Riza Aziz Talks The Wolf Of Wall Street
Feb 13, 2013 7:58:16 GMT -5
Post by nas78 on Feb 13, 2013 7:58:16 GMT -5
collider.com/riza-aziz-angels-in-exile-wolf-of-wall-street-interview/
''What was it about The Wolf of Wall Street that made you want to get involved with that film?
AZIZ: The pedigree of the talent involved. Obviously, when you hear it’s Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio, you don’t think twice. Also, the subject matter was fairly close to me because I used to be in finance in London, and it speaks very clearly to what I went through, all those years ago. And even though there’s Wall Street in the title, Wall Street is pretty much just a backdrop to the film itself. It’s not about finance. It’s literally the story of a guy who comes up from nothing, gets everything overnight and becomes rich, and in that journey from nothing to everything, he gets sidetracked with all the drugs, the hookers and the alcohol. And once he gets to the top, he gets taken down by the government. When you see the film, it’s a good snapshot of what American capitalism is like. It’s pretty interesting. And you’ll see Leo doing things he hasn’t done before. It’s actually pretty out there.
When you do a film like that, that has that level of talent involved, is it easier to get the film made, or is it more challenging to deal with talent of that scale?
AZIZ: Both, actually. The reason we were able to get our hands on the film, in the first place, is because we have very close relationships with DiCaprio and his team. When we were talking about various things we wanted to do together, he said, “Well, we have a few things cooking, but the main project that we’re really wanting to get off the ground is The Wolf of Wall Street, which is in turn-around at Warner Bros.” In 2007, they wanted to do the film, and Marty and Leo were on board, but there was some kind of tug-of-war between Paramount and Warner Bros., so they never got the movie made. So, Leo and Marty ended up doing Shutter Island and the project stayed on Warner Bros.’ shelves. We bought the script and the book rights from Warner Bros. and signed Leo on, and then waited for Marty to finish with Hugo and signed him on. Once you get those two guys on board, it’s a fast-moving train, right after. It’s been a great ride, so far.
When you have those kinds of names involved, it just makes your job, keeping the production on track and keeping everyone motivated, that much easier, but those guys are intense. They’re constantly coming up with great ideas, so sometimes the challenge is to rein them in a little bit and have a bit of balance. When Marty and Leo get that kind of collaboration going, they have this shorthand where they know what the other one is thinking or talking about, in two or three seconds. It’s an interesting process that they go through, but by and large, it’s been a positive experience. Having spoken to Marty’s camp and Leo’s camp, they said they’ve never been happier. They were laughing and having a great time on set. When ideas come out that easily, it shows they’re having a great time, creatively. For us, as filmmakers, that’s all that matters. We want our talent to express themselves and have a good time.
Is there a point where you typically get to see a cut of the films that you’re involved with?
AZIZ: With The Wolf of Wall Street, Marty is very close to the editing process, to the point where he will not allow anyone else to jump in until he feels it’s absolutely necessary. I’m assuming we’ll need 30 to 35 weeks for Marty to sit in his editing room with Thelma [Schoonmaker] and get a first cut of the film together, but we’re patient. We trust his team, we trust Marty and we trust Thelma, so I’m not so worried about that.
With Horns, which we just did with Alex Aja and Daniel Radcliffe, we’re going to Paris very soon to sit down with Alex in the editing room, to have a look at the first assembly of the footage. It depends. Different filmmakers are a bit more open to having producers come and sit in on the editing process. Alex is a bit more open. Marty is a bit more protective. I’m not saying which is right or wrong. It just depends on the habits of the filmmaker.
''What was it about The Wolf of Wall Street that made you want to get involved with that film?
AZIZ: The pedigree of the talent involved. Obviously, when you hear it’s Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio, you don’t think twice. Also, the subject matter was fairly close to me because I used to be in finance in London, and it speaks very clearly to what I went through, all those years ago. And even though there’s Wall Street in the title, Wall Street is pretty much just a backdrop to the film itself. It’s not about finance. It’s literally the story of a guy who comes up from nothing, gets everything overnight and becomes rich, and in that journey from nothing to everything, he gets sidetracked with all the drugs, the hookers and the alcohol. And once he gets to the top, he gets taken down by the government. When you see the film, it’s a good snapshot of what American capitalism is like. It’s pretty interesting. And you’ll see Leo doing things he hasn’t done before. It’s actually pretty out there.
When you do a film like that, that has that level of talent involved, is it easier to get the film made, or is it more challenging to deal with talent of that scale?
AZIZ: Both, actually. The reason we were able to get our hands on the film, in the first place, is because we have very close relationships with DiCaprio and his team. When we were talking about various things we wanted to do together, he said, “Well, we have a few things cooking, but the main project that we’re really wanting to get off the ground is The Wolf of Wall Street, which is in turn-around at Warner Bros.” In 2007, they wanted to do the film, and Marty and Leo were on board, but there was some kind of tug-of-war between Paramount and Warner Bros., so they never got the movie made. So, Leo and Marty ended up doing Shutter Island and the project stayed on Warner Bros.’ shelves. We bought the script and the book rights from Warner Bros. and signed Leo on, and then waited for Marty to finish with Hugo and signed him on. Once you get those two guys on board, it’s a fast-moving train, right after. It’s been a great ride, so far.
When you have those kinds of names involved, it just makes your job, keeping the production on track and keeping everyone motivated, that much easier, but those guys are intense. They’re constantly coming up with great ideas, so sometimes the challenge is to rein them in a little bit and have a bit of balance. When Marty and Leo get that kind of collaboration going, they have this shorthand where they know what the other one is thinking or talking about, in two or three seconds. It’s an interesting process that they go through, but by and large, it’s been a positive experience. Having spoken to Marty’s camp and Leo’s camp, they said they’ve never been happier. They were laughing and having a great time on set. When ideas come out that easily, it shows they’re having a great time, creatively. For us, as filmmakers, that’s all that matters. We want our talent to express themselves and have a good time.
Is there a point where you typically get to see a cut of the films that you’re involved with?
AZIZ: With The Wolf of Wall Street, Marty is very close to the editing process, to the point where he will not allow anyone else to jump in until he feels it’s absolutely necessary. I’m assuming we’ll need 30 to 35 weeks for Marty to sit in his editing room with Thelma [Schoonmaker] and get a first cut of the film together, but we’re patient. We trust his team, we trust Marty and we trust Thelma, so I’m not so worried about that.
With Horns, which we just did with Alex Aja and Daniel Radcliffe, we’re going to Paris very soon to sit down with Alex in the editing room, to have a look at the first assembly of the footage. It depends. Different filmmakers are a bit more open to having producers come and sit in on the editing process. Alex is a bit more open. Marty is a bit more protective. I’m not saying which is right or wrong. It just depends on the habits of the filmmaker.
