DreamWorks launched in a blaze of publicity but its first film, The Peacemaker, was beset by problems…
This article comes fromDen of Geek UK.
Not since United Artists had launched in the 1930s had Hollywood seen anything quite like it.
It was called DreamWorks SKG, and it was not short on ambition.
Post-the formation of DreamWorks, his first movie as director would instead beThe Lost World: Jurassic Parkfor Universal.
It wasnt just Spielberg with split loyalties, either.
It didnt help that it was a Sony picture.
Given the noise the trio of founders had made when launching DreamWorks, all of Hollywood was watching.
It was against this backdrop that a thriller calledThe Peacemakerfound itself pushed to the front of the queue.
That meant DreamWorks needed to find the film closest to being ready to shoot, and get that moving.
But time was not a commodity that DreamWorks had in abundance.
What it did have was George Clooney, and a window ofhistime.
In the case ofThe Peacemaker, it was Steven Spielberg who persuaded him to sign up.
But the directors chair would also be given to someone riding the wave ofERs success.
Leder herself was aware of the criticism of her appointment, and was surprised to be chosen.
Notwithstanding her decade-long list of television credits, she too expected DreamWorks to plump for an established movie director.
But it was the Spielberg touch again.
You direct it every day on television.
As Leder would go on to say: Now who could resist that?
But it wasnt a dream shoot for a first movie.
And after a month in New York, it was soon off to eastern Europe.
The problems were piling up.
For one, the script was still in flux.
George Clooney was not believed to be impressed.
I would have learned Slovakian if we could all have spoken it.
Help ultimately arrived in the form of producer Mark Johnson and screenwriter John Lee Hancock.
Hancock would then be tasked with writing up the new work.
What came back from L.A. wasnt necessarily what was sent.
All the while, filming had to keep going, as the clock kept ticking.
Eventually, Leder got her film in the can, and sped through editing it together as deadline loomed.
DreamWorks had its movie, and it was time to show it to the world.
But even unveiling it to the world didnt go to plan.
SpielbergsSaving Private Ryanwould follow two months later, and DreamWorks impressive live action run was finally underway.
A good job: the film was all but forgotten for other reasons in months.
One or two quotes have been taken from Nicole LaPortes book,The Men Who Would Be King.
Given how contested her account of the early days of DreamWorks has been, Ive used direct quotes only.
