Veteran movie govt Invoice Mechanic shares some reminiscences about producer Jon Landau, who died July 5 on the age of 63, and the experiences they shared throughout the making of James Cameron’s 1997 epic Titanic, which was backed by Fox Filmed Leisure when Mechanic was that firm’s chairman and CEO.
I at all times checked out Jon as a born movie individual. His mother and father, Ely and Edie, have been revered producers, and he knew every little thing there was to find out about film manufacturing.
After I joined Fox, Jon was the pinnacle of manufacturing, which means he oversaw each movie we comprised of the studio’s perspective. It was a shock — and a loss — for us when he left the studio to provide Titanic. Nevertheless it was additionally nice understanding that we’d have somebody so educated engaged on a film that promised to be as formidable as Jim’s image.
Nobody may have foreseen the difficulties that lay forward with that movie, however even on the hardest moments, Jon was somebody we completely trusted. When there have been arguments about easy methods to forge via to completion, he arbitrated — to the diploma anybody may — between the manufacturing and the studio, and once more made it simpler as a result of each side trusted that each greenback being spent was within the pursuits of delivering one thing particular.
Reflecting again on that point, these of us closest to the movie believed it had an opportunity to grow to be not solely successful, however one thing actually nice. There have been, nevertheless, no assurances. The stress degree was off the charts, and there was no query it weighed closely on Jon. However he by no means misplaced his humorousness or decency, as a result of he was a soldier. He remained assured and optimistic, whatever the second, and he knew his craft.
All of us had a tough journey, nevertheless it’s a press release of how good Jon was that each the studio and the manufacturing felt he was the right individual for the job. That film required a lion, and he proved he may roar.