Grahame King is the sole producer of Bohemian Rhapsody, which is in contention for the PGA’s Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures.
Ten titles have been nominated by the Producers Guild of America (PGA) and the winners will be announced Saturday night at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Graham King, the sole producer of Bohemian Rhapsody, answered came in response to a question by PGA President Lucy Fisher, who was asking producers on the panel about the most difficult aspects of bringing their projects to screen.
A Star Is Born
Producer Lynette Howell Taylor discussed the struggles that fellow producer Bradley Cooper faced on A Star Is Born. He had to persuade Warner executives of the necessity of casting Lady Gaga: “He had to fight so hard. He had to shoot test footage because they weren’t sure of her.”
Vice
“Vice” producer Kevin Messick recalled that it took a full six months to get Christian Bale’s look as Dick Cheney right–the day before production began. Bale had gained 40 pounds for the role to satisfy his own standards I playing the titular role in Adam McKay’s satirical biopic.
BlacKkKlansman
BlacKkKlansman producer Raymond Mansfield revealed that the first cut of Spike Lee’s film — set in the 1970s — had included the memorable final scene showing white supremacists marching with torches at Charlottesville in 2017. “I can’t watch it without crying,” he added.
He also said that Lee attempted to make the Klan members in the movie seem as realistic as possible, adding, “The more you make them real characters, the scarier they are.”
“Roma” producer-director-writer Alfonso Cuaron elicited major laughs from the capacity crowd in describing his internal relationship as a producer with himself as a director, saying, “I would hide. I wouldn’t want to talk to that asshole.”
Cuaron said he began working on “Roma” in 2006, but then he lost his nerve until he partnered with Participant Media about three years ago.
The Favourite
“The Favourite” producer Ceci Dempsey recalled that she began working on the project in 1998, when she read the Deborah Davis script “Balance of Power.”
“Crazy Rich Asians” producer John Penotti recalled that the nervousness over making an all-Asian cast film began to dispelled prior the August opening.
“One of the things that helped buoy our spirits was test screenings,” he said. “Warner Bros. told us ‘let’s just screen it and screen it and screen it.’”
The panel included Kevin Feige of “Black Panther” and Andrew Form for “A Quiet Place.”
Lucy Fisher noted that there were only two women (Dempsey and Howell) on the panel, adding, “Hopefully next year there will be a few more of us sitting up here.”