MGM Keeps Art-House Unit Growing

Can the studio that has developed the commercial franchise film into an art form coexist with its still-burgeoning art-house division?

So far so good for MGM and Goldwyn Films.

Bolstering the studio’s mainstream film division, which is anchored by its sister arm, United Artists’ lucrative James Bond franchise, the art-house division is being driven by one of the most powerhouse executive teams in the business, co-anchored in both London and Los Angeles.

Today, the division releases its second film, “The Hanging Garden” (see review on F12), representing, the studio hopes, a one-two punch to follow the coup it scored last fall, its first release, Pedro Almodovar’s “Live Flesh.” (The division reportedly just signed its first production deal, with Australian comedian Yahoo Serious for a comedy called “Mr. Accident.”)

“The Hanging Garden” is a signal, even more to the industry than to moviegoers, about the new company’s taste and ambition. Its young filmmaker, Thom Fitzgerald, who both wrote and directed, could loosely be referred to as the next Atom Egoyan coming out of Canada. The film is a drama about a gay man, tormented as a child, who returns to his rural town for his sister’s wedding to confront his dysfunctional family.

MGM executives, for their part, say the company won’t shy away from controversial subject matter while going after premier filmmakers.

“Clearly, this is a film that doesn’t fit into any easy hole. But it’s an amazing piece of work by a new young director, and that’s the kind of thing we’re looking for,” says Larry Gleason, president of worldwide theatrical distribution. “We have no fixed parameters beyond that it is so special that it deserves to be seen.”

The company will also announce within the coming weeks a number of significant filmmaker relationships, notably David Lynch and Todd Haynes, whose “Velvet Goldmine” debuts at Cannes later this month.

The Goldwyn Films setup within MGM is unusual for an independent unit being run by a major studio. The division, headed by Wendy Palmer and Fiona Mitchell, is based in London, while Gleason and Gerry Rich, who heads worldwide distribution, are based in Los Angeles, along with company Chairman Frank Mancuso. The green light comes from the distribution and marketing end, rather than the creative. And in what the company feels is its biggest strength, marketing and distribution for both the regular fare and specialty films are handled by the same team, rather than being split up in two divisions, the industry norm.

“We were having the press junket for Bond [“Tomorrow Never Dies”], the most successful film franchise in history, and at the same time we’re releasing this movie ‘Live Flesh’ on two screens,” Gleason says. “After the Bond junket on Friday, we turned around and did a reception for the foreign press hosted by Antonio Banderas. And here we’re saying, ‘Please pay attention.’ So we’re able to use our resources all around.”

The division is determined to stay in the black by following some strict preliminary guidelines for a notoriously unstable business: budgets in the $2-million to $10-million range, an initial slate of four to six films a year--and a laser-beamed scrutiny of each project for its commercial potential.

“This is a division that is set up to be very adverse to risk. We look at pictures to determine potential on a worldwide basis, the creative elements, the filmmakers, the story line. Given the economics, to be able to do something offbeat, we look at budgets less than $4 million but that have prodigious filmmakers or talent attached.”

Palmer and Mitchell, who say they were “willingly seduced” away from the ailing European Ciby Films, will be responsible for relationships with talent. The team has scored successive knockouts with “The Piano,” “Secrets & Lies” and “Muriel’s Wedding.”

“Betting on talent has been very important throughout our career,” says Palmer, by phone from London. “We look for movies with universal heart that global audiences can relate to. Our films are director-driven, filmmaker-driven.”

An example of such a filmmaker is Fitzgerald. Sara Rose, the L.A.-based creative executive, was knocked out by “The Hanging Garden” at its world premiere at last fall’s Toronto Film Festival. With no time to screen the film for Mancuso, Rich or Gleason, and based on Rose’s gut recommendation, the company bid on the film and acquired it within 24 hours for an estimated $400,000 to $500,000.

“And I paid back my mother, who supported me for a year,” Fitzgerald says. “It was like this Cinderella thing--a bidding war for the film.”

Fitzgerald, 29, says he has been shocked and gratified by the response to the film. In Canada, it played for a record 16 weeks and won the audience award at the Toronto festival, as well as two Canadian Oscars for its actors.

“When I sat down to write ‘Hanging Garden’ five years ago, making the choice to have a gay protagonist, I thought the film would only be for gay people. But obviously that’s history,” Fitzgerald says. “And because it’s an ensemble film, viewers choose to relate to whomever they choose.”

The characters include the gay hero, his unhappily married mother, his abusive father, a cantankerous sister and her new groom (with whom the hero had a brief dalliance years earlier), an ailing grandmother, a new stepsister and assorted townsfolk. Canadian casting agent Marsha Chesley found mostly unknowns for the major roles.

Perhaps the major uncertainty about MGM’s new specialty division is the Goldwyn name, which resonates with film history. MGM has been operating Goldwyn Films without U.S. trademark protection since January, when the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office vetoed its choice of names, based on “a likelihood of confusion” with the name already well-established by producer Samuel Goldwyn Jr., who was ousted by MGM last summer and is suing the company. (Ironically, the company, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, incorporates the name of Goldwyn’s father, who lost control of his name when the company was formed in 1922.) MGM, which was given a six-month window to respond to the agency’s denial, has not yet done so, according to public records.

“There are clearly two sides to every story, and ours will be heard in court,” said MGM spokesman Craig Parsons regarding the lawsuit. Despite this unresolved issue, Goldwyn Films hopes its slate of films lives up to its founding mandate.

“From the onset, Frank Mancuso wanted an independent unit but felt that a studio mentality would contaminate the filmmaking process,” Gleason says. “We want to preserve the independent spirit and vision.”