Back in October of last year, I covered an interesting behind-the-scenes story of 12 Years a Slave and its quiet Oscar campaign. The Hollywood Reporter’s sources claimed that Brad Pitt, the executive producer of 12 Years, was quietly taking care of a kerfuffle involving his production company, Plan B, and Paramount. I’m not going to recap the whole thing here – just go and read the previous story. The basics: Paramount was pissed that Plan B hadn’t offered them the chance to finance and distribute 12 Years, because A) that was the deal Plan B made, to give Paramount the first option and B) because Paramount felt like they were losing out on an Oscar. Paramount is run by Brad’s former producing partner, mentor and friend Brad Grey. So this was personal and professional. So now Page Six has an update on the situation:
As one of the tightest Oscar races in years intensifies, tension has been brewing behind the scenes over hotly tipped “12 Years a Slave” — the film that studio Paramount felt was unfairly given to a rival by Brad Pitt’s company.
The dispute erupted over the Steve McQueen movie when Paramount execs felt they should’ve been offered first crack at it under a long-standing “first-look deal” with Pitt’s Plan B. It was instead shopped to Arnon Milchan’s Regency Enterprises and distributed by Fox Searchlight.
The drama got so heated that Paramount’s legal team was ready to sue Pitt’s company, including partner Dede Gardner, over the film.
“Paramount is still upset because Dede didn’t offer ‘12 Years a Slave’ to them,” said a source. “They felt she purposefully didn’t give it to them, and then was bad-mouthing the studio all over town.”
Another Hollywood source said it took a détente between Paramount CEO Brad Grey and Pitt — plus an apology — to avoid legal action.
“Paramount’s lawyers wanted to sue,” the source said. “But Brad Grey stopped it because of his friendship with Pitt, his respect for McQueen and out of respect for their movie.” Also, “Pitt reached out to personally apologize to him.”
Grey — an original co-founder of Plan B with Pitt and Jennifer Aniston — and Pitt are still working together on a planned sequel to “World War Z” — the zombie epic that ran into budget problems during filming but wound up making $540 million worldwide. J.A. Bayona, director of the Naomi Watts tsunami drama “The Impossible,” signed on last month.
“12 Years a Slave” has nine Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture and Director. Paramount isn’t exactly licking its wounds, with 13 nominations of its own. Still, if “Slave” sweeps as expected, some at the studio could be biting their tongues.
The first source added, “Some people there feel like they’ve been cheated out of an Oscar.” Plan B signed a three-year deal late last year with Regency after eight years at Paramount. Reps for all parties declined to comment.
To give Paramount the benefit of the doubt, I would say that Plan B really should have gone to them first and offered them the chance to make the film. To give Plan B the benefit of the doubt, this film was far from a sure thing and Brad and Dede might have thought that bringing in more people and more studio involvement would have fundamentally changed the film. You’ve got to remember something else too – all of this 12 Years drama was happening during the same time period that Brad was doing endless reshoots on Paramount’s World War Z, trying to save it from what everyone thought would be an epic disaster. It’s more than likely that Pitt just had his fill of all things Paramount and wanted to get some distance.
But this is a study in how professionals – professionals who care about money and awards, in that order – handle disagreements. Pitt was saved here because he had a long-standing friendship with Brad Grey and because Pitt was smart enough to extend a personal apology. And most of all, Grey and Pitt both knew that they had to play it smart if they both wanted to make more money off the WWZ sequel.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
WOW!! I wonder if behind the scenes… Paramount, is doing everything possible for “12 years” to not win the oscar??
So.. is this why he’s not out promoting or doing a hard push for the film?
No
He did some promoting in the beginning then he went and filmed “Fury” for about 5 months.
During the promotion,he was filmed a movie in England so he did the promotion than he was able
Ok, Brad Pitt was not the executive producer of 12 Years, he was one of 7 producers, plus there were 3 other executive producers on the film, according to IMDB.
I’m sure he did tons for the movie, but it’s not his baby, and Dede Gardner (the president of Plan B) was also merely one of many producers. I don’t see how any lawsuit would have any merit.
It is his baby. He started the whole process with McQueen and he brought other producers on board to secure financing. You should read some interviews with the director to understand how the movie came to realization.
+1 without Pitt,never the movie would not be done
Double +1. Steve McQueen has reiterated this since the movie premiered at TIFF in September: TYAS would not have gotten made without Brad Pitt.
Films tends to have many producers, all responsible for different things. There is always a principal[s] as well as a principal production company. Plan B are listed as the principal producers so yeah, it was Brad and Dede’s baby, and the reason Steve McQueen is giving a shout out to him whenever he wins an accolade for it. Further, Paramount wouldn’t be giving Brad and Dede grief if they weren’t the principals.
FYI, an exec producer is only involved in money and distribution. Rarely the actual production. As long as they don’t interfere too much with the actual production , you can have as many as you want.
Fox Searchlight is the indie arm of 20th Century Fox. 12YAS is right up their alley. They shepherded SIDEWAYS, JUNO, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, BLACK SWAN to name just a few of their roster.
Paramount are having a hissy fit because the film is doing so well. It’s actually silly because 12YAS isn’t their thing. WWZ is more their thing.
LAK, do you work in the business? I know you said that you wanted to write a book on Royals and the media, and I remember you mentioned some friends who had produced/directed some pretty impressive projects.
I didn’t say what an executive produce does, I just pointed out that Brad Pitt is not one, as was stated in the article.
I think this story sounds like bs, but I still don’t think there would be a court case over it, and I still don’t think it’s his baby. It’s Steve McQueen’s, his wife found the story in 2008, he wrote it, directed it, and produced it. Brad Pitt has connections and a movie start name, sure, but people give him too much credit I think, because it’s a bigger story with his name attached.
Leonardo produced Wolf of Wall Street and Bradley Cooper executive produced American Hustle, but you don’t hear much about that.
VC: Yes. And writing too.
Lucy: you specifically mentioned exec producer credit whilst pointing out that Brad wasn’t one and therefore not important to the project. You also pointed out that there are several producers.
Considering you then go on to mention Leo and Brad Cooper (exec prod), it says to me that you don’t understand the difference or how much involvement they are to each production.
Steve McQueen and others being producers on 12YAS doesn’t mean Brad Pitt and Dede weren’t also producers.
The fact that Steve McQueen keeps giving shout outs to Brad is a clear indication of his involvement in the project.
I specifically mentioned it, because the author of this blog mentioned it. I’m not getting into semantics over this, but I never said he wasn’t important to the project.
Again, I also never said that Brad wasn’t one of many producers or that his involvement was lacking. I said it’s not his baby, (ie, he didn’t find the source material and bring it to life) it’s Steve McQueens.
My mentioning Bradley Cooper (exec producer) and Leo Dicaprio (producer) shows that I don’t ‘understand the difference’? Ok then.
The best scripts in the world can’t be made if producers aren’t interested. Steve McQueen could be the genius of the world, but if no producer helps him realise his goals, he would be an undiscovered genuis telling stories down his local pub.
It is aggravating when people downplay the role of producers as though there involvement is unimportant.
RE: Person who finds the source material….this part is so unimportant because guess what? Even interns find source material.
And if we are going to be pedantic about Steve McQueen specifically with your definition based on who found the source material, that would be his wife. So Really by your own definition, this is Mrs McQueen’s baby.
Lol, I said it was his wife who found the story in my previous post. Not to be pedantic or anything. I said Brad did not, I never said Steve McQueen did.
As for my definition of who’s baby this is? For me it’s written on the poster- ‘A Steve McQueen film’, the person who was working on this project since 2008 with John Ridley.
‘Person who finds the source material….this part is so unimportant because guess what? Even interns find source material.’
You’re really reaching now I think.
‘Steve McQueen could be the genius of the world, but if no producer helps him realise his goals, he would be an undiscovered genuis (sic) telling stories down his local pub.’
So the only person who matters to you in the making of a film is the producer? That’s like saying the most important person involved in a creating a da Vinci is the gallery curator. There are a million other producers who could have stepped in, but Brad thankfully did. They spin it so that they fought a hard battle to get it made and they were the underdogs, because that’s the better campaign story. But there are a million other brilliant films still getting made without Brad Pitt.
‘It is aggravating when people downplay the role of producers as though there (sic) involvement is unimportant.’
I think you might be taking this too personally if you find this aggravating. I never said their job is unimportant. I said this is not his baby and that he’s not an executive producer, which is stated wrongly in the article.
Anyway, this is getting silly now, Have a great day!
I love how the haters keep claiming that Brad had nothing to do with the movie. The cast and director have repeatedly said how involved and important Brad was. Ridiculous to assume everybody is lying. I’m sure if TYAS was a failure the same people would say that Brad was the major force behind the movie. That’s what happened with WWZ. Everybody claimed that it was Brad’s fault the movie was a disaster but when it became a success, they gave the studio the credit.
I’m so glad Brad and Plan B are done with Paramount. They totally threw him and his production company under a bus during the entire production of WWZ. Dede Gardner said as much in The Hollywood Reporter issue with Brad and Chiwetel on the cover. Then WWZ movie makes crazy summer profits for them and then they get all whiny about TYAS — which I personally believe didn’t go down the way they claim. Good riddance Paramount. You’re a sinking ship.
I’m defo going with the fact that Plan B decided Paramount would have no real interest in “12 Years” considering they were all up on ham-fisted zombies at the time.
But it doesn’t really matter if they think Paramount would have no interest…if you have a contract with a studio to give them a first-look deal, you are LEGALLY obligated to give them a chance first.
If they didn’t then Paramount has every right to sue them. Seems like they are squashing that so there are no burned bridges, which is a wise choice.
I believe Paramount was offered a first-look and they either said no or were unwilling to cough up the necessary money. So Brad went elsewhere to secure the funding he knew the film needed. Now they’re whining because they didn’t get their way. Let’s face it, when is the last time Paramount has backed a film of this caliber? They’re the “Star Trek/Transformers/Thor/Mission Impossible/G.I. Joe” studio. They’re the big budget/$250M opening weekend studio. They don’t do indie, art-house dramas.
Have his eyes always been so squinty?
His eyes are sensitive to the camera flashes he used to always wear sunglasses on RC.Bono and Depp deal with the same issues.
Ah ok. That makes sense.
That is ME. You should’ve seen when I had to take passport photos….I kept blinking when the flash went off (and he took like 20 pics of me w/my eyes closed), so the guy had to open the blinds in his office.
Actually I remember reading that Paramount was offered to produce and distribute 12 Years A Slave but that they didn’t believe in the movie and declined. It was only after the movie got raving reviews from critics in September that Paramount wanted in on the piece.
Plus the way Paramount threw Brad under the bus during WWZ release and how he single handedly made it a success by taking the movie to the public and speaking to them. Well that could have made Brad lose hope in Paramount and didn’t want to associate any future movies (non sequel ones) with them.
PS: this whole thing just seems like the typical political attacks that happens during Oscar campaign. 12 Years A Slave seems like the movie to beat for the best picture and that is why some are digging up old scandals/stories or actually create stories to try and tip it of the leader table.
I think you nailed it, Maya. TYAS won’t be shown close to where I live, so I cannot wait for it to come out in DVD. I’ll be rooting for this film and the cast members to win at the Oscars. Hang tough, Plan B.
You can preorder it on Amazon–it’s worth it.
Exactly
@Maya, who wrote: “Actually I remember reading that Paramount was offered to produce and distribute 12 Years A Slave but that they didn’t believe in the movie and declined. It was only after the movie got raving reviews from critics in September that Paramount wanted in on the piece.”
I remember reading this, too. And I think you’re right in saying that Paramount threw Brad under the bus with “World War Z.” Evidently, Brad took it upon himself to change the script Paramount had approved. I wouldn’t have offered them a ‘special interest’ film either. Studios are out ot make money, not to share uncomfortable events from the past as a learning moment.
I think if Paramount had ‘really’ thought Brad Pitt crossed the line on this, even his friendship with Brad Grey wouldn’t have stopped them from suing him.
That was my thoughts too–if he breached a contract, then I don’t think it would matter that they were friends. It just seems odd to me, that Brad Grey wouldn’t sue Brad because he apologized personally. Work comes first, before friendships in HW.
For a time, I was thoroughly on board with Brad taking a back seat when it came to promoting 12YAS. Then American Hustle came out and the entertainment shows proceeded to lick the crack of everyone associated with it. At that point, I wanted Brad to campaign. That feeling waned when I saw AH and realized that many people saw AH in it’s true, overrated light.
Thank goodness Brad continues to retain his position in the background because if he hadn’t, I think Paramount would’ve tried to sue, although they don’t have a leg to stand on. Because Steve McQueen, the cast, John Ridley, Skip Gates, and Solomon’s descendents have occupied the lion share of the spotlight, 12YAS really can’t be construed as ‘Pitt’s property’.
If Paramount would’ve made a move, it would look like an attack on the underdogs- underdogs, in the sense that the majority of the talent associated with this film have toiled for many years and rarely got their due.
Exactly! That’s it in a nutshell Maya and Paramount is now on the losing end so they’re whining about it because they didn’t get their way. Chalk it up to underhanded Oscar campaigning. They’re fighting dirty to hurt the movie’s chances for an Oscar for Best Film. Paramount also dragged Plan B through the mud during the production of WWZ so I’m glad they parted ways, though I do like Brad Grey and feel he’s been a great business partner with regard to Plan B.
Brad Pitt is the only man that can do the eyebrow thing and look sexy. (ok, George Clooney too) So step down Baby Bieber and crew.
“if “Slave” sweeps as expected” … It’s not expected to sweep. It will probably garner best picture and best supporting actress.
Adapted screenplay also.
What’s RC?
yeah, adapted screenplay as well. It HAS to win best picture. It was just such a difficult film to watch.
(@Marny – you responded in the wrong place, but RC is Red Carpet)
STILL no facts to back up this story, just more lies and speculation- look to American H or Gravity camp for source. Of course any story that shoehorns an Aniston mention is always suspect. They tried attacking McQueen for being “outspoken”, but too many saw through that dog whistle tactic…it will probably get uglier, unfortunately. BTW, looking at the films that paramount has greenlighted lately, a serious story about slavery would never been given a go, especially with so many unknowns AND a largely minority cast.
Since when does, what appears to be, an informal agreement constitute a contractual obligation?
“First-Look” agreements are not informal.
I wonder if they had any wording in their agreement that guaranteed they always got first look? Otherwise I don’t see how they could successfully sue.
Honestly if the film were doing better financially, I wonder if they’d have gone through with the lawsuit to get a chunk of the profits. The film is doing well, but hasn’t gotten the box office surge that nominees sometimes get.
Paramount passed on 12 Years A Slave. So unless they had an actual contractual agreement, any suit is dead in the water. Brad ain’t as dumb as some think.
And after they washed their hands of WWZ, Paramount execs should be down on their damn knees looking for Brad’s perfect ass to kiss.
12 Years does deserve praise. It doesn’t really deserve an Oscar since it’s only got genuine appeal to Americans (being honest, not ‘racist’). Sure, us internationals can watch and enjoy the film… but a few of the others in the same categories stand out a heck of a lot more from acting, story progression, and technical points of view.
Eep.
I don’t think Brad had anything to apologize for. And since he has not said one word against Paramount then I take this is coming from them. Just like the negative stories they leaked about WWZ.. Brad handled this whole thing like a BOSS.. Professional. Paramount is the one whining like a baby. Look at the slate of film they have coming up. None like TYAS. I don’t get why some people try and portray Brad Pitt as a weak man. He is not. Brad doesn’t play and you don’t mess with him.
If Paramount thought they had a leg to stand on an apology would not have cut it.
and why is it the new party line to quote that Brad was not the driving force behind the film. Steve said it. The actors said it, Just because there are 7 Producers does not negate that he is the one that got
Truth is Pitt was dumped by both Paramount and Brad Grey, not only because of this, but also because of the disaster that Waterworld Z turned out to be. There is no way around it. So now his PR team has this story out to try to present him as someone powerful and influential enough to stop a lawsuit just by saying “sorry”.
Why can’t he make up his mind though? He’s been desperately campaigning for this Oscar for too long, claiming he’s the one reason why TYAS got made, and now he’s dodging all responsibility and trying to pin the omission on Gardner. And of course, the blame it was never his to begin with, it was hers. So it’s either her who is responsible for this because she got the movie made or its he who did not inform Paramount. What a hypocrite!
I hope this counts against him; there’s no doubt that any voting member of the Academy who happens to work at Paramount will vote against TYAS. Hopefully he’ll get sued for every penny he’s worth, it would be an event of karmic proportions and couldn’t possibly happen to a more deserving person.