They’re Not Just ‘Bean’ Counters

In all the current talk about which films are Oscar favorites, few people would argue that “Bean,” the madcap comedy starring Rowan Atkinson, was 1997’s most significant movie.

But its producers, Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan, make a strong case for it--a case that has nothing to do with the merits of “Bean” as a film.

Last fall the two men, who run the successful London-based production company Working Title, placed ads in trade papers noting that “Bean” had grossed $100 million--before it had even opened in America.

“It was a movie milestone,” recalls Bevan. “And we regarded it as a wake-up call to Hollywood, too.”

It was more than that. The success of “Bean” in international markets reveals a lot about the philosophy of Working Title, a company that does business in Hollywood yet is emphatically outside Hollywood.

“In ‘Bean’ and ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral,’ we’ve had two films grossing $250 million worldwide,” notes Fellner. “But neither did more than $50 million in America. So they’ve taken four times as much money internationally.”

Which makes them quintessential Working Title films. Bevan and Fellner have deliberately aimed to produce a range of work with wide international commercial appeal--solid, well-crafted films, but mostly more accessible than art-house fare. “What we look for,” Bevan says, “is story, character and emotion.”

Given those limitations, Working Title’s track record shows an extraordinary diversity of film styles, exemplified by its two major U.S. openings this season.

“The Borrowers,” currently in release, is a family film, an adaptation of a popular series of English children’s books by Mary Norton about a clan of little people, 4 inches high, who inhabit the spaces in houses beneath floorboards and between walls. The film, starring John Goodman, is notable for remarkable special effects that show the little people grappling with life-size everyday objects--pens, socks, postage stamps.

Then there is “The Big Lebowski,” a quirky, meandering comic thriller from the Coen brothers and opening next week, starring Jeff Bridges and Goodman, again. Bridges plays a fortysomething ex-hippie who unwittingly becomes drawn into a kidnap involving a huge ransom demand.

“The Borrowers” and “The Big Lebowski” could hardly be more different, but both fall comfortably within the wide parameters for likely Working Title projects set by Bevan and Fellner.

At one end of the Working Title spectrum are “Bean” and “Four Weddings,” two films that themselves feature very different types of British humor. Fellner and Bevan have produced the last three films of the Coen brothers (“The Hudsucker Proxy” and “Fargo” as well as “The Big Lebowski”) and “French Kiss,” a Hollywood-style romantic comedy with Kevin Kline and Meg Ryan. And under their deal with Tim Robbins, he directed the political satire “Bob Roberts” and the death row drama “Dead Man Walking.”

The two men sat in Fellner’s office, five floors above Oxford Street, London’s busiest shopping thoroughfare, and reflected on how far Working Title had come in recent years.

They offer a sharp contrast in styles. Darkly handsome, disheveled and sometimes offhand in manner, Bevan is clearly the more volatile of the pair. Fellner, tall and slim with thinning hair, seems a more cautious character who likes the opinions he delivers to be considered.

Apart from the huge commercial triumphs of “Bean” and “Four Weddings,” Working Title films have also enjoyed critical acclaim and industry respect. For three successive years Fellner and Bevan attended the Oscar ceremonies with a film in contention. “Four Weddings,” “Dead Man Walking” and “Fargo” got 13 nominations among them, and Susan Sarandon and Frances McDormand won best actress Oscars.

This consistent level of success--and an average output of three or four films a year--separates Working Title from the rest of the British industry, which up to now has consisted of small independent companies making one film at a time. The event that enabled Working Title to free itself of British film industry shackles in one bound was a funding deal offered by Polygram some seven years ago.

“Even with all the money now floating around the U.K., we’re the only properly funded production company,” says Bevan. “Before Polygram started backing us, we were both independent producers--to whom the end is getting a film financed, not made. So now, we spend far more time on the content of a movie and as things have progressed we’ve got a slate.”

It helped that Fellner and Bevan found a perfect match in Polygram, the European multimedia conglomerate that made its name in the music industry, and can boast artists like Sting, U2, Sheryl Crow and Bon Jovi on its various labels. Polygram is basically a Dutch company with a French president (Alain Levy), and a film arm based in London and headed up by Englishman Michael Kuhn.

“We’re a European production entity, and we’re with people who realize the value of the rest of the world,” notes Bevan.

So how does it work? “We believe in all our films creatively before we start,” says Fellner. “More recently we’ve asked ourselves if there’s a market for a film. For me in the early days, the market was secondary--it was all about whether I was passionate about making a film.”

Bevan notes that Working Title is extremely attentive to individual films’ budgets: “The people we drive toughest are our production people. And ‘The Borrowers’ is a good example--it cost $28 million, and it’s a very handsome film, which was shot entirely in Britain. If we’d made it in America, it would have cost at least $15 million more.

“We had battles with Tim Robbins over ‘Dead Man Walking’--a great film, but as a business proposition still worth only $14 million. That wasn’t huge money for the people involved.” (Robbins was still griping to the media in New York just before “Dead Man Walking” opened about being “squeezed” by Polygram and Working Title.)

Polygram chief Michael Kuhn views it slightly differently, noting that Fellner and Bevan constantly nag him for extra leeway on budgets. “They’re a pain in the butt,” says Kuhn, tongue in cheek. “No, actually, they’re no worse than any other producers.”

Why did he approach Working Title for an exclusive deal? “I always had the idea that rather than have Polygram become a studio-type operation with centralized production, it would be better to back people than projects,” recalls Kuhn.

The turning point was “Four Weddings and a Funeral.” Since its extraordinary worldwide success, Working Title’s star has risen inexorably. “They keep a keen eye on the world market, and their movies have a certain taste to them, which allows Eric and Tim to make films at all budget levels,” adds Kuhn. “It’s hard to define what a Working Title film is--but you know it when you see it.”

It’s no accident that the subject of keeping costs down keeps recurring in conversations with Fellner and Bevan; it betrays Working Title’s roots in the British film industry, where low-budget film-making is the norm.

“We’ve both made films in America and the U.K.,” says Bevan, “and we’ve seen how both systems work. In America they look carefully at genre, and there’s a certain system of discipline in development. In Britain there’s greater emphasis on story, ideas and taking more risks.”

Both men are comfortable with an element of risk, having started their careers separately producing music videos and commercials in London in the early 1980s. “It was pure tenacity,” says Bevan, 40. “It was pre-MTV, music videos were new, and no one knew anything.”

The two men coincidentally produced their first films in 1985. Bevan founded Working Title with another producer, Sarah Radclyffe, to make the low-budget “My Beautiful Laundrette,” directed by Stephen Frears, for Britain’s Channel 4. Its screenwriter Hanif Kureishi was nominated for an Oscar.

Meanwhile, Fellner’s Initial Films made its feature debut with “Sid and Nancy,” starring Gary Oldman as the Sex Pistols’ self-destructive bass player Sid Vicious. Again, the movie was well-received and immediately established Fellner as a talented player.

“Our first films were successful,” recalls Bevan, “and we were both prepared to get out there, produce more films.” Fellner, 38, adds: “I think from the beginning we both regarded the world as our market place.” Six years later they joined forces in a reconstituted Working Title.

When asked about the personal differences between them, the two men’s answers tell their own story. “I’m extremely decisive and he’s extremely charming,” Bevan shoots back without missing a beat. “I’m impulsive too.”

Fellner sighs almost imperceptibly at this. “Tim’s very good at forcing me into making decisions,” he offers at last, “and I’m sometimes quite good at checking his impulsiveness. It just seems to work.”

Bevan and Fellner have become role models for many young aspiring British producers, not only because of their successes, but also because their jet-hopping lifestyle is widely envied.

Fellner and Bevan insist the coming year has even more treats in store. Both are excited about their upcoming film “Notting Hill” (named after a chic district of west London), which starts production in April and can be regarded as a sort of sequel to “Four Weddings and a Funeral.” It reunites that film’s creative talent: screenwriter Richard Curtis, producer Duncan Kenworthy and leading man Hugh Grant. “Notting Hill” has additional intrigue because its female lead is Julia Roberts.

Later this year the team behind “The Borrowers” will undertake “Thunderbirds,” based on a popular 1960s British TV series featuring marionettes who are 21st century space heroes. And in 1998 a new Working Title film, “Elizabeth I,” will open. It’s a historical film, about England’s 16th century monarch--but one with a gritty edge. Cate Blachett (“Oscar and Lucinda”) stars with Geoffrey Rush (‘Shine”) for Indian director Shekhar Kapur (“Bandit Queen”).

The two men have another ambition for 1998. “We’d like to pass the billion-dollar mark for gross theatrical rentals worldwide,” says Fellner. “We’re already on about $800 million, so it could happen.”

“We’re lucky,” muses Fellner. “If we were in the studio system, we’d be forced to stick to one kind of film. With our slate we work all ends of the spectrum. Not many people are lucky enough to do that.”