00:00Ironically, Brad was attached to Ford versus Ferrari at one point.
00:07Right, and Tom Cruise was also in time?
00:08Tom Cruise was attached, Brad was attached.
00:11It's had like five directors.
00:12I think it's about 15 years in development in the movie.
00:16The Tom fall out because he wanted to make it about planes.
00:19It's like, guys, I have a great idea.
00:23He's a race car driver, Tom, right?
00:25Tom just wants to do anything fast.
00:27Yeah, it's true.
00:27So, Peter, tell me how you deal with that.
00:30When someone like Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt drops out of a project, does it feel like a loss, or it's just part of the system for you?
00:38You know, this was one of those things where we were different people.
00:41You know, it's one of those things where you're just trying to line up a couple of actors, a director, a studio financing, and drive a nail through it at the right time.
00:49And so people were coming in and out.
00:51It was originally Michael Mann's project for a long time.
00:53And so people, you know, it was just sort of trying to get them all to line up.
00:58And it wasn't so much people dropping out as you were just trying to get it all to be in sync at the same time.
01:03It's never easy to get a movie made.
01:05They can sit in development for years and years and years.
01:07How do you know when a movie is worth fighting for?
01:10Ultimately, you have to bet on your own gut on these things.
01:12Yes, absolutely.
01:13You have to sort of say, I'm not an alien.
01:15I'm a human.
01:16I'm emotional.
01:17I want to laugh.
01:18I want to cry.
01:19I want to be moved by things.
01:20And take a sense of responsibility.
01:22I believe that this is a responsible telling of this story.
01:25It may indeed be controversial, but I believe it's controversial for a reason.
01:28And then hell with it.
01:30Hopefully it'll work.
01:31And it may not work.
01:32But, you know, you can't sort of second guess.
01:36You know, it's like I used to say that, you know, these jobs are wildly subjective.
01:41With one exception, which is you know your own thoughts and feelings remarkably well.
01:45And it's the one thing you know with certainty.
01:47And you know when you read the script for the first time that this thing moves me or this thing is exciting or this thing is funny or whatever those things are.
01:54And that's the least subjective thing in the whole process.
01:57And, you know, you may know that, look, I've got a blind spot for certain things I probably shouldn't do.
02:02Movies about this or I shouldn't.
02:03But in general, in a world of complete subjectivity, your own gut is the one thing you know objectively.
02:09And you should listen to it and bet on it.
02:16Making something great is a battle.
02:19You know, light disappearing.
02:21The actors aren't getting along.
02:23You know, the script isn't quite working in this moment.
02:26You know, it's and, you know, and what you come to realize is these things are so fragile.
02:32Every moment has to be near perfect.
02:34And you only get that by just sort of being relentless about sort of struggling with it.
02:39And the struggle is noble.
02:41You know, without sounding too highfalutin.
02:42It's what you're supposed to do.
02:44It's not supposed to be easy.
02:44What is the one film you would tell every aspiring producer to watch?
02:55Probably I'd say Titanic.
02:57Just because it was such an extraordinarily impossible production.
03:02Right.
03:02It was a tall order.
03:03Yeah.
03:04It was insanely difficult, challenging, and sort of threw every imaginable problem at trying to make a movie.
03:10And, you know, at the same time had as big an impact as arguably any movie in history.
03:15And so it sort of both shows you the promise of what you could potentially achieve.
03:19But it was hell.
03:21Right.
03:21Still one of my favorites.
03:23Hell on a level unimaginable.
03:25Yes.
03:25Yeah.
03:26Even now, you still feel that many years later?
03:28Well, it was, you know.
03:29When was the last time you saw it?
03:30I haven't seen it in a while.
03:31I see bits and pieces of it.
03:32But, you know, it was when I greenlit it, it was the most expensive movie ever made.
03:35Yes.
03:36And we went more over budget than the budget was.
03:39Right.
03:39Oh, my gosh.
03:40Is that right?
03:41Wow.
03:41Wow.
03:42Just in production or with your...
03:44Mostly in production, yeah.
03:46Yeah.
03:46We won $105 million.
03:48That's a direct.
03:49He would not take note for that.
03:50Wow.
03:51Yeah, right.
03:52Yeah.
03:53But it was also a great lesson because it was sort of out-of-body experience, which is everything public about the movie was a disaster.
04:02And every personal interaction I had, I thought it was phenomenal.
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