Hey, it’s not his money

With “Gangs of New York” finally reaching theaters Friday, we checked in with the man who has -- by the most tangible measure -- the biggest investment in the film.

That’s not director Martin Scorsese, who first dreamed of making “Gangs” in 1970, or the Weinstein brothers, whose Miramax Films is distributing it domestically. It’s Graham King, the English-born chief executive of Santa Monica-based Initial Entertainment Group.

Its purchase of foreign rights covered two-thirds of the estimated $100-million-plus cost of the epic about New York’s 19th century Irish gangs, the most expensive Miramax movie to date.

Although “Gangs” was King’s first venture in top-dollar foreign-rights bidding, he soon after won the rights for “Traffic” and “Ali,” and he is taking the leap into creating “product” himself, co-producing “Aviator,” about the early life of Howard Hughes. It will feature one of the stars of “Gangs,” Leonardo DiCaprio, and will be directed by Scorsese.

The Times caught up with King, 41, the weekend of the “Gangs” premiere in New York.

Sixty-seven million dollars for foreign rights?

Well, it’s a little bit more now. It started off at $65 [million] and right now we’re about $71 [million, with] interest over the three years.

Is any of that your own hard-earned money?

No. It ‘s company money. And it’s all money that we’ve already covered in the pre-sale market.

So if people think you must be nervous about your investment, they’re wrong.

They’re absolutely wrong. I was nervous for the first four weeks. When I called my banker and said, “I want to put up $65 million for the foreign rights to a movie,” he said, “Maybe you should go and sober up.” Four weeks later, I went to my first film market, not looking to sell the movie, the London Film Festival, and it was the most exhausting five days of my life. I had buyers sleeping outside my door. I had a Japanese buyer clutching my ankles walking down the corridor. That was October of 1999. We were covered like six months after we actually signed the deal.

Who paid what?

Japan paid me $16 million. The most they had ever paid for an independent movie was $11 million for “The Mask.” And all of a sudden they’re paying $16 million, which blew me away. I didn’t want to go out and sell the movie so quick because I didn’t know if we had a real movie at the time. Marty was still working on the script; Leo was still hovering around the project. We didn’t have any other cast, and I remember calling Harvey, saying, “$16 million in Japan, how can we turn that down?” But I thought Leo’s people might get upset I’m pre-selling his name. I remember in Cannes [five] years ago there was a company selling “American Psycho” and they said [incorrectly] it’s starring Leonardo DiCaprio. We didn’t want that.

What other countries came through big?

The French ended up coming in for like $8.5 million; U.K. for $6.5 [million]. I sold Latin America and Australia to a studio for a lot, between $4 [million] and $5 million.

Each?

No, between them. I’m getting better numbers than I had hoped for, and all of a sudden I’m on a plane and I read the script again and I was so nervous: “What if this investment doesn’t pay off?” The hardest thing about my job is finding a project that will sell in Sweden and Australia and everywhere in between. And it’s very hard to please the world.

You can talk to Marty Scorsese for hours about the mythological dimensions of his film. But you have suggested that other factors -- like violence -- are what sells it in your markets.

Of course. The general person in the suburbs of Tokyo, or wherever, wants to see, you know, Leo and Cameron [Diaz].

Some people have spoken of there being a backlash against DiCaprio, perhaps among young men, after his success in “Titanic.” Are you worried about that?

I can only tell you, having just come back from Tokyo, you had 500 kids at the airport screaming for him. He’s like an Elvis.

Now if this film doesn’t make all those millions back, those distributors can’t come back to you for a refund, we gather.

Of course not.

But you do have to you worry the next time.

That’s the biggest worry. My buyers are always going to judge me on “Gangs of New York.” Because that was the first big film that I got involved with.

Have you started selling your new one, “Aviator”?

No. A few have asked to purchase the rights -- the Japanese in particular. But it’s too early in that game. I think we will in the next four to five weeks.

-- Paul Lieberman