. He was involved initially, and then we just couldn't come to terms on the deal...but that's great for Josh Lucas; that's how films make new movie stars.
Q: You're one of the most successful producers in film and now television. How do you maintain that level of consistency with the work that you're producing?
JB: You know, I think by staying on it, by having talented people around you. And just making sure you don't take a vacation. [Laughter] I love what I do...I just read this morning on the bike while I was working out, I read "CSI: Miami," which is entertaining...That's why I make things that I like; it would be awful producing something that I really didn't have any interest in.
Q: Do you have any advice for any young people interested in getting into movie production and producing in particular?
JB: Yeah, I think, first of all, you gotta read everything you can possibly read about it, learn everything you can learn about it. Take a job within the industry no matter how menial it is just to get in the door, even if you have to work for nothing. You know, we get these kids who come in and they've gone to film school and they think they know everything about film or television, and they right away want to be at the top. And we look at 'em and we say, "Well, guess what: We have a production assistant's job available, and if you want it, fine, and if not, go find somebody to finance your movies..."
Q: Do you think sometimes critics see your name attached [to a film] and they're like, "Oh, that's a piece of garbage"?
JB: Sure, sure. It's a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing is that we draw enormous audiences to our movies, and the bad thing is that they don't like that sometimes...You know, it's like anything else. When we did [1983's] "Flashdance," a journalist - I think it was in Philadelphia; or maybe not Philly, maybe it was in Pittsburgh or something - called it a "toxic waste dump." And then it was about ten years later, he sent me the article where he said, "I really missed it. I look at it now, and it was a cultural change and all these things, and it really was a wonderful movie." But at the time, he called it a "toxic waste dump"... But as long as the audiences show up, that's why I make movies; I try to entertain.
