THE PRODUCERS

Describe what you do

Donna Gigliotti and David Parfitt, best picture nominees for “Shakespeare in Love,” laugh at the question because it is asked so much, and there is no easy answer. “My grandfather, who’s 94 and hasn’t been to a movie since 1941 . . . went recently to see ‘Shakespeare in Love,’ ” she says. “He wanted to know, first of all, if it was a love story. Then he asked me that same question--what do I do? I couldn’t answer him, and he’s my grandfather.”

The short answer is that the producer is in charge of the production, but what that means largely depends on the producer. “You can be involved as much or as little as you like,” Parfitt says. He and Gigliotti are hands-on producers--after signing and working with the director on casting and other hiring decisions. They go to the set every day, and they remain involved during post-production.

Because Gigliotti is not a morning person, Parfitt took the early shift on the set and Gigliotti stayed up late to handle the “American calls,” the communications with executives back in the States, who, Parfitt says, “don’t acknowledge European time zones.”

How did you get involved in this movie?

Gigliotti had read and loved Marc Norman’s script years ago when the project was languishing at Universal, which ended up as a partner on the film with Miramax. Later, when she read the rewrite by playwright Tom Stoppard, she says, “I thought it was one of the best scripts I ever read. I put it in the category of one of the top five scripts of all time.”

Parfitt, a former actor and theatrical producer, was producing “The Madness of King George” in 1994 when he first heard of the script and was even approached about producing it for Universal, but only at what he considered an unrealistically low cost--$8 million. The finished movie came in at “something over $30 million,” he says.

When Universal balked at a higher budget, Gigliotti persuaded Miramax co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein to invest in it, and the two companies became partners, with Miramax distributing the film in the United States and Universal handling the foreign release. Gigliotti, who had worked as Miramax’s executive in charge of European production, had served as executive producer on a number of films, including “Emma,” which also starred Gwyneth Paltrow.

At the time Miramax acquired the project, Parfitt was working on “The Wings of the Dove.” His other credits include “Henry V,” “Much Ado About Nothing” and “Twelfth Night.” Because of his track record, he often is the first person people think of when British costume pieces come along.

What was the biggest challenge of the film?

Gigliotti says it was the physical challenge of mounting the production. “There is very little of Elizabethan England that survived the great fire of 1664,” she says. “We looked around Europe for examples of the daub and wattle and half-timber structures that existed at that time.” They finally realized they would have to re-create Elizabethan London, including the theaters where so much of the action is set, on the back lots of Shepparton Studios. Nearly all the exteriors were re-created, with the exception of the 1310 castle whose owners allowed the filmmakers to use it.

What was your favorite part of the job?

Parfitt loves that as producer he is involved with every aspect of the movie, unlike when he was an actor brought in with a narrowly defined purpose and no say on the overall movie. “I was always much more interested in what was going on on the set than I was in my acting, which is probably why I wasn’t any good,” he says.

Gigliotti says she loves post-production. “I just adore it,” she says. “It is the magic of the movies--seeing what you can create in the editing room.”

Your least favorite part?

“The times when you have to sack somebody,” says Parfitt, “which luckily we didn’t have to do on ‘Shakespeare,’ or when you’re dealing with a great big hefty prop man who’s telling you he’s not going to work another minute until he’s paid overtime. You make sure they leave your office laughing and with nothing in their hands.”

Gigliotti’s least favorite part is the long hours spent on the set during filming, occasionally nudging the director to work faster and “making sure the crew is happy.”

Whom would you call your role model or inspiration?

“My ideal would be Arthur Freed,” Gigliotti says. During the heyday of MGM, Freed was a producer (“Ziegfeld Follies,” “Showboat,” “An American in Paris,” “Singin’ in the Rain”). He brought a lot of New York theater talent to Los Angeles to work in his films, almost like a theatrical company of players, Gigliotti says. “He was wildly successful, and he had a great deal of freedom . . . partly because he was successful but also because he had a small group of people he called on for his movies.” Gigliotti says she would love to be able to form such a group to make “slightly offbeat, not obviously commercial movies. My instinct is always to go and try to make good pictures that might be commercial, and I think Hollywood works pretty much in reverse--they make commercial pictures and hope that they’re good.”

When did you realize you might be nominated for an Oscar?

“I realized it on the ninth of February when the publicist called me up and said you have 13 nominations,” Gigliotti says. “I honestly had absolutely no idea.”

Parfitt said he knew while making the movie that it was a quality film that might be nominated. “We thought we might get something, but not the spread of nominations that we got. We were recognized in all the craft categories.”

What will an Oscar mean for your career?

“Everything that happens in your career sort of helps build it,” says Parfitt. He concedes, however, that this is the first of his movies to win 13 Oscar nominations. (The movie also recently was nominated for 15 British Oscars.)

As a first-time producer, the nominations will probably mean more for Gigliotti. “I’m hopeful that the success of the movie will cause people to say you certainly can make movies like this for a price, and they make money,” she says.