While you might not know the name Dana Brunetti, you’ve definitely seen some of his work.  Over the past few years, Brunetti has helped produce a number of cool and varied projects like 21, House of CardsCaptain PhillipsFanboysThe Social Network, and Casino Jack (just to name a few), and next year he’s helping to bring 50 Shades of Greyto movie screens.  Not a bad ten year run.

Last week I sat down with Brunetti for an extended video interview.  Since we talked about so many projects, I’m breaking up the conversation into smaller parts.  Yesterday I posted what he said about Netflix's House of Cards, and today it's about Captain Phillips.   During the interview he talked about working with Mike De Luca and Kevin Spacey to acquire the rights to Phillips' story, his first meetings with Phillips, the challenge of getting a studio onboard, landing Paul Greengrass as the director, how they initially had a longer cut of the film, a big and expensive alternate ending that was filmed chronicling Phillips' homecoming, other changes to the film including more of Catherine Keener's character, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Dana Brunetti:

  • How did he get involved with Captain Phillips?  Talks about how he worked with Michael De Luca to acquire the rights.
  • Talks about his first meetings with Phillips and his dry sense of humor.
  • The challenge of getting it in front of cameras and with a studio.
  • Talks about getting Paul Greengrass on the project and the feeling of landing a director.
  • Did they have a longer cut of the movie?  Talks about how they originally went back and forth from the boat to Catherine Keener's character where she works and dealing with the press.
  • Talks about how they originally shot Phillips homecoming and it was a big and expensive few days of shooting but they eventually cut it all out.

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