Had modesty not intervened, Canadian film 眉ber-producer Don Carmody鈥檚 first paid movie job would have had him nakedly frolicking in a naughty little number called The Devil Among Us.
The invitation for porn stardom came when he was barely 20 in 1971. The man who would later send Chicago to the Oscars and 笔辞谤办测鈥檚 to the showers was then a shy film scholar seeking work with the boys at Montreal鈥檚 Cinepix, legendary makers of 鈥淏鈥 movies and skin flicks.
鈥淭he first time I went to Cinepix looking for a job they offered me one as an extra in an orgy scene!鈥 Carmody recalls in an interview, laughing.
鈥淚 told them I didn鈥檛 want to be in an orgy!鈥
What he did want, and what he eventually got, was work behind the camera in the production office, wearing clothes. He鈥檇 been seriously studying film at Montreal鈥檚 Loyola College 鈥 鈥淟ike all my fellow film students, I wanted to be Ingmar Bergman鈥 鈥 but he found almost from the get-go that producing interested him more than acting or directing.
It鈥檚 a single-minded passion that has proven both durable and profitable, and that will be honoured in an April 16 tribute at the Four Seasons Hotel.
Attendees at the 鈥淒C 100 & 60鈥 charitable gala will toasting two Carmody milestones: 100 films and his 60th birthday. Money raised from the $250-per-plate event will benefit the Canadian Film Centre, where he mentors, and the Special Olympics, 鈥渨hich is near and dear to my heart.鈥
Carmody is an affable gent, but like many movie producers he generally steers clear of the press and the limelight. He鈥檚 not one to put on airs. The office he currently occupies at the Cinespace complex at Lake Shore Blvd. in east 海角社区官网has a leaky roof that drips on a visitor鈥檚 head. It has soaked one of Carmody鈥檚 chairs, but he hadn鈥檛 noticed.
He鈥檚 been too busy making Silent Hill 2, his 100th produced film and the sequel to his 2006 horror money-maker, based on a popular video game 鈥 as is his other big horror franchise, the zombie-themed Resident Evil series.
With a box-office gross of $100 million, the original Silent Hill ranks fourth on Carmody鈥檚 personal Top Five list of cash-register ringers, which also happens to be the same list for top Canadian film earners:
1. Resident Evil: Afterlife ($300 million)
2. Resident Evil: Apocalypse ($129.4 million)
3. 笔辞谤办测鈥檚 ($111.3 million)
4. Silent Hill ($100 million)
5. Johnny Mnemonic ($52 million)
Numbers like that impress the suits in Hollywood, but they bowl over people in Canada, where films are generally considered a huge success if they gross $5 million.
The way Carmody tells it, he has thrived by following one simple rule: he makes movies that people want to see. Sometimes he works for a studio, sometimes on his own, but he always follows this rule.
鈥淲hat I鈥檝e learned over the years, I suppose, is that you have to make films that are for an audience. I鈥檓 not interested in navel-gazing. I鈥檓 not interested in making deathless art.
鈥淔ilm is a mass medium. You want to appeal to people on a mass level. Rather than shoving the message down their throat, you sugar-coat it, you spoon-feed it. It goes down a lot easier, and you can make some money at the same time! To me, I get my greatest enjoyment from watching an audience respond to my movies.鈥
He insists he has no beef with brow-furrowing films that make meaningful statements about the human condition. But he鈥檇 rather see one of his movies pack a drive-in or multiplex than win critical raves at Cannes.
He鈥檚 worked with auteurs like David Cronenberg, whose 1975 shocker Shivers is Carmody鈥檚 first production. He鈥檚 also backed Gus Van Sant, but on his Oscar-winning movie Good Will Hunting, not one of the director鈥檚 artier projects.
鈥淚 did Van Sant鈥檚 Good Will Hunting, but would I have done Drugstore Cowboy? I don鈥檛 think so. That wouldn鈥檛 have appealed to me. Not that it鈥檚 a bad movie 鈥 and, believe me, I enjoy watching some of these movies.鈥
More recently, Carmody produced Polytechnique, Denis Villeneuve鈥檚 film about the 1989 Montreal student massacre, the movie that swept last year鈥檚 Genie Awards.
Carmody鈥檚 biggest artistic success by far has been Chicago, the 2003 Oscar Best Picture winner that helped revive the movie musical, a genre that had long been declared dead. He persuaded U.S. movie mogul Harvey Weinstein to green light the film as long as the budget didn鈥檛 exceed $40 million.
鈥淚鈥檓 very proud of that one,鈥 Carmody says.
鈥淲hen I鈥檓 sitting on an airplane and people go, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e a movie producer 鈥 well, what have you produced?鈥, that鈥檚 the one that everybody recognizes. Also Good Will Hunting.
鈥淏ut I鈥檓 also very proud of the comedies like 笔辞谤办测鈥檚 and Meatballs and the Weekend at Bernie鈥檚 series. I really enjoy those. If I had my druthers, I鈥檇 make nothing but comedies.鈥
Regrets, he鈥檚 had a few, and more than a few to mention. Topping the list is the legendary bomb Battlefield Earth, a 2000 sci-fi schlocker starring John Travolta as a snot-dribbling space alien in a KISS costume. The movie exploded on contact with both critics and the public. Many now deem it to be the worst film ever made.
鈥淥h my God, it was pretty bad! I didn鈥檛 think it was going to be that bad. But the instant (the actors) stepped out of the trailer in those KISS costumes, 鈥業 went, 鈥極h, f鈥攌, we鈥檙e doomed!鈥
鈥淚鈥檓 disappointed that I didn鈥檛 see Battlefield Earth coming. I did it, basically, to pay my divorce attorneys.鈥
He鈥檚 had other duds and misfires: Studio 54, Gothika, the Get Carter remake and the recent Amelia among them. You win some, you lose some, but mostly Carmody wins.
He鈥檚 not shy about telling a director to shoot a scene a certain way, especially if it鈥檚 a horror film. Carmody figures he鈥檚 learned a thing or two about how to scare people.
鈥(Cinepix co-founder) John Dunning used to say that movies were like our children: we dress them up in the best clothes we can afford and we send them out in the world and hope somebody loves them. It鈥檚 kind of like that. You know, I鈥檓 very proud of Polytechnique. But I鈥檓 also very proud of the Resident Evil 蝉别谤颈别蝉.鈥
Sometimes a bomb belatedly turns out to be a cult hit. Carmody was amazed when The Boondock Saints, which he thought would connect the first time around, found a big afterlife on video. Ditto Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone.
Despite having made 100 films (and counting), Carmody doesn鈥檛 pretend to have all the answers, or a magic formula for success.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a crapshoot. The best comment ever was (screenwriter) William Goldman鈥檚, 鈥楴obody knows nothin鈥.鈥 You can go in thinking, 鈥楾his is a surefire winner鈥 and it just doesn鈥檛 click, even right up until the very end.
鈥淭he only one where I had that real gut, visceral instinct for all the way through was 笔辞谤办测鈥檚. When I read the script, I first thought, 鈥極h my God, we can鈥檛 make this!鈥 but at the test screenings, it was a wild, wild ride. I always had a feeling that the picture was going to be big.鈥
Big indeed 鈥 the 1982 frat boy comedy, which spawned two sequels, was for decades the top Canadian money earner. It reigned until Carmody鈥檚 Resident Evil franchise knocked it off its piggy perch.
笔辞谤办测鈥檚 was a real anomaly: a Canadian film that is actually set in the U.S. But that鈥檚 a bit like Carmody himself, who was born in New England but who moved to Canada as a boy. Bilingual and bicoastal 鈥 Carmody has roots in both 海角社区官网and L.A. 鈥 he considers himself a Canadian both by citizenship and by instinct.
But he doesn鈥檛 make typically 鈥淐anadian鈥 films 鈥 although he is producing a hockey movie called Goon 鈥 and he insists he has no interest in chasing some vague notion of Canadian identity.
鈥淭o try to pretend that Canadians have a distinct cultural interest in specific movies is, I think, crazy . . . I don鈥檛 feel the need to do that, no.
鈥淚 want to tell the great story. That鈥檚 all. And if I tell a great story, then Canadians are going to get it and Americans are going to get it and the French are going to get it and the Japanese are going to get it. There鈥檚 nothing better than watching an audience jump or cry or laugh.鈥
Follow on Twitter: @peterhowellfilm
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