Jon Landau was an issue solver.
When the ship prop for the “Titanic” wouldn’t sink quick sufficient, the Oscar-winning producer jumped into motion, assembling a body of workers who minimize, welded and eliminated stable flooring and changed them with mesh — everywhere in the course of a weekend.
“By the beginning of capturing on Monday, that sucker sank,” director and author James Cameron, Landau’s longtime collaborator, wrote within the foreword to Landau’s new ebook. “Boy, did it sink. It scared the crap out of us.”
Fixing issues like a too sluggish sinking ship is all a part of being a producer, Landau wrote in his posthumously revealed memoir, “The Greater Image: My Blockbuster Life & Classes Realized Alongside the Method,” launched Tuesday.
Simply as essential is creating an atmosphere the place every crew member was seen and heard — a key a part of Landau’s producing philosophy.
He would be taught everybody’s identify, in addition to that of their partner and whether or not they had kids. He gave out copies of “The Little Engine That May” image ebook to encourage the “Titanic” division heads to maintain going, regardless of the numerous sensible and budgetary stresses they confronted. He dressed up as Mr. Potato Head and strolled the decks of the “Titanic” set to make folks chortle, mentioned Rae Sanchini, govt producer of “Titanic” and president of Lightstorm Leisure, who was shut associates with Landau.
“He beloved giving folks a little bit pleasure of their day,” Sanchini mentioned, remembering Landau’s irreverent household Christmas playing cards. “I believe it’s a part of the explanation why he needed to jot down the ebook, as a result of I believe he needed to point out that even once you’re dealing with one thing like he was dealing with, there was nonetheless a purpose to really feel joyful. It was an essential factor for him to depart for his household and for his associates.”
The “Titanic” and “Avatar” producer died final 12 months of esophageal most cancers on the age of 63. Landau writes that he started his ebook mission after he obtained his analysis as a strategy to take inventory of his life, each for himself in addition to the subsequent technology.
“If I had the possibility to jot down my very own legacy, I hope it might be that I all the time gave 110%,” he writes towards the top of the ebook. “Though not good, I hope folks can say that I attempted to do proper by everyone. What extra is there?”
Landau’s sister, Kathy, remembers her brother reflecting on that legacy shortly earlier than “Titanic” opened in 1997, a fraught time for the movie as critics questioned whether or not it might succeed. (It will go on to turn into one of many greatest blockbusters of all time, as would two of Landau’s different movies with Cameron, 2009’s “Avatar” and 2022’s “Avatar: The Method of Water”)
“He mentioned to me, ‘You realize, Kat, I’ll not go down as one of the vital profitable producers in Hollywood, however I’d prefer to be remembered as one of many nicest,’” Kathy Landau mentioned in an interview. “And I might simply say, as of now, he obtained two for 2.”
Listed below are 4 takeaways from the memoir.
Classes from a primary set
Because the baby of movie producers Ely and Edie Landau, Jon Landau was raised across the motion pictures.
He enrolled in USC’s movie program, however by no means graduated. As an alternative, to assist his household after his father had a stroke, he obtained a job in Hollywood, working as a “walkie-talkie man” on the set of a TV film referred to as “Discovered Cash.”
His foremost job was handy out, gather and recharge the moveable radios every day on set, however over the course of filming, he requested questions on all elements of the movie enterprise, from Display screen Actors Guild guidelines to name sheets, extras and manufacturing reviews.
By the point postproduction rolled round, Landau was requested to compile all of the contracts, manage and file them.
“I learn each clause, rider, exemption,” he wrote. “It was the most effective training within the film enterprise an individual may get. I discovered extra in regards to the behind-the-scenes workings in these few weeks of pc inputting than I’ve discovered wherever else.”
Assembly James Cameron
Landau first met Cameron in 1993 when Cameron was directing the Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis-led “True Lies” and Landau was a studio govt at twentieth Century Fox.
Cameron wanted extra money for the film, and Fox, which had the U.S. distribution rights, agreed, however insisted the studio get extra concerned. Landau was informed to exit to the set and “attempt to handle James Cameron, as finest as attainable,” primarily based on his earlier success working with Warren Beatty and Michael Mann, he wrote.
Of their first assembly in a convention room at Fox, Cameron walked straight previous studio executives, stars and his producers and stopped proper at Landau’s chair.
“Standing over me together with his six-foot-three body, he mentioned, ‘So, Jon, I perceive we’re both going to get to be fairly good associates … or bitter enemies,’” Landau wrote. “‘Fairly good associates, I hope,’ I responded. Thirty-plus years later, I don’t must let you know which one was the case.”
Landau additionally credit Sanchini with serving to him perceive and “adeptly navigate the world of James Cameron,” and for being “instrumental” in convincing Cameron he was the appropriate producer to tackle “Titanic.”
Making a blockbuster in the course of the pandemic
In March 2020, Landau and the remainder of the “Avatar” group was set to fly again to New Zealand to complete capturing the subsequent two “Avatar” motion pictures when the pandemic hit. Landau referred to as Disney movie chief Alan Bergman to inform him that they need to delay manufacturing, to which the studio agreed.
Landau started doing city corridor conferences over Zoom with all the “Avatar” crew in teams of 20 at a time. He wrote that he traded in his signature Hawaiian shirts for “a closet stuffed with loopy T-shirts, all emblazoned with messages that inspired folks to scrub their arms and masks up.”
Ultimately, the New Zealand authorities gave the manufacturing permission to convey 33 folks to the nation by the top of Might 2020, making “Avatar” one of many first large-scale productions again in motion for the reason that pandemic had began.
Crew members had been quarantined at a lodge, confined to their rooms with meals supply with clear towels and sheets left exterior their doorways. The manufacturing additionally employed greater than 100 New Zealand staff for each U.S. crew member they introduced in, using native electricians, development staff, caterers and carpenters, Landau wrote.
“Lengthy earlier than COVID struck, we had made a dedication to be accomplice to the Wellington neighborhood,” he wrote. “At the same time as uncertainty swirled throughout us, that dedication remained central to all we did.”
The significance of field workplace
If compelled to decide on between successful awards or having success on the field workplace, Landau mentioned he would select the field workplace.
“It means hundreds of thousands of moviegoers are connecting to the work,” he wrote. “That’s the actual prize — reaching folks seeking to be transported, to flee, to search out hope within the embrace of a darkened theater.”
The field workplace totals for the next weekends after a movie’s opening had been extra essential to him than its debut, because it signified moviegoers basically voting for a movie by going again time and again.
In fact, Landau did have each sorts of success — “Titanic” raked in additional than $2.2 billion in international field workplace income and received 11 Academy Awards, together with finest image. “Avatar” made greater than $2.9 billion worldwide and took dwelling three Academy Awards, whereas its sequel “Avatar: The Method of Water” hauled in $2.3 billion globally and received one Academy Award for visible results.
