Jill Simonian is a correspondent for Dailies (ReelzChannel TV, weeknights @ 6PM ET), and occasionally shares stories from the field. This week: Brian Robbins
And rightfully so.
After 20-plus years of movie-making (directing, writing and producing), Brian Robbins' films have grossed almost $900 million worldwide. Yes, he may soon become a billion dollar man in the next few years, like the recent "Billion Dollar Club" inductee Michael Bay. But how do movie fans know him best? As Eddie Murphy's partner-in-crime who brought us Norbit ... and he also directed Murphy's current fish-out-of-water farce in theatres now: Meet Dave.
I met Robbins for the first time last week at Paramount Pictures. A humble, and quiet -- but very friendly -- guy, he was working on location. And I was dying to ask him what I have been curious to know for almost a year:
"What do you have to say to 'stuffy critics' and 'haters' of your movies?"
I do believe that critics, especially with comedies, should have to sit in a room with an audience of people -- people who actually pay money for the movies -- and watch with them, and then review it. I just don't know how you can sit in a room by yourself and watch a comedy -- and review it -- when you're of "a certain age" ... I think you also have to review things in the context of who they're made for, you know? That's just my opinion.
Well said, Robbins... well said. Here's to making a billion bucks.
Watch the story this week on Dailies.
See Also: Our recent interview with Brian Robbins.
Posted 07.15.08 by reelz Jill Simonian is a correspondent for Dailies (ReelzChannel TV, weeknights @ 6PM ET), and occasionally shares stories from the field. This week: WALL-E
No, we're not talking drunken stoopers.
In WALL-E, John Ratzenberger's character -- "John" -- is a human floating around in space. But Ratzenberger himself has his feet planted firmly on the ground. After putting his friendly-but-know-it-all mailman Cliff Clavin from TV's Cheers to rest in 1993, Ratzenberger quickly –- and affectionately -- became Disney-Pixar's "good luck charm." Since 1995's Toy Story, he's been the only actor to voice a role in every Disney-Pixar movie to date. (After Hamm the Piggy Bank, P.T. Flea, Abominable Snowman, Fish School, Underminer, Mack, Mustafa... finally he gets to play a "John!")
At the junket for this impeccably-animated sci-fi love story last weekend, Ratzenberger himself told me that "feeling like a rabbit's foot" is a good thing. But when I asked WALL-E director/writer (and Pixar's ninth employee) Andrew Stanton about it, I found out how Ratzenberger pulled off this feat:
To become Pixar's pet he simply went to cocktails with Toy Story's creative team after the press junket for that movie 13 years ago. As Stanton recalled, the team invited the entire cast to meet at the hotel bar for celebratory drinks that night after their interviews were over, and Ratzenberger was the only actor who showed up. Amazing. Stanton and the rest of the Pixar team appreciated his down-to-Earth personality that night, so they wrote a part for him in 1998's A Bug's Life, and the rest is history.
Finally! The secret to having a steady gig for the rest of your life! (I guess all that work from Cheers paid off?) Drinks, anyone?
Posted 06.27.08 by reelz