15 replies to this topic

[DavidJones]

In a new interview with Michael G Wilson and Barbara Brocolli, this was said:

 

“Barbara scares the hell out of people,” Mr. Wilson said in a rare sit-down interview at the St. Regis Hotel in Mexico City a few hours before the premiere of “Spectre,” which opened in the United States on Friday. “Everyone is frightened to death of her.”

“Good!” shouted Ms. Broccoli, who was seated beside him. She laughed.

“I mean it,” Mr. Wilson continued, as she shot him an O.K.-that’s-enough look. “They all know I’m a big pushover so they don’t care about me.”

http://www.nytimes.c...assignment.html

 

Cubby, by all accounts, was a nice guy. Author George MacDonald Fraser, who drafted Octopussy, wrote in his memoir: "There may have been nicer people in Hollywood than Cubby Broccoli, but I never met them" and "[Those around him] showed him a respect that had nothing to do with fear of a man who controlled the most successful series of in the history of cinema; it was simply that they liked him."

 

Wilson seems like a nice guy but I've always had the impression he is, as he puts it, a push-over and in recent interview with the Holywood Reporter admitted that it was Barbara who decided to cast Daniel and not him. So she definitely seems to wear the pants. To be fair, she seems like a good person too and always has kind words to say about the team, appearing gracious, determined and shrewd and is apparently warm in person. Wilson's comments, though, do paint her as quite the taskmaster.

Edited by DavidJones, 19 November 2015 - 10:54 PM.

[Dustin]

I suppose Ms Broccoli has to be pretty firm to run the series, she's constantly dealing with the top brass of her respective partner studios - in MGM's case there is little else now but top brass - and with by and far the biggest budgets for her productions. If her partners were not convinced she's meaning business Eon's unique position would be constantly challenged. As is she's running one of the very few remaining family businesses in an industry that has largely developed into a corporate bonanza.

[glidrose]

She does have a reputation as one who does not suffer fools gladly.

[DavidJones]

I think Cubby, although he was apparently a very nice guy, looked like a movie producer. Being a rotund Italian-American, he had that mafiaso look about him, with authority writ large. Barbara, on the other hand, is an attractive woman and, as a self-proclaimed feminist, she may have experienced sexism in the business.

[SecretAgentFan]

Being tough and fear-inducing, those are qualities in the film business that any producer should have.

 

To even talk about BB not being "nice" is absurd.  Where are the articles and threads about the "evil" male producers dominating the business?

 

Was her father really "a nice guy"?  As a private person, sure, why not?  As a professional producer - nice doesn´t cut it.  And he would not have succeeded otherwise.

 

Fair, yes - that´s important.  And BB must be a fair producer as well - otherwise people would not return to work for her.

 

IMO, BB is one of the best producers in the business, simply because she managed to steer this movie series through most difficult waters and maintained it.   Kudos to her!

[Dustin]

Well said!

[New Digs]

I'm not so sure it's a case of good cop bad cop between the producers as that article could suggest. MGW is no pushover either.  According to Cubby's biography '[Wilsons] firmness in standing up to the incompetents who ran interference on our productions was widely acknowledged'.  

[DavidJones]

Being tough and fear-inducing, those are qualities in the film business that any producer should have.

 

To even talk about BB not being "nice" is absurd.  Where are the articles and threads about the "evil" male producers dominating the business?

 

Was her father really "a nice guy"?  As a private person, sure, why not?  As a professional producer - nice doesn´t cut it.  And he would not have succeeded otherwise.

 

Fair, yes - that´s important.  And BB must be a fair producer as well - otherwise people would not return to work for her.

 

IMO, BB is one of the best producers in the business, simply because she managed to steer this movie series through most difficult waters and maintained it.   Kudos to her!

 

Yet, as already noted, Cubby was apparently a nice guy.

[Mr_Wint]

There is a loose rumor that Barbara and Amy Pascal were more than just friends. Some leaks suggest it.

[Jim]

There is a loose rumor that Barbara and Amy Pascal were more than just friends. Some leaks suggest it.

 

Well, this thread of already abstractly mean-spirited nature steers its inevitable course towards the defamatory.

[DavidJones]

 

There is a loose rumor that Barbara and Amy Pascal were more than just friends. Some leaks suggest it.

 

Well, this thread of already abstractly mean-spirited nature steers its inevitable course towards the defamatory.

 

 

 

What's mean spirited? I said she seems like a good person and is "gracious, determined and shrewd". How is that mean-spirited?

[Dustin]

Easy enough to identify: the moment so-called 'rumours' are mentioned, regarding events only the involved can reasonably give any account of, the spirit entered through the door. And not with a nice grin on its face.

There is a loose rumor that Barbara and Amy Pascal were more than just friends. Some leaks suggest it.

Since I don't suppose you are either of the mentioned persons I would prefer if you didn't peddle such BS here. Unless of course you would like to hear what rumours suggest about you.

Thanks for being a considerate member, Mr_Wint...

[glidrose]

Easy enough to identify: the moment so-called 'rumours' are mentioned, regarding events only the involved can reasonably give any account of, the spirit entered through the door. And not with a nice grin on its face.

There is a loose rumor that Barbara and Amy Pascal were more than just friends. Some leaks suggest it.

Since I don't suppose you are either of the mentioned persons I would prefer if you didn't peddle such BS here. Unless of course you would like to hear what rumours suggest about you.

Thanks for being a considerate member, Mr_Wint...

I hear that Mr Wint and Mr Kidd are more than just friends, wink wink nudge nudge. They were apparently seen holding hands in the South African desert. Two guys named Guy Hamilton and Ted Moore got photos of them and these pics all over the net.

Sorry, Dustin, couldn't resist.

Seriously tho' - "loose rumor" "some leaks suggest it" - do not exactly prove anything. More a case of people wanting to believe what they want to believe. Confirmation bias, as it's called. Perhaps even projection.

FWIW, I too read those leaked emails and don't remember anything along those lines. Mind you, Dustin did have to explain the bridge symbolism in Spectre to me...

[Grard Bond]

Maybe she's a very nice person, maybe not. We just don't know.

I suppose nobody here has ever realy met her, or realy talked with her.

 

So what's the point argue about it here? What's it to us?

 

She's a great producer and I hope she will doing this for years and years.

 

Thanks Barbara.

Edited by Grard Bond, 20 November 2015 - 11:22 PM.

[mccartney007]

I've only ever met Barbara socially so I can't attest to what she's like professionally, but she has been extremely lovely each time I've met her over the years. That said, I worked with a woman who was a real witch when she was on set, but off the clock she was very sweet. Some people have completely different personalities at work than when they are on their own time. 

[Professor Pi]

She's taken one of the longest running franchises in cinema history, and grown it into one of the biggest.  Can the producers of Bourne, Mission Impossible, and Star Trek say that?  The only thing bigger is Disney with Marvel and ... what's that other sci fi movie coming out next month?