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WITH HER LATEST MOVIE, BATTLE IN SEATTLE, MARY ALOE IS QUICKLY

BECOMING ONE OF It’s around 6 p.m., and film producer Mary Aloe and I are sitting on a leather couch in the dimly lit bar at Toronto’s Sutton Place Hotel. It’s hard to ignore the cacophonous sound of over 60 people crowded into this narrow THE MOST PROMINENT establishment all talking at once, but the noise only adds to the excitement of this particular week during September’s Toronto International Film Festival. INDEPENDENT FEMALE And while journalists and movie fanatics alike can sit back and immerse themselves in the temporarily transplanted Hollywood magic, producers like PRODUCERS IN Aloe have a lot resting on the reception of their films, many of which will have their world premieres at the festival. Aside from around-the-clock meetings with distributors and parties HOLLYWOOD. BUT with guest lists tighter than Mariah Carey’s tube tops, Aloe’s main reason for being here was to attend the gala premiere of her latest project, Battle WHAT EXACTLY DOES A in Seattle. The film, about the late-’90s riots in the West Coast city, stars Charlize Theron and is also the directorial debut of Theron’s husband, Stuart Townsend. Such a gala can make or break a film’s eventual release PRODUCER DO, ANYWAY? depending on how it’s received by the crowd and the critics. Fortunately, when the credits rolled the film was met with a 15-minute standing ovation STRUT’S VICKI HOGARTH at the famous Elgin Theatre, and Aloe, first thing the next day, was met with a flood of phone calls from distributors making offers. As I peruse the wine menu, Aloe orders herself a glass of sparkling water. CHECKS IN WITH ALOE She has a business dinner to go to after this and prefers to start the evening off on a light note. I ask her what a film producer’s job entails and why it’s FOR THE LOWDOWN such a boys’ club. “Here’s the thing…” says Aloe, and we begin to really talk. How come I don’t know any producers or know what a producer does? It’s funny, even if you’re Kennedy/Marshall, a lot of people don’t know who any of these producers are – unless you go up to win that Oscar. OPPOSITE PAGE: Black and white silk And they still don’t remember your name! Like, do you remember the blouse Marc Jacobs name of the producer who produced Crash? We’re the unsung heroes. p at Holt Renfrew, $1,095. PHOTOGRAPHY SIMON WILLMS STYLING SERGE KERBEL

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their creative trigger. I go up against the best of the boys. The interesting thing about that metaphor is that – in chess – the king’s moves are very predictable, but it’s the queen who can do anything and come out of nowhere and win the game. I love that! I’d like to use it for my bio. You mentioned at the photo shoot that sometimes you have to drop stars like Lindsay Lohan when they get in trouble. I call it stars gone wild, when you see stars go up and down, whether it’s the Robert Downeys or the Lindsay Lohans or Paris Hilton. They go, “Oh, I don’t care about production! I’m just going to go out and do what I need to do.” It’s really hard on all of us, because as a producer you have to watch all the budgets. One of the reasons why I think I’m still success - ful and will continue to be, is because I don’t just think about me but about every single one of those people on the set. When stars do that, they can make the insurance go up, so the budget changes – they change our schedule. I can’t tell you what it was like, what a bumpy ride over the summer, with this particular production, with this particular star who I won’t name, because I remember the one day I woke up and I had lost a million dollars. And another day, something else happened to the star and I lost two million dollars because that star had gotten him or herself into a problem, and the investors wake up and go, “Sorry, we can’t go forward.”

Black and grey pinstripe wool jacket Dolce & Gabbana, $1,150. Black It’s not easy to raise money, because you’re saying, “Here’s a piece of and grey pinstripe wool pants Dolce & Gabbana, $2,995. Cropped paper, here’s a star, let’s hope they show up.” It’s all about your vision, leather gloves Holt Renfrew Private Brand, $98. Blue and white cotton your dream. I hope that someone as talented as Lindsay will learn shirt Pink Tartan, $295. Silk tie Ermenegildo Zegna, $175. Cotton pocket square Boss Black, $95. 1952 “Cellini” watch Rolex (belonged to Mary’s [from her mistakes], because she’s a very talented actress and I can’t father). Metal cufflinks with rhodium plating Cuffwear, $65. say I wouldn’t work with her again, because I probably would. How did you get into producing? You were a journalist Photographer Simon Willms. So you get the big Oscar at the end of the Academy Awards then? store. These are all money people who want to give their money to movies. before, right? Photographer’s assistant Tyler Gray. Stylist Serge Kerbel. You get the big one, the last one, the Best Picture. Whether it’s the studio I’m going to New York on Friday to explain projects to them. Right now, I did exactly what you are doing and I did it for a US publication. I was Stylist’s assistant Caitlin Pomeroy. or the independent world, we all aspire to be recognized by our peers and I have seven pictures that they’re making money off of, that have A-list stars interviewing stars, from their bedrooms to the bathrooms to the restau - Hair and makeup Sabrina Rinaldi at Judy Inc. using Lancôme. have them say, “You did the best job. You’re at the top of the best and that everybody loves – Kate Bosworth, Ewan McGregor. I did six movies rants to backstage, and I really loved it, and then I moved into publicity. Special thanks to Sutton Place Hotel Toronto, www.suttonplace.com. everybody really respects you for what you did.” I had a great feeling in – produced and financed – in about 20 months. Then I started getting all the people I represented on talk shows. Instead Toronto the other night [at the premiere of Battle in Seattle]. We had a Let’s say you lose money. What happens to the investors of just getting the guest on, I’d write the whole show so my guest would lot of interest [from distributors], and we had four offers. But the standing at that point? get on. By the end of that year, I was at a publishing firm – self-help books ovation at the end for 15 minutes – it’s just as exciting as seeing Stuart It’s very hard to lose money on a film, at least in new films. There’s so – and I had three offers to produce talk shows: Montel Williams, Geraldo up to him and said, “Harvey, I understand you watched my movie, Townsend crying and Charlize crying for a story, and everybody hugging many lives of the movie, from the theatrical and then you have the DVD and John Tesh from Entertainment Tonight, so I went with Geraldo. It was Battle in Seattle.” He goes to shake my hand like this [Aloe demon- and kissing after a year of work putting this together. and then you have the airplane, and you have the hotel, then you have a great experience. What it did was give me a resource for amazing real- strates] and says, “I just want to tell you I loved that movie, and by Why did you get behind this particular movie, and do you ever kick HBO, Showtime… so there’s so many shelf lives. I know that they’re going life stories all over the country. And that’s when I started to do TV movies. the way, it’s important, too.” yourself for not producing others? to get their money back. Your IMDB profile is insane! You’ve got, like, seven movies What kind of projects do you have in the works? I had that with Crash and Capote. Nobody wanted to read Capote because How does it feel to be in an industry dominated by males? scheduled for the next year. I’m making offers to Fergie for a movie, and I’m making offers to Eva nobody wants to read about a gay writer, and I was like, “You’re wrong!” I’ve always felt that I actually have a leg up. Let’s put it this way: I present The past two years have been crazy! I had a TV show I did with Ashton Green from Casino Royale for another film. It’s really cool. Then I And I knew I was right and I had those two scripts. I didn’t have the myself pretty well, and when I walk into a boardroom, I always sit at the Kutcher for MTV called Room 401, which was at the same time I was just pounced on a $50 million fund backed by Merrill Lynch. It’s nice, finances that I have now, but I knew I had good taste! This script [for head of the table because I’m generally the only woman. I purposely take doing a movie with Laurence Fishburne, and I was doing the Shirley because now I have equity funds to make movies. Battle in Seattle] was given to me, and I saw the potential. It was also based the head seat at each table and sit there because I believe I have the same MacLaine and Olympia Dukakis movie in LA all at once. I woke up one Do you ever think you’re taking a gamble when you on true events. In 1999 there were riots that turned an American city into a strength and negotiating abilities as any gentleman in this room, in a bar, day complaining, and then I was like, “What the hell? I did it! Do you make certain films? world war zone for literally five days, and it’s very unusual in America, and in the hub of the Toronto Film Festival, which is one of the most presti - remember when you couldn’t get anything in development?” So, if I start to I’m not a gambler, but I’m a risk-taker, and there’s a difference. the issues behind this riot happened. [The script] gave everybody’s view: gious festivals in the world right now. I learned to play chess with my dad complain that I get too tired or I have too much going on, I just remember A gambler is, to me, somebody that just throws it. A risk-taker is a the pedestrians, the protesters, the policemen. before he passed on, when I was a little girl, and he always said, “Mary, this when I couldn’t get a lot of stuff going. I’m very grateful for everything. maverick, someone like me, like you. I’m taking risks because I’m What does it mean to be an independent filmmaker? is a game of life. I’m going to teach you chess.” I took it as being methodi - Are you nervous about the wide-release reception of Battle in Seattle? betting on myself and the people around me, so to me it’s a sure bet, a In the independent world, I go out and raise the money to buy the project. cal. I always think about the meeting, how it’s going to go, who I’m going Well, I went to the InStyle party with Jude Law, Jessica Alba and Amber sure thing. Do I take risks? Absolutely, I’m the boss. But do I gamble? I go to Chicago, New York. I’ll meet with a dairy farmer, I’ll meet with a to be meeting with, the story and how I’m going to sell it. I tailor it to Tamblyn [the other night]. It was a really good party. I saw Harvey Not with other people’s money, not with other people’s lives, not with huge real estate magnate, I’ll meet with the owner of a name brand clothing different companies. I know what their trigger is, their financial trigger, Weinstein. I’m always one for confronting my fears, so I walked right the crew, not with anybody. s

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