A few times on the blog we've had the privilege of running items from folks who didn't take too kindly to this or that which had been said or written. We tend to look at these as necessary reminders of not taking this whole nonfiction internet hustle too seriously.
From Simon Chinn, Producer of Man on Wire
Dear AJ,
Firstly, thanks so much for all your support over the past year. I expect many of your readers will be wondering whether I might have slipped you a tenner to 'encourage' all your kind words about MAN ON WIRE. The truth is rather more mundane: we've never actually met or even spoken - so I guess you must simply have liked the film! We appreciated, in particular, your blog a few weeks ago in which you argued - very eloquently I might add - that MAN ON WIRE should be considered for a Best Picture Oscar. It'll never happen of course, but it's nice to have someone like you think it should.
Your suggestion, however, must have had some influence on the BAFTA judging committee... It was a particular thrill - and a complete surprise - to pick up the BAFTA for Best British Film last Sunday night at London's Royal Opera House, beating the likes of such noted epics as SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, HUNGER, MAMMA MIA! and IN BRUGES. In the moment that Sharon Stone opened her gold envelope, MAN ON WIRE became only the second documentary - after TOUCHING THE VOID - to win that particular prize. It was a great night for nonfiction films generally and proof, if any more were needed, that documentaries can touch people as powerfully as the very best feature dramas (a point I also made in my acceptance speech). James Marsh and I had, at the start of the evening, made a wager about the result - we both lost. We were totally gobsmacked.
And now onto the Oscars! It's turning out to be a pretty surreal few weeks. James put it so well, I thought, when, in his reaction to the news of the Oscar nomination a few weeks ago, he said simply that it was "preposterous" that a documentary filmmaker should be breathing the same air, if just for one night, as the Hollywood A-list. And that's exactly how I feel. It's been such a good year for documentaries (critically at least) and it's a genuine honour to be competing in a field of such strong and distinctive films which have all, in their own way, so moved and inspired audiences. Whichever film triumphs at the Kodak Theater on February 22nd will be a worthy winner.
The BAFTA win and Academy nomination cap an extraordinary year for us. This time last year we'd just returned home from Sundance '08 where we'd won two prizes - the Jury and Audience Awards - in our category. At the time, it felt it couldn't get much better. We were jubilant when we heard we'd been selected for Sundance in the first place and we'd rushed the film through post-production to get it finished in time for its Park City premiere. We felt pretty confident that we had a decent film on our hands but, of course, when you live and breathe a project this intensely for months and years, you increasingly lose any sense of objective judgment. What would audiences make of it? What would distributors?
The previous year had been disappointing for a number of very promising documentaries - several films which it was thought
would break out had badly underperformed in the marketplace. Would we
suffer the same fate? Would we find a distributor bold enough to see -
and back - the film's potential? These were our real concerns at the
time; we'd had no pre-Sundance hype, virtually no pre-publicity before our
first screening. So how would we
fare? In the end, Sundance
audiences seemed thrilled by James' cinematic rendering of Philippe Petit's
incredible adventure. The story - and its iconic imagery - soared to dizzying
new heights on the big screen. Philippe's presence at Sundance helped
immeasurably. In the post-film Q&As James would spring Philippe, rock
star-like, from the stalls to an unsuspecting audience and, often, standing
ovations. Some thirty-four years after his 'coup', this was Philippe's
moment to shine all over again...and he took it.
Its Sundance launch brought considerable attention to Man on Wire and, happily, sales followed. Magnolia picked up the film just after the festival and have done a fantastic job with their North American release, turning it into one of last year’s highest grossing docs. In the UK, Icon brilliantly positioned the film as a heist thriller, producing a high-octane marketing campaign and shamelessly obscuring any mention of the word 'documentary'. It turned out to be a smart move - MAN ON WIRE is steadily moving up the charts to become one of the UK’s top 10 highest grossing theatrical documentaries of all time - and Icon are about to re-release it on the back of the BAFTA win. The film has been acquired in more than a dozen other territories around the world and, as awards and nominations have come, so the film continues to find new audiences.
It has been so gratifying for everyone who has devoted so much of their time, passion and talent to the project to see their hard work rewarded in this way. We are, in short, deeply grateful for the boundless support that so many have given to us and to the film.
With warm regards,
Simon
Comments