In Reply to: Re: "Passion": Set to be the most profitable Bible story ever told posted by ssam on February 29, 2004 at 09:56:55:
Sorry for being unclear!
Frankly, I'm shocked by the financial success of the film. I'm sure that the Hollywood power structure is as well. They would not bankroll or distribute this film. Mel Gibson had to reach into his own pocket, and get pretty creative as far as putting money together to get it out there.
If I know the big studios, they will be falling all over themselves to make religious films over the next year or so. But, I think they will have a hard time matching this one.
The thing is, if you take all the stuff that has come out... Gibson's nutty Dad, the violence, the Catholicism, The zany promotion gimmicks... all of it, and throw it in a bag... What you have is one guy who made his movie in his own way. He said screw the studios, I'm doing this my myself, and if I lose my $25 million, I'll go out there and make "Lethal Weapon 10" and get another $25 million. It took a lot of balls.
It's hard for even a die-hard cynic like myself not to get swept up in that.
Not that the films can compare for content, but it reminds me of Sylvester Stallone when he was starting in Hollywood. He wrote the "Rocky" script himself, and none of the studios would touch it. The ones who were interested wanted to cast a major star in the title role. He refused. I was working on a Movie set that he was on, and he was telling the story, that he went to his wife, Sasha, and said, "See that grass out there, you'd better get used to eating that if you are going to stick around". He just dug in his heels, and eventually got the film made independent, and his own way. It remains a classic that everyone knows. It had real heart.