Жэйн Розентал: Роберт Де Нирогийн Трампын эсрэг дайралт, “Meet the Parents 4” кино болон бусад сэдвүүдийн талаар

It’s Jane Rosenthal versus the jackhammer.

As the legendary producer strolls onto the patio of The Greenwich Hotel, clad in her signature blue shades, she’s visibly aghast. A small army of workers is plastering a banner and some streamers onto trees in preparation for a bridal shower scheduled for later today. The conversation we’re meant to have over lunch about her glass-ceiling-shattering career as the CEO of Tribeca Enterprises is destined to be drowned out by the din.

This won’t do! Rosenthal, one of Hollywood’s most meticulous producers — with a list of credits that includes “The Irishman,” “Meet the Parents,” “Rent” and “About a Boy”— is used to navigating tricky situations. But as she sizes up the construction project, it dawns on her that this isn’t her set, and she can’t tell the workers to get lost. She drifts into the restaurant. A table among the masses? That won’t do either. Rosenthal whispers something to the maître d’, and suddenly, he leads us to a secret backroom. We’ve now crashed a banquet hall bedecked in more banners for “Amanda’s Bridal Shower” — but Amanda will have to wait. Jane Rosenthal, 68, has some stories to tell.

“You have to be somebody for whom ’No’ is not an option,” Rosenthal says.

Robert De Niro, her longtime collaborator, with whom she co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks, is in awe of her work ethic. “She thinks politically, strategically, and she’s in the loop on everything,” he says. “She’s like family. We’re just very comfortable.”

Tribeca has had several iterations over the years. De Niro and Rosenthal, looking at an economically and spiritually depressed downtown after 9/11, based their original concept on the frisky, celebrity-fueled Cannes Film Festival. But running a film festival has never been a more challenging business proposition. Just ask the organizers of the Toronto International Film Festival, fighting for survival after losing its lead sponsor, Bell Canada; or Sundance, which has announced plans to leave its famous Utah home base for Boulder — lured, in part, by a new Colorado tax credit. Studios and streamers aren’t buying many indie films, and a rocky economy has left corporate backers less willing to shell out multimillion-dollar checks. Tribeca, which celebrates its 24th edition in June, isn’t immune to the downturn.

“There’s no question it’s challenging, and there’s no question that certain corporations are looking more carefully at how they’re spending their money,” Rosenthal says with a sigh. “But art still gets made in difficult times.”

Of course, nothing compares to the tragedy that gave birth to Tribeca. “We had no money, no sponsorships — but it was important to do something for our community,” Rosenthal says. “That’s still our North Star.”

After COVID shut down the festival in 2020, Tribeca moved from its April schedule to June 2021 to give organizers more flexibility for outdoor programming. Despite fighting a perpetual uphill battle, Rosenthal — who shot up the executive ranks at Disney in the ’80s — is excited about this year’s lineup, which includes documentaries on Barbara Walters and Becky G, as well as the New York premiere of Universal’s live-action “How to Train Your Dragon.” With just a few weeks to go, she’s fielding calls from talent and scrambling to make sure she’s ready.

“It’s crunch time,” she says. “I’m just constantly watching films.”

All of which is on top of her day job. When not overseeing Tribeca, Rosenthal’s putting together another “Meet the Parents” sequel with De Niro and Ben Stiller, and also working on new films from James Gray and Michael Showalter. And before all of those will be her most eye-popping production yet: taking Dorothy, Toto and the Yellow Brick Road to the Sphere in Las Vegas. Using AI technology, Rosenthal and her team have reimagined “The Wizard of Oz” as an immersive experience that unfolds on a gargantuan 160,000-foot screen starting in late August.

From her seat at Amanda’s banquet table, Rosenthal speaks candidly about the cinematic boundaries she hopes to push with “The Wizard of Oz at Sphere,” keeping movies in theaters and the struggles of running a vibrant — and ideally, profitable — Tribeca in the Trump era.

What made you want to be a producer?

I wanted to be an actress, but I didn’t like people saying no.

Did you experience pushback in a male-dominated industry?

I started at CBS Sports. The men were always OK to me, because I was, like, jailbait at the time. I was the only woman in the room a lot. But my mother told me I could do anything I wanted, and I actually believed her. It sounds strange, but I didn’t view myself as a woman. I was this kid. I was lucky to be working there.

It was harder later, when I got to CBS and was doing television movies. I developed “The Burning Bed” [with Farrah Fawcett], and I bought that project because it was a story about a justifiable homicide. But it was also about domestic abuse — one of the first big television movies about it — and my boss at the time said to me, “Jane, nobody cares about a man who beats up his wife.” That was a big moment for me.

After that, you became an executive at Disney. What was that like?

It was like being in the Marines. I went to work in the dark, and I went home in the dark. And it didn’t matter whether it was daylight savings time or not. Those were the years when Jeffrey Katzenberg would say, “Put on your crash helmet. If you’re not here on Saturday, your job won’t be here for you on Sunday.”

We’d be having weekend staff meetings, and one time Michael Eisner walked in on Sunday because he forgot his Lakers tickets in the office. He’d come to pick them up and said, “I’m glad that’s not me,” and shut the door. The organizational skills that I needed to be a producer, I learned working with Jeffrey and Michael.

What makes a good producer?

You have to be a good conductor. You put together all the pieces of an orchestra. Then you’ve got to get them to play together so they sound good.

In 1989, you launched Robert De Niro’s production company Tribeca Productions, and he became your lifelong collaborator. Do you talk to De Niro every day?

It goes in spurts.

Do you talk on the phone or text?

We text. He’s a good texter.

Do you ever fight?

After 36 years? Hello!

Who was one of the worst people you ever worked with?

James Robinson of Morgan Creek. They were awful to deal with [on “The Good Shepherd”]. There was a lot of assholing, chauvinistic things that were said to me over the course of that project. It was unprofessional, not nice.

What happened?

Stupid stuff like, “We have to cut the budget of this movie, so you’re not going to have a trailer anymore.” OK, I’m not going to have a trailer. And he’d come on set and go, “I don’t know why you’re using this fabric.” And he wanted to take the movie away from Bob, who directed it. It was just a constant fight. But it was Bob’s passion project, and I’m proud of the movie and the performances that are in it.

How long have you been planning a fourth “Meet the Parents” film?

We’d always talked about it. Ben Stiller is now the same age that Bob was when we did the first one, and his kids have grown up, and they have to come home and meet the parents. I can’t disclose anything else about the plot.

How far along are you with this sequel?

We’re in our seventh trimester.

How has the business changed in the 25 years since you made “Meet the Parents”? Were there jokes you needed to rethink?

Well, that’s asking me about the script — so I can’t tell you! One of the things that’s changed, though, is that what’s happened in our society means there are jokes you can’t tell anymore. And you have to think about who’s going to have issues with a joke now. The second movie was called “Meet the Fockers.” I don’t know if you could call it that today.

The latest “Bridget Jones” sequel wasn’t given a theatrical release in the United States. Will the new “Meet the Parents” debut in theaters?

I hope it will. I haven’t had that conversation with [NBCUniversal chief] Donna Langley, and I don’t know if Ben has had that conversation, but there is nothing like being in a theater and laughing. It becomes a roaring laugh. It doesn’t happen on an airplane, and it doesn’t happen at home with just a couple of people. I really miss that kind of laughter.

Let’s talk about “The Wizard of Oz at Sphere,” which is something you’re producing. How did you first get involved?

[Rosenthal breaks into song] “We’re off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz.” I’ve been consulting for Sphere for a couple of years and produced Darren Aronofsky’s film “Postcard From Earth” for it. MSG, which built Sphere, owned a portion of Tribeca at one point. After Darren’s film, Jim Dolan asked, “What do you think the next one should be?”

So it was your idea?

I’m sure a lot of people might have thought of “The Wizard of Oz,” but I did say that. Jim thought it was a good idea, so we went to talk to [Warner Bros. Discovery CEO] David Zaslav and [the studio’s film chiefs] Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca, and they agreed.

How are you putting this together?

We’re taking the original frame of the picture, which is small, and then upgrading it to fit on the Sphere, which is one of the largest screens in the world. A lot of that we’re doing with AI. You have to create a super resolution. We went and got the original shot list that the cameraman used. We went through all the production designer drawings. We looked at all the props in the Warner Bros. archives and the Academy archives.

What happens for the Sphere is you take something that’s this big [she pinches her fingers together] and then you’re going to see it like this [she extends her arms], so you’re way beyond what the original lens could capture. Now, when you see Dorothy running down the road in that opening shot — running toward Gale’s farm — you also see the full landscape and where the house is situated. What we’re doing is imagining what the filmmaker would have done if they had a wider lens. Also, the Sphere is immersive, so there are immersive elements in this.

Such as?

I can’t tell you.

Do you do anything with the shoes?

There are ruby slippers in this film.

Did you include footage that wasn’t used in the original film?

There’s nothing in this that wasn’t in the original.

Is it the same length as the original?

It’s shorter, but it was also shorter on television because there had to be commercial breaks. Remember, “The Wizard of Oz” was a flop when it opened, and it wasn’t until it started airing on television that it became beloved.

What kind of challenges did you face when you enhanced the images in the film?

When you do look at this movie in high resolution, it shows interesting things. They didn’t have the same kind of continuity control that we do now. There was also the way that the makeup was applied — how they glued on the Lion’s mane, you can see that. Do you change that, or do you just leave it?

And the answer is …?

We’re still debating. There’s a couple of shots where you wonder if you fix it or leave it as this quaint sort of thing that “The Wizard of Oz” is. I never knew I’d be staring at the witch’s nose so closely or really looking at the pattern of Dorothy’s dress.

What is your stance on using AI in filmmaking?

Pandora is out of the box. It’s like, you’ve got to use it.

When you talk about putting ethical parameters around AI, should its use be disclosed in the credits of a film?

Absolutely. It should not be a secret that you’re using it.

There are fears people will lose jobs because of AI.

People are going to lose jobs. But you know what? There’s also going be a lot of jobs created because of this. On “Wizard of Oz” alone, we’re using at least 12 VFX houses. It’s incumbent on all of us — the guilds, the studios, the tech companies — to educate people for the new positions that are going to be available.

What types of films work best for the Sphere?

Something immersive with a four-quadrant audience. It’s exhilarating to be working with a new camera — particularly when you look at how the business is doing. Though isn’t it nice that Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” — this completely original picture — is so huge? It’s bringing my 30-year-old daughter out to the movies. Not that I look old enough to have a 30-year-old daughter. Well, maybe I do. She saw it three times. That’s the power of movies: When there’s something out there that’s unique, people want to see it.

This year’s Tribeca includes documentaries on Billy Joel and Metallica. Past editions have included films on Jennifer Lopez and Clive Davis. When did you realize music was so important to this festival?

In our first year, I kept saying we needed comedies, because after 9/11 you needed to laugh. But there’s not a lot of independent comedies. So it became how can you bring joy to the neighborhood? Music was a way to showcase something that wasn’t depressing.

Miley Cyrus will be at Tribeca. Do you know her?

I don’t. She’s doing this visual album here. We had Taylor Swift here.

Do you have any Taylor Swift stories?

She’s really sweet. She was here for her short film. In my introduction, I used lyrics from her songs. The audience were all Swifties, and they kept screaming! She’s made such a mark on our culture, I’ve been interested in her music. Also, my two daughters are right in the middle of that Swiftie phase.

Tribeca has never shied away from politics.

It’s a strange time for all of us, but artists’ voices are more important than ever.

Are you surprised more people in Hollywood aren’t speaking out against Trump?

It’s early days.

What do you make of how the media companies are responding? Corporations seem to be more fearful than they were in 2016.

It’s extremely disturbing that we’re not speaking up more. I mean, they just arrested a judge. But I’m not at a big studio. I don’t have shareholders to answer to. I come at things from a creative place rather than looking at them from Wall Street’s perspective.

De Niro has been an outspoken Trump critic. Has there been any blowback?

No, we just did a big show with Netflix.

Did Trump ever come to Tribeca?

Nope. A lot of people haven’t come to Tribeca. Mandela came to Tribeca.

What do you remember about that?

It was our first film festival. Nobody was coming downtown after 9/11. You had tanks on Canal Street. We announced the festival and then proceeded to do it in 120 days. Mike Bloomberg gave us the back steps of City Hall to do an event, and President Clinton came and Hugh Grant, who was the star of “About a Boy,” which was a movie that we had produced and showed. Mandela talked about how when he was a prisoner at Robben Island, the prisoners and the jailers had movie nights, and they’d laugh and cry at the same things. It reminded them of their shared humanity. Hugh was very upset. He was like, “I can’t do this. I’m a lightweight. I can’t be in front of Mandela and Clinton.” He was great though. He went out and said, “The one thing about a film festival, it’s a great shot of vitamin B12 in a community’s arse. Let’s go to the movies!” That’s what we did.

Tribeca is a for-profit festival. Other festivals like Sundance operate as nonprofits. Why did you choose this model?

Being for-profit means we can do different types of sponsorships and have bigger sponsors. Doing a festival is hard. We’re not federally funded. We really don’t get any city funds. Originally, we were a charity, and we had the Tribeca Film Institute, which we paused during COVID and haven’t reopened.

Will you reopen it?

It’s my desire to. We just haven’t had time.

You moved Tribeca from April to June during COVID. Are you ever going to move it back to April?

It’s nicer weather. And during COVID we had to be outside. We go back and forth about moving back. We talk about it and say we’ll make a decision, and then it gets too late to change things.

Tribeca is known for its documentary program. How is that business going?

I’m worried about that space. Fewer places are buying hard-hitting documentaries. If it’s about true crime, you’ll get a deal someplace. The bigger platforms — Netflix and Amazon — want more celebrity stories and sports stories. But for political stories, it’s harder to find a home.

“The Avengers” had a Tribeca premiere in 2012. Have comic book films eaten the movie business?

Yeah, they have. But it’s a genre of picture that people love, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

In 2019, James Murdoch’s Lupa came on as a majority investor. How involved has he been in Tribeca?

He’s on the board, and he’s really supportive. He likes movies; he likes music.

Have you ever talked to him about “Succession”?

Well, he once sat next to Jeremy Strong at a dinner we had.

How did that come about?

Jeremy worked for my friend Wendy Wasserstein when he couldn’t get arrested. And one time he was in this play, and he said, “You have to come see it.” He’d been going down to boot camp to practice every day, because he was playing this military guy. So I went to this play. I’m waiting for Jeremy. The first act is almost over, and suddenly [she knocks on the table], the guy onstage says, “Come in!” And Jeremy walks in wearing army boots and he walks out. That was it. He wasn’t even in the second half.

Harvey Weinstein is back on trial. You shared office space with him in your building. What was that like?

When he wasn’t paying his phone bill, I would just say, “We’ll shut off his phone.” But then cellphones happened.

Your blue sunglasses have become a signature. What’s the story behind them?

They help with the glare from the screens. During COVID, I was on so many Zooms that I realized I needed them. The other good thing is, when I’m having a very early staff meeting with my whole team, most of whom are in their 20s, I put on my glasses first thing in the morning and I feel like I’m cool too.

---

Styling: Christy Rilling; Makeup: MinMin Ma; Look 1 (cover, on street): Blouse: Guild of Hands; Leather trousers: The Row: Boots: Saint Laurent; Jewelry : Sidney Garber; Look 2 (in theater): Blouse and trousers : Guild of Hands; Jewelry: Sidney Garber; Shoes: Jill Saunder; Look 3 (hallway with posters): Suit and shirt: Guild of Hands; Jewelry: Sidney Garber