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The LA Premiere
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The Beach Premiere Pictures
Here is the truth about just how successful The Beach was at the boxoffice, from Inside Film....
Mechanic on His Fox Departure: 'It Was Personal'
By Chris Petrikin
Thursday , June 29 09:55 p.m.
It's been a week since Bill Mechanic surrendered the chairmanship of Fox Filmed Entertainment; a short period, which he admits has been a roller coaster of emotions, introspection and speculation. Mechanic, a normally stoic businessman known for his hyper focus (some call it obstinacy) as well as his love of films, says he was rocked by the outpouring of affection he received from people inside and outside the Century City lot. ''I am, I think, a combination of arrogance and humility, but I am completely humbled by this experience,'' he admitted shortly after leaving the lot last Friday.
But after his ouster, the feisty executive -- in a series of e-mail correspondences with Inside -- seems in good spirits, all the while staunchly defending his tenure atop the studio owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
It's well known that Mechanic's relationship with Murdoch and his number two, Peter Chernin, devolved over the years into a contentious affair, by which Mechanic was constantly called to task for his filmmaking decisions and forced to defend his choices throughout his slates' development, production and distribution.
What's an example of a film, or films, that have turned a profit after ''more than one life,'' but seemed a disappointment initially?
Do you mean like The Beach, which people report as disappointing and actually earns $20 million on a $50 million investment? If that is the question, what happens is that the film grosses $40 million, I think, which means it didn't really work here. However, it grosses $110 million overseas. That essentially means that The Beach recovers almost all of its negative and marketing costs, on a worldwide basis, after worldwide theatrical, leaving worldwide video, worldwide pay TV and worldwide free TV to recover the remaining costs and turn a profit. For the press to have been accurate in portraying it as a ''disappointment,'' the film would have had to gross $40 million overseas; then, at best, it would have broken even and more likely it would have lost a small amount of money.
Some favourite quotes...
NEW YORK (ENTERTAINMENT WIRE) - Virginie Ledoyen, who appears on the cover of GLAMOUR magazine for March, candidly talks about Leonardo DiCaprio, her heartthrob love interest in the upcoming blockbuster "The Beach."
About DiCaprio, she admits, "Well, he's great. I expected him to (act like) this Hollywood superstar, but he's nothing like the spoiled brat the tabloids make him out to be. In reality, he's generous, simple, charming and lots of fun." Although the two stars worked together for four months on a deserted island, Ledoyen claims that their relationship is strictly professional. "There are still a lot of personal things we don't know about each other."
From reel.com: an interview with Danny Boyle - Q: But in the book isn't the main character British?
DB: It's a British character in the book, and he's sooo British. He's very repressed and he's not saying what he's feeling. And the first thing we decided, to be honest, was we were going to get rid of that. He's got to get off with the French girl! It's a movie for goodness sake, you know, it's all about contact. And I always say if it's a good decision, then other things roll off from it and it became part of Richard's character. He's much more aggressive. He's very passive in the book, and he's much more a conqueror in the film. He says in the beginning, "I'm looking for something, and I don't care if it's dangerous."
Q: When DiCaprio signed onto the movie, did you have to change anything in the script for him?
DB: He's not like that at all. All he wanted to do was not make Titanic again. He wanted to make a film that was interesting and difficult. He has a great instinct ... and he wants, like we do, to make a difficult film for the mainstream audience. He doesn't want to make ghetto films, like art-house films for incredibly restricted audiences.
"For a while we were untouchable in our happiness"..
"I thought we'd have to talk about our positive energies a lot, kiss the earth every morning and recycle our waste products by some unspeakable mechanism. Fortunately not, it really was some kind of paradise!"
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