There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the story of the journey Slumdog Millionaire has undertaken to the top of Hollywood, winning the best picture Oscar, will be one taught for years to come in film schools around the world. Christian Colson, who single-handedly produced the movie, admits the film’s road to the big screen is a fable of zig-zagging of fate with a Hollywood happy ending.
When Colson, through his production company Celador Films (Dirty Pretty Things, The Descent), in association with Film4, were going to produce the movie with a budget of $15 million (the movie has earned to date $168 million at the box office), they desperately looked for an American distributor to help pay for the cost.
He had negotiated with several studios about the distribution rights and ironically Fox Searchlight (who ended up releasing the movie last November) seemed not as interested in the deal. Fox Searchlight reportedly only offered $2 million for the North American rights of the movie while Warner Independent w,as willing to offer a generous $5 million. So Colson decided to go with the highest bidder, never assuming it might backfire. In May 2008, Warner Bros decided to fold Warner Independent and with it to scratch its plan to distribute Slumdog Millionaire in North America. Warner Bros was offering Celador a direct-to-DVD deal, as it was not willing to pick up the marketing cost of distributing the movie theatrically. After lengthy negotiations Warner Bros allowed Celador to show the movie to only one alternative American distributor to see if they would pick up the theatrical rights.
Director Danny Boyle said he didn’t want to go down without a fight and decided to start submitting Slumdog to film festivals. On August 30, 2008, Slumdog premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado. The screening started with some technical glitches and some of the audience members were already ready to leave the screening room as the technician tried to fix the problem.
A week later it debuted at the Toronto Film Festival. Among the audience sat Peter Rice, the president of Fox Searchlight, who fell in love with the movie. Slumdog went on to win the Audience Choice Award at the festival and finally also won a North America distributor. Again fate played a crucial role in this movie’s life just as the brightly coloured fable about the plucky orphan from the slums of Mumbai who finds love and riches beyond his wildest dreams in the film... this story eventually reached a preordained fairy tale ending as it won eight Academy Awards including best picture.
“These films are important because they defy conventional wisdom and show that someone can do something completely original and succeed, when so much of the movie industry has been commoditised,” said a Fox Searchlight executive.
Hollywood has been opening up more and more to the different and the foreign. It’s definitely been a pattern at the Oscars. Last year, all four acting categories’ winners were non-Americans. This year, three of the four were non-Americans (Sean Penn was the only American). You can also see this pattern in the fact that more non-American directors, producers and other crew members in movies and television shows are making it in Hollywood.
Slumdog Millionaire is partly in Hindu, but that’s only around 10 per cent of the dialogue in the movie, which doesn’t really qualify it as a foreign language film. However, foreign language movies are on the rise in the US too. Foreign language film Oscar nominee, Waltz with Bashir, got an art-house distribution through Sony Classics and has already earned over $10 million at the box office so far and it is in Hebrew... We have also seen a growing number of foreign television shows getting American versions on prime-time television like Australian Kath & Kim on NBC, Israeli In Treatment on HBO or the British series The Office on NBC and actually making it, ratings wise.
The American market has also become more receptive to niche films catering to specific audiences from movies going to a certain ethnic market like the Latino or African-American (Urban) markets or social groups like gay or religious Christian-themed movies which have done very well in the box office and sprung off specialty units within the studios themselves.
Backstage at the Oscars, I got to reminisce with director Danny Boyle and producer Christian Colson about the journey they had to make to be bestowed the highest honour in the movie world…
Q. Were you worried about a film like yours finding its place in a studio system?
DB: It’s really an important question because one of the lovely things about this evening that the Academy has given us is that it’s a triumph for this kind of film really, it’s the independent-minded, the one that is working against the odds really, and it’s very important to keep that alive. In those small independent movies you learn the business, you learn your craft, you learn what you are doing. So, it’s very, very, very important.
CC: And I think it’s a measure of how much America has changed and is changing just before our eyes in the last few months. I think this country has changed from the moment we started making the film and the moment it was released here in November. This country feels ready to embrace. I think America is cool again,
certainly for the first time in my lifetime, not because of this, but I think this is a symptom of how it’s beginning to embrace a more globalised feel of the world.
Q: Tonight we have seen three movies that say something about the world we live in. Can you talk about the power of cinema?
DB: Somebody just e-mailed me this quote from Plato, the great Greek philosopher. And, of course, the Greeks knew everything before us. We are just repeating endlessly in their wake, and this quote said: “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle”. And that’s so smart. I think the kind of films that we have been talking about have that heart. A lot of people are fighting hard battles and especially now and we have got to kind of try and use entertainment to entertain them and to sympathise and encourage them and inspire them.
Q. Now that you’ve gone through this process – of how someone goes through all these awards, does all the interviews, the press junkets and gets to the finishing line with the Oscar in his hand – tell me a little bit about this winding road...
DB: It’s not that easy, it’s hard work, and it’s a lot easier when you have a great team working for you. I personally think you find out a lot about the film by doing this work weirdly. You start to find out about the film by talking to publicists constantly about the film, and it’s very important. It is your job to do that if you choose not to work for huge stars that do that work for you, it’s your responsibility and it was a privilege for me to do it.
Q. Was it strange for you to realise this is built like a political campaign of sorts?
DB: I think they build up a campaign to raise the awareness of the film and to keep the film in the theatres. I mean, obviously, it’s lovely if you get in the right season and start to do well, but no one can guarantee that. But it is an essential tool by which films like this can be raised up, can be inflated and so that people start to see them who wouldn’t normally see them, you know. So it’s a tribute to them as they are already plotting their next campaign.
Q. So today standing here, do you believe in miracles?
DB: I’ve always believed in miracles, actually. Einstein once said: “There are two ways to live your life: one is to believe nothing is a miracle and one to believe that everything is a miracle.” That’s a great quote. I can tell you I believe everything is a miracle.
Over the past 10 years, award-winning journalist Ron Jacobsohn has covered every Hollywood event, from red carpet premiéres to one-on-one interviews with all of Hollywood’s hottest names.
Source: Weekender, March 7, 2009