Paul zaentz biography
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Finally, after more than a month Milos calls and Saul puts him on the speaker phone.
Milos is telling us how great things are going. To which the executive said, “We know she will not be as good for your movie but she will be very good for our publicity and marketing.”
A few weeks later after the Cannes film festival Anthony cast Willem Dafoe and the studio’s reaction was that “Dafoe is not box office neutral — he is box office poison!” Fox suggested that we replace him with either John Goodman or Danny DeVito.
Kirk, who did send the book, thought “This young punk Czech director never had the courtesy to drop me a line thanking me for sending the book.” After Milos was hired to direct the film, they were both at dinner at Michael Douglas’s house and they were leery about each other. We discussed that the play needed to be opened up to make a movie.
– Scott Tobias, The New York Times
Director: Milos Forman (US 1984) 158 min.
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Director: Anthony Minghella (US 1996) 162 min.
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SATURDAY, NOV 16
IN CONVERSATION WITH MICHAEL ONDAATJE AND DAVIA NELSON
NOTE: MICHAEL ONDAAJTE WILL BE JOINING THE CONVERSATION VIA LIVE ZOOM CONNECTION ON THE BIG SCREEN.
Michael Ondaatje, a masterful storyteller, has written seven novels, a memoir, a nonfiction exploration of film, and several poetry collections.
Over the last 50 years very few people have picked up on that discrepancy.
After Cuckoo’s Nest Milos made Hair and Ragtime.
Ralph Fiennes reads a transcript of an M16 agent who admits to plotting the coup with the CIA.
I have some new projects in development, but I have learned from experience that it best to keep quiet about them until the right moment.
Finally, it is rare for a producer to maintain control but you have been able to keep the movies in the family.
Paul:Last year I was able to purchase the library for my company Teatro della Pace Films.
Finally, they figured out the book was seized by Czech customs.
Co-Producer Michael Douglas, Miloš Forman, Louise Fletcher, Jack Nicholson, & Saul Zaentz with their Oscars
When Cuckoo’s Nest was announced in 1962 Kirk Douglas was going to star, but it took 13 years before the project came together and it was agreed that Kirk was too old to play McMurphy.
There were no limits on the running time but the version that Saul and Milos released was 158 minutes. The classic film is returning to theaters July 13th & 16th across the U.S. thanks to Fathom Events. He has only said “te amo.”
The English Patient was originally going to be financed and distributed by 20th Century Fox but they pulled out before production.
Milos never got the book and thought this big time American actor forgot about the promise as soon as he left Prague. And it went on to win eight Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. I was helping him develop another project at the time.
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An Interview with Producer Paul Zaentz
By Gary Meyer
(updated November 21, 2024)
34 Oscar nominations.
22 Wins including 3 Best Pictures.
That is only a fraction of the awards the Bay Area ‘s Saul Zaentz won for the terrific movies he brought to the international big screen.
The Berkeley FILM Foundation and the California Film Institute presented the Saul Zaentz Film Celebration, an event honoring the legacy of the legendary independent film producer, November 15-17, 2024, at the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael, California.
Amadeus shows at Davies Hall with the SF Symphony the score live on music.
See the complete schedule here.
If anyone knew the late producer and the stories behind the making of his award-winning films, his Fantasy Records company, and acquiring the film and merchandising rights to J.R.R. Bookmark the permalink. They are standalone segments. Do you have a favorite story from that time?
Paul: Every day the receptionist would alert me when Milos arrived so I could go to his cutting room, hopefully before he would light up his first cigar, to say good morning and ask him where they ate last night – food was always very important to Milos.
One morning about 10 months into the 14 months of post-production Milos greets me with “I need to go to the hospital for an operation.”
I blurt out “What’s wrong?”
Milos points to his ear and says, “Here– I hear people telling me my movie is great.”
Then Milos points to his eye and says, “but here I see my movie is shit.”
Then he points to the area between his ear and eye and says, “so I must need an operation here.”
I was invited to a very early cut screening of Amadeus at the Piedmont Theatre.
There were four scenes that added 22 minutes.