Powers Behind the Thrones

Back in the day (1975), Michael Korda, then editor in chief at Simon & Schuster, wrote a cheeky self-help book “Power!: How to Get It, How to Use It,” which offered advice on everything from what power color to wear (blue) to how to avoid unsightly facial tics (apply Xylocaine anesthetic ointment before an important meeting).

Despite a chorus of derisive reviews, “Power!” became an instant bestseller and caused an uproar in the publishing world because, well, it was so vulgar and tasteless. Back then, one didn’t boast about the unbridled pursuit of corner offices or glorify the weaselly art of brown-nosing one’s superiors. As it turned out, Korda wasn’t just a philistine--he was a philistine ahead of his time. Today, no one bats an eye at the naked quest for power.

Corporate overlords like Jack Welch and Sumner Redstone pen self-serving memoirs about their ascension to tycoon-hood, while Barry Diller and Richard Parsons are lionized in the business press as master synergists and empire builders. The ultimate symbol of our obsession with these media barons has taken the form of the Power List. Pioneered by Premiere, which just published its 13th in its May issue, some version of the Power List is now a staple at such media outlets as Entertainment Weekly and Vanity Fair.

The Power List’s appeal is obvious: It offers us lowly peons a voyeuristic peek into the lofty aeries of the high-powered kingpins. We see who’s moved up or slipped a notch, what strengths or weaknesses they have, concluding with a nugget of insider info (known at Premiere as “Yes, It’s True”). Thus we learn that Barry Diller, ranked No. 3 this year, likes his shirts to match the office orchids.

What depresses me about this is that the media and moviegoers routinely complain that nobody makes good films anymore, but when it comes time to put the spotlight on Hollywood insiders, the focus is always on power, not who has a passion for film. Like so many of the other titans at the top of the Power List, Rupert Murdoch (No. 4 on the Premiere list) is a deal maker--he’s no more enamored of movies than whoever’s running Kmart these days.

So without further ado, here’s my first Anti-Power List, exalting a few artists and industry-ites who provide the movie business with a touch of quality and class. (Longevity counts--everyone on this alphabetical list needed a five-movie resume to qualify--but the only power that counts here is the commitment to make good movies).

Don Cheadle: Like his elders Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman, Cheadle lends a bracing whiff of verisimilitude and gravitas to every moment he’s on screen. After burning up the screen as the menacing Mouse in “Devil in a Blue Dress,” Cheadle has been on a roll, whether playing Sammy Davis Jr. in HBO’s “The Rat Pack” or giving a string of razor-sharp performances in such films as “Boogie Nights,” “Bullworth” and “Family Man,” where he’s the hippest guardian angel you’ve ever seen. Steven Soderbergh is no dummy--he’s had Cheadle on board for “Out of Sight,” “Traffic” and “Ocean’s Eleven.”

George Clooney: If you forgive Clooney for his Caped Crusader turn in “Batman & Robin,” he’s got a schlock-free clean slate of avoiding cynical payday pictures. He takes risks (“Three Kings” and a live-TV version of “Fail Safe”), headed up the Coen brothers’ sleeper hit “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” and glided through “Ocean’s Eleven” and “A Perfect Storm.” To get a difficult movie made, he’s only taking a relatively modest $500,000 to direct and star in “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.” More importantly, he’s used his star clout to help organize the “Tribute to Heroes” telethon, boycotted TV tabloids for broadcasting paparazzi videos, and publicly criticized the Screen Actors Guild for expelling obscure picket-line-crossing members but ignoring big-name offenders.

Joel and Ethan Coen: In an era obsessed with franchises, they’ve cornered the market on a cerebral-but-cool brand of filmmaking on display in such films as “Barton Fink,” “Fargo” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” They’ve concocted a uniquely detailed visual style, never repeat themselves and have a deadpan film lingo all their own. Their enviable stock company of actors includes John Goodman, John Turturro, Steve Buscemi, Tony Shalhoub and Frances McDormand, who is married to Joel and won a best actress Oscar for her role in “Fargo.”

Jersey Films: Run by Danny DeVito, Stacey Sher and Michael Shamberg, this production company has an unparalleled record of discovering and nurturing fresh film talent, whether it’s Quentin Tarantino (“Pulp Fiction”), Ben Stiller (“Reality Bites”), Cameron Diaz (“Feeling Minnesota”) and Scott Frank (“Get Shorty”), not to mention collaborating with Soderbergh on intelligent mainstream fare such as “Out of Sight” and “Erin Brockovich.”

Sean Penn: This suffers-no-fools actor is easily the most uncompromising talent of his generation. After capturing the essence of teen stonerdom in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” Penn has consistently sought out acting challenges: In the ‘80s with “The Falcon and the Snowman” and “At Close Range”; in the ‘90s with “Dead Man Walking” and “Hurlyburly.” He tried to give up acting (he’s directed Jack Nicholson in both “The Pledge” and “The Crossing Guard”) but returned as a jazz jerk in Woody Allen’s “Sweet and Lowdown” and with a wrenching turn as a retarded father fighting for custody of his daughter in “I Am Sam.”

Terry Press: Hollywood’s best movie marketer, she makes it a point of personal pride never to use junket blurbs in her ads. In an era in which studio marketing is more crass than ever, Press and her DreamWorks team helped build “American Beauty” from a critics’ favorite to an Oscar winner and mold “Shrek” into a mega-hit. Blunt with filmmakers and journalists alike, she’s ingenious enough to transform “Gladiator” into a modern-day epic, successfully open a dud like “The Time Machine” and sell a Harrison Ford film (“What Lies Beneath”) without showing his face on the poster.

John Sayles: the model of a fiercely independent filmmaker. Having started as a novelist and B-movie screenwriter, he’s built a no-compromise career as the rare filmmaker who doesn’t just talk politics, but tests his beliefs in his films. In movies such as “Return of the Secaucus Seven,” “Matewan,” “City of Hope” and “Lone Star,” he’s explored ethnic conflicts, questioned generational values and celebrated regional cultures roundly ignored in most Hollywood films.

Susan Sarandon: In a town where actresses are thrown on the scrap heap at 40, Sarandon has enjoyed a dazzling career spanning four decades, earning four Oscar nominations in the 1990s alone, including a best actress statuette for her role in “Dead Man Walking.” Who else can say they worked with Billy Wilder (in “The Front Page”) and Natalie Portman (in “Anywhere But Here”)? Memorable films include “Pretty Baby,” “The Hunger,” “Atlantic City,” “The Witches of Eastwick,” “Bull Durham” and “Thelma and Louise,” not to mention a side career as a voice actress in “Rugrats in Paris” and “Cats and Dogs.”

James Schamus and Ang Lee: Hollywood’s most unique creative team. Schamus has written all but one of Lee’s films while also helping run Good Machine, the production company behind such indie breakouts as “Happiness” and “In the Bedroom.” After leaving Taiwan, Lee has carved out an almost blemish-free Hollywood career, moving from art-house fare such as “Sense and Sensibility” to the spectacular “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” How good are they? Who’d really be looking forward to “The Incredible Hulk” next year if this team weren’t helping make it?

Working Title Films: Together for a decade, Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner have turned this British production company into a classy, commercial powerhouse. “Bridget Jones’s Diary” and “Four Weddings and a Funeral” were both worldwide hits.

The duo also served as producers on “Billy Elliot,” “Notting Hill,” “Dead Man Walking” and five Coen brothers movies, including their biggest success, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” Up next is “About a Boy,” a Weitz brothers adaptation of the Nick Hornby novel starring Hugh Grant and Rachel Weisz.That’s my list--if you have any other nominations for the Anti-Power List, send them along.

*

“The Big Picture” runs Tuesdays in Calendar. If you have questions, ideas or criticism, e-mail them to patrick.goldstein@latimes.com.