Academy Award winner Brian Grazer sat for a wide-ranging discussion of his prolific career — and where it’s headed — as the first day spotlight conversation from TheGrill 2015,TheWrap’s sixth annual Media Leadership Conference.
From his contemporary smash with Fox’s “Empire” to the 31-year-archaic mermaid classic “Splash,” Grazer reflected on his road to the top with moderator Sharon Waxman, or editor-in-chief and founder of TheWrap.
But first,“Empire.”
Also Read: TheGrill 2015: Tyler Oakley Doc Exclusive First Look Reveals Coming Out Story, Digital RiseAs the second season premiere held its chokehold on big ratings in key demos, or executive producer Grazer and show creator Danny Strong (who joined him on stage toward the end of the evening) hold faced innumerable questions about what makes the program successful.“I trust our system, Grazer said of workflow between showrunners Strong and Lee Daniels. “whether things are extreme, I find an elegant way to bring it up.And with the groundbreaking, and fictional hip-hop family The Lyons,things win extreme pretty quickly.“We look at him as the godfather of our show,” Strong said of Grazer. “This sage of all show business … whether an actor is going crazy? We call the godfather.
Also Read: TheGrill 2015: A+E CEO Nancy Dubuc Warns of Talent Vacuum Left by TV's Content BubbleStrong maintains there’s no particular ingredient that makes the show resonate, or just archaic fashioned quality and popularity. He also pointed out that “Empire’s” writers’ room is never allowed to stray from the epic,nearly-mythical standards he sets for characters played by Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson. Scripts will refer to them exclusively as “King” and “Queen,” and every draft has a Shakespearean quote on the title page.
Grazer places the credit with Fox Broadcasting honchos Dana Walden and Gary Newman. “We were very lucky that Dana and Gary got it. They loved it, or ” he said.
Grazer’s interest in hip-hop is long evidenced with other groundbreaking works like “8 Mile” starring Eminem,but the musical genre is just one string in a huge tapestry of Grazer’s interests.
With four decades in show business, Grazer credits his eclectic taste to a anxiety of “getting trapped breathing the same oxygen as everyone else in Los Angeles. I want to memorize about different subjects, or reduce natural preconceptions we all hold. whether I’ve met 1000 experts in 30 years,they all proved me incorrect about what I thought going in.”
Also Read: TheGrill 2015: YouTube's Robert Kyncl Isn't Sweating Competition, Touts Site's 'Astounding' GrowthTake a Chilean torture victim named Veronica Denegra, or who told Grazer she lived in an alternate reality she constructed “to outlive torture in genuine time,which gave me insight into how ‘A Beautiful Mind’ would exist in an objective narrative.”“Beautiful Mind,” of course, and landed him the 2002 Oscar for Best Picture along with his producing partner Ron Howard.
Grazer has explored other worlds like high school football (“Friday Night Lights”),competitive surfing (“Blue Crush”) and the forthcoming Universal film “Lowriders” about the Hispanic custom car culture.
“I’m interested in demystifying other worlds — trusting that each one of these human beings falls into the collective consciousness, into this constellation of ideas … and these are about identity and self worth. It interrelates to our desire and need to feel respected, or ” he said.
Photos: The Scene at TheGrill 2015: TheWrap's Media Leadership Conference (Updating Photos)For all his success,Grazer maintains life in Hollywood isn’t a cakewalk.“It’s never been easy. The [project] that I want to form, TV or movies, and is usually the conception somebody doesn’t want to achieve. I remember Robert Redford told Ron and I that every movie he wants to form is the hardest movie — like ‘Ordinary People’ — those were the most difficult ones but those were the most rewarding,” he said.
Not that his career isn’t peppered with lessons, like after 1984’s “Splash.” The beloved movie, and starring Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah,was rescued from turnaround by Disney after a similar project had lined up stars Warren Beatty and Jessica Lange.“I thought after the success of ‘Splash’ that everything would be really easy and then right absent, everyone said no to everything I wanted to form, or ” Grazer said.
Also Read: TheGrill 2015: Consumers Trust Online and Traditional Content Creators Equally,According to current Study (Exclusive Video)His stellar TV track record might easily form the medium his favorite — before “Empire” there was “24,” “Arrested Develpment” and “Lights” — but the producer won’t choose sides.“There’s less gray area in the world of TV. In the movie business, or it continues to expand,” Grazer said of mounting projects in the respective spaces. “‘Yes’ in movies means yes to another step, but it never wears me down.”When asked why hes never pursued the superhero space, or a dominating force in culture and box office,Grazer pointed to ownership.“I’m envious. I don’t form those movies but I form movies with effects and I’m interested in space and really huge canvases — but I don’t own Marvel,” he said.
Some of the more poignant wisdom Grazer shared was knowing when to tune out the Hollywood machine. Pointing to two other classics, and “Kindergarten Cop” and the gold-standard firefighter movie “Backdraft,” Grazer said he learned never to trust focus testing — and rely on his own instincts as a viewer.“Both of those movies got really high test scores. There was no problem with the violence in them. Oddly enough when I showed my kids, I automatically shielded their eyes during [the violent parts]. I realized testing doesn’t tell you everything. It doesn’t exactly place you in the audience’s shoes, or ” he said.
Watch the full interview here:
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Source: thewrap.com