In the mysterious world of Hollywood, what goes on behind the
cameras can often seem like a shadowy blur to the casual observer.
While big-name movie stars bask in the glory and hype of talk
shows, magazine articles and celebrity profiles, behind-the-scenes
personalities like producers, directors and writers are relegated
to the world of unseen machinery cranking out product for our
enjoyment. In this backstage world, Steve Golin is one of the
biggies. As a found-ing partner of Propaganda Films, he has execu-
tive produced such eclectic fare as David Lynch's Wild at Heart
(winner of the Palme d'Or at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival).
Most re-cently, he executive produced the all-star Sleepers
and The Portrait of a Lady. Just last week, Propaganda's
new film The Game hit movie theaters. This week,
A Thousand Acres starring Michelle Pfieffer and Jessica
Lange will open. Weekly Alibi had the opportunity recently
to talk with this busy producer about his company, his films and
his role in the modern-day Hollywood machinery.
Tell me about Propaganda Films.
It started in 1986, primarily doing music videos. We had a relationship,
actually, (with) Polygram prior to that. Then in 1987, they got
involved with some ownership of the company. And then in 1992,
they bought the rest of the company when they decided they were
going to make a slow push into the movie business. It was always
my scheme to take music video and commercial directors and develop
them into movie directors. David Fincher (director of Seven
and the newly released The Game) was one of the founding
directors of the company. (Also) Dom Sena, who directed Kalifornia.
... It's been about 10 years in the works. Took a lot longer than
I thought, but we're now kind of where we want to be.
The style of directors that Propaganda works with (David Fincher,
David Lynch, John Dahl) is very powerful, very visual. Is that
something Propaganda looks for?
It's not necessarily that they're visual, but they're more "auteur"
directors. If you look at any company that we're trying to emulate,
it's the old Orion. When you see The Game, you'll see.
It's not like any other movie. ... I was talking to another
director who saw it last night, and he was like, "Wow! It's
different."
How did The Game develop?
(The script) was kicking around. It was at MGM in 1991. Then in
1992, I got it. And I just loved it, right from the beginning.
Worked on it, worked on it, worked on it. I loved the concept
of it. Rewrote it, rewrote it, rewrote it. Maybe 10 drafts. I
was gonna do it with Fincher. We were gonna do it before he did
Seven. Then Seven came to-gether really quickly
because of Brad (Pitt)'s availability at
the time. They offered the movie to Dave. He did it. Obviously
it was a big success. And in the end it worked out better. David
was so successful, we got the money we needed to make the movie
right. Polygram was ready to set up their own distribution. Michael
Douglas was really concerned initially about Polygram's ability
to distribute the movie. So he's been very involved. He's so smart
and he's been so helpful to us. He's helped us navigate some waters
that couldn't have been navigated without him. I can't say enough
good things about him. He's a real champion of this whole process.
The films that Propaganda makes are typically dark and off-beat.
Do you feel much pressure to produce lightweight Hollywood blockbusters?
There's a lot of pressure to do that. I just don't have the mentality.
I wish I could do it. I can't do it. The thing is, I only make
two pictures a year. If I made one movie like that every year,
I'd be so happy. But I can't do it. I try. I don't have the mentality
to develop Liar, Liar. I wish I did. 'Cause I actually
thought it was funny as hell. It's not like I didn't like it.
It's just not a movie that I see myself making. I don't have that
sensibility. ... Every time I've worked on something just for
money, I've been so sorry I did it. And every time I've tried
to guess the marketplace--what was going to do well--I was wrong.
So I just can't be involved in that anymore. Now it's to the point
where I'm going to work on stuff that I really like, that I care
about, and that's it.
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