The extended interview thatâs posted below is with Producer Mike De Luca. If you donât know Mikeâs nameâ¦the first thing to do is look over his IMDB resume. Since itâs pretty extensive, I canât even try to list what heâs produced. But a quick bit of infoâ¦he used to be the President of Production at New Line Cinema and while he was there, he helped to make some of the companies most memorable films.
Anyway, heâs produced a new movie and itâs called â21.â The film arrives in theaters this Friday (click here to watch some movie clips) and to help promote it, I was recently able to interview Mike. Actually, I was able to interview Mike twice.
The thing to know is, Sony held the â21â press junket in
But the best part of continuing the interview was I was able to follow up on some "Metal Gear Solid" rumors. You see, at ShoWest Coming Soon reported that Kurt Wimmer might be involved with "Metal Gear Solid." So when I got more time with Mike, I followed up on the story and he said that Kurt is just one of many people that will come in and pitch his take on the material. What that means isâ¦who knows if heâll actually be on the project.
Since the interview is very long, I really need to wrap up this intro.
Of course a HUGE thank you needs to go to everyone at Sony who made the interview happen, as well as a thank you to Mike for agreeing to give me so much of his time. Itâs much appreciated.
And since I always run images in interview articlesâ¦Iâll be posting images from â21â throughout the piece. And when we talk about other subjects, Iâll try and throw in some other images that belong....
Collider: So youâve been in the industryâI believe you started at New Line when you were 19.
Mike De Luca: Yes.
Collider: So youâve been in the industry for quite a while.
Mike De Luca: 23 years.
Collider: What isâ¦youâve been involved in tons and tons of movies, whatâs your favorite film that youâve produced, if you donât mind?
Mike De Luca:Counting my time as an executive?
Collider: Yeah, in general, all the films youâve been involved with, whatâs the one you look back on and say, wow this is the one? Or do you have one?
Mike De Luca: Can Iâ¦well itâs a triumvirate. âBoogie Nights,â âSeven,â and âAustin Powers 2â are just my 3 top experiences.
Collider: Whatâs your reason for those?
Mike De Luca: Itâs really personal, on âBoogie Nightsâ I became really close with Paul Thomas Anderson and we just had good chemistry as friends so you get excited that youâre doing something original and a little provocative but also you know every film is like a little family and you startâ¦you get really close with the people you know when theyâre being made and sometimes itâs a dysfunctional family and sometimes it becomes a close family and that was the case where we became a close family and Paul and I stayed friends so that movie will always have the memory for me of getting Paul in my life. âSevenâ again, was just getting that script - it was in turnaround from a company called âPentaâ and it was a hard piece of material to get initially off the ground because its so dark and Fincher was coming off âAlien 3â and he came in and it was one of the best experiences of my career. He came in and literally kind of pitched his version of the movie almost shot by shot and had a total vision for the film and it was just one of the most exciting meetings Iâd ever been in because heâs such a detailed filmmaker and he could verbally express, articulate you know how the movie would look and who he wanted to be in the cast and Iâd never really sat down withâ¦up until that point I hadnât sat down with a director of his caliber and just had him kind of articulate the movie from start to finish. Paulâs a writer/director so when you read his scripts you get that sense because he writes in kind of like the way itâs going to look and sound. David was coming in on someone elseâs script so he was just kind of verbally articulating it and that was kind of a blast for me. And then watching that film come together and go for the ending it did without compromising was just kind ofâ¦itâs an unusual experience and it was a high point of my career, so Iâll always remember that fondly because it broke new ground for us at New Line. It was the first movie we made for over like $30 million, at a time where that was like a gigantic budget for us and we were sweating it so when that film, which was an unlikely hit, did over $100 domestically and I think over $250 internationallyâor over $200 internationally we were like blown away, so that was like a very pleasant surprise and a lot of it most of the time in the movie business you get the unpleasant surprise of movies not working as well as you want just because of the law of averages. And then I love âAustin Powers Iâ but there was something about just the manic energy and the creative energy of âAustin Powers IIâ with Mini-Me and Will Ferrell kind of reprising his role from the first film as a kind of like a Indian henchman with the Fez. It just was full of like I think he just upped the ante from âAustin Iâ and I laughed my ass off in the editing room of that movie like every single time he showed me a new cut. It didnât matter how many times Iâd seen the jokes for some reason that movieâbefore that movie was âDumb and Dumberâ like Iâd watched âDumb and Dumberâ through every cut and every test screening and laughed my ass off but âAustin IIâ was the most fun Iâve had watching a New Line movie while I was working there. So I guess those 3 stick out in my head. As far as my producing career goes, working with Jon Favreau was great on âZathoraâ because heâs like a film buff and like a film student and he absorbs information like itâs going out of style and for that movie he kind of wanted like a 50âs aesthetic to the special effects and I could really talk to him you know about the art of Chelsea Bonestell whoâs like a futurist illustrator from the 50âs and he was boning up on special effects and you could see that pay off in âIron Manâ now. I canât wait to see that movie and that trailer looks amazing so Iâve been lucky working with people who keep turning me on creatively. Thatâs all you can hope for.
Collider: So Iâm curious, what is it like for you to get a film made? I think thatâs something that a lot of people out inâ¦who donât understand the industry and myself sometimes included, how does it really work? So say you come to a project and letâs use â21â as an example, how did it get made? What exactly goes on behind the scenes to make a movie in
Mike De Luca: Well, first thereâs the search for material like whatever itâs being done by and itâs being done by everybody. Itâs being done by independent producers, the studio executives, agents, managers, I mean everybody looks for material that they think can get made or be commercial, so it starts with the front line is full of people that look for material. After something is found like for example on â21â Dana Bernetti had heard about this story of these M.I.T. students way before there was a book and was trying to pin down exactly what happened. He kind of heard it through a grapevine and thought it was an interesting story for a movie. Then he spotted an article by Ben Mezrich, I think in âWiredâ magazine, and he Googled Ben Mezrich after finding the article and they got in touch with each other and Dana got on it before it became a book. Then once you have the material in-hand like once Dana had the material in-hand your job is to convince a financier whether its an independent financier like Relativity or Mandate, those kinds of companies, you can go that route or you bring it to a studio and try to set it up with a studio and hope that an executive at a studio thinks its as commercial as you do. So if you have a deal with a studio, you pitch it to your home studio first and if they pass you can go to other places, but once you find material that turns you on, you have to kind of be its advocate and go convince someone who can pay for the movie that is commercial and that itâs a worthy investment. After you get the thing set up, the studio or the financing entity kind of tells you what ingredients theyâre going to need to feel good about making the investment to make the movie so that means who can we get to write this or adapt it that we think will result in a good screenplay, after that whatâs the cast list in terms of whoâs going to make it, again, more of a secure investment for the studio to green light. Once you get a screenplay youâre happy with, you get into trying to package it, you know meaning putting a director and cast into it while youâre on the way to budgeting it and kind of getting all the things in place to eventually get the studio to say yes. If youâve cleared all those hurdles, and the stars align and all those puzzle pieces come together and you get a green light, then as a producer you kind of manage the production and try to be fiscally responsible for the studio but also kind of protect the creative vision of the artists involved in the movieâwriter, director, and the actors. And then after you get through production, you get into putting the movie together editorially and you know you kind of see it through the phase weâre in now with marketing and distribution, but it all starts with that search for material.
Collider: Thatâs actually a very good explanation as to how that goes.
Mike De Luca: Itâs kind of
Collider: Yeah, it seems to me though when you explain it that way and thenâ¦Iâve heard that explanation before where it just seems itâs a miracle sometimes when certain movies get made with the material in question or itâs a miracle when you have, you know, someone gives you $200 million to go spend and makeâ¦so what is the difference between a producer and an executive producer?
Mike De Luca: Most of the time the producer credit is given to the people or person that is really physically producing the movie through all those stages. Heâs kind of overseeing the development of the script and staying on through production and post-production and into marketing. Executive producerâthereâs no set rule about that credit. It could mean a variety of things. Sometimes the line producer, whoâs the person who is physically responsible for producing a movie in terms of all the moving parts and the physical production, they come under in pre-production and they leave after the film wraps, you know the line producer. Sometimes they get that credit as part of their deal if theyâre a line producer with a lot of credits thatâs been in business for a while. Sometimes itâs an actorâs manager who just insists as part of the actorâs deal, the manager will get an executive producer credit. Sometimes if there is a co-financing deal with a studio or if a film is independently financed, the financier will take an executive producer credit. Sometimes the actor will take an executive producer credit.
Collider: Do you ever have or have you had experiences where people get upset that certain people are getting an executive producer credit when they clearly just donât deserve it?
Mike De Luca: Yeah, Iâve heard stories about that. I think the producerâs guild has been trying to regulate how credits are apportioned. At New Line, we and I think Miramax did this when the Weinsteinâs were there; we used to give our executives executive producer credit as kind of a perk of working for a studio that paid less than other studios and I know it pissed off a lot of producers because traditionally thereâs a line between studio executives and producers and a lot of people werenât happy with us giving ourselves credits, but at New Line we looked at ourselves as more like producers than executives.
Collider: Actually that makes a lot of sense.
Mike De Luca: But yeah, itâs kind of a chaotic process. Sometimes you end up with people that are there or feel like they got the short end of the stick when it comes to credits. The last time Iâve read about a major problem like that happening was on âCrashâ I guess Bob Yari who paid for the movie felt shortchanged when after whatever investigation they did in terms of who was on-set didnât give himâ¦didnât allow him to either get the credit or be listed as a nominated producer when it got the Oscar nominations.
Collider: I heard there was like 8 producers and you only give 3 credits out or just to bull-shit like that which is pretty stupid because donât you think that certain movies are going to have 8 producers?
Mike De Luca: Itâs picture by picture, you know, you hope it doesnât go that way because it means thereâs a lot of people to please and a lot of moving parts but sometimes it just ends up that way depending on how movies are put together.
Collider: So, I know youâre a big comic book person.
Mike De Luca: Yes.
Collider: And youâre still a big comic book person.
Mike De Luca: Yeah, yeah I have my original collection from when I was a kid and I started a new collection when I was an adult and I moved out to
Collider: So I would imagine that you being a producer and not being in front of the camera as much as talent can enjoy Comic-Con with some anonymity.
Mike De Luca: Yeah, and I go as a fan like I donât go looking for properties per se because I donât thinkâ¦I mean actually I donât think there are that many out there. All the big ones have been done already. I go as a fan and buy stuff and read stuff and just enjoy myself.
Collider: So do you ever go and have you overheard people just talking about a property say like a âGhost Riderâ or something youâve been involved with and youâre just standing there just like Iâm getting it, Iâm hearing it, you know?
Mike De Luca: Well, âGhost Riderâ I was at ShoWest when we did an appearance and we showed kind of a sizzle reel, so it was before anybody had seen the movie so that was fun because people were just excited about the character. I usuallyâ¦I have a habit after test screenings going to restroom and hearing people talk about the movie because I feel thatâsâ¦theyâve just seen it and theyâre in there and they let loose and that could be either earth shatteringly bad or it could be kind of enthusiastically confidence building, but I get an immediate read from those kinds of situations.
Collider: Thatâs actually the truth because afterâ¦I go to some test screenings and it is true when youâre standing there and you can overhear everyone being like, âthat movie suckedâ or âthat thing was the funniest thing Iâve ever seenâ, and itâs an immediateâ¦youâre totally right. You were attached to producingâmaybe you still areâthe book âThe Gameâ. What is going on with that because to me that seems like a property that could be such a great movie?
Mike De Luca: For me personally Columbia ended up doing it with Spyglass as a financing partner and once Spyglass came on, Spyglass and I couldnât agree on a deal for me so Iâm off the project, but right now I think Spyglass and Columbia are either looking for a writer or theyâve got someone developing a first draft. So itâs in active development, Iâm just not on it anymore.
Collider: I was going to say thatâ¦well that sucks. Iâll say that.
Mike De Luca: I was sad to see that one go.
Collider: So now letâs ask aboutâ¦about a month or two it came out that you are involved with Metal Gear Solid.
Mike De Luca: Right.
Collider: So this is the question that every fanâ¦Iâm asking this for every fanâ¦what are you going to do to finally make a kick-ass video game movie?
Mike De Luca: I mean, hopefully not screw it up. For me adapting a video game is just like adapting a book or a play or any otherâ¦whenever youâre adapting from another medium for film you try to take into account what you need to do to make it a movie. With books itâs how you compensate for not being inside a characterâs head and with video games I think what you have to compensate for is the loss of interactivity, you know. What makes video games fun is that you get to be the character and youâre sitting there ruling the universe and itâs a really first person interactive experience. When youâre in your theatre seat, youâre stuck with these subjective versions of the story and the game from a director or the writerâs point of view. You canât interact with whatâs going on so whatever turns you on about the game, youâre immediately disadvantaged in the theatre because youâre not feeling anything which I think ups the ante for how good the story has to be and how good the movie has to be because weâre going in at a disadvantage that youâre not going to get the excitement or the adrenalin rush of doing it yourself, so we have to do it for you in a way that makes up for that. So I think the bar is higher and I think in the past, people havenât realized that they set the bar low for video game movies thinking that oh, thereâs a built in audience and we donât need to go crazy with this movie. We just need to get it out there and people will just go see it anyway. I think thatâs kind of a rip-off soâ¦I tried with the first Mortal Combat movie to honor theâ¦I mean that game is like pre-historic at this point but we tried to honor the Enter the Dragon type of storyline of those characters and not throw something out there that was total rip-off and on this one the kind of Cain and Able story between Solid Snake and Liquid Snake and their relationship with their father and the storyline of Metal Gear Solid 4 has the makingsâ¦.thereâs so much story in Metal Gear as opposed to other video games that I think itâs going to be a challenge but itâs an upscale problem to have some much thematic subtexts and story material to draw from so I think we have a leg up already in that itâs such a rich universe and Kojima is like George Lucas in terms of creating this universe so what it says about war by proxy in this kind of future where war has been outsourced to private companies I think can be almost very topical and also kind of satirical in like a âRobocopâ kind of way, so I think if we can get a script that honors the storyline of all 4 games, but that also has a cinematic aesthetic you know the kind of aesthetic Verhoeven brought to âRobocopâ or the kind of aesthetic the Wachowskiâs brought to âThe Matrixâ. If thereâs a cinematic identity to the piece that exists on its own, it doesnât conflict with the DNA of the game, you know thatâs our goal is to pull off those 2 things. Not mess with the DNA of the game but provide a movie that is an adaptation but that has itâs own cinematic identity so even if you donât play the game you know, youâll come out of that movie feeling like you did at the end of âThe Matrixâ or the end of âRobocopâ. Thatâs our goal anyway.
Collider: Well, I would like to think that Sony beingâ¦this is such an iconic character for the Playstation and Sonyâs making it, that they really want this movie to work.
Mike De Luca: They do.
Collider: This could sell Playstations.
Mike De Luca: Right.
Collider: I mean itâs like one of the synergy kind of properties.
Mike De Luca: Yeah.
Collider: So that being said, are they veryâ¦is this one of these projects that theyâre âwe really want this to be rightâ?
Mike De Luca: Yeah, we all want it to be right because thereâs a lot at stake.
Collider: I guess that being said, have you thought aboutâ¦have you guys internally thought well this is a $100 million movieâthis is a summer blockbuster or this is going to be one of these mid-range kind of things?
Mike De Luca: No, they know itâs big. I mean, we donât want it to be crazy big but they know itâs big on the bigger side of things.
This is the end of the interview that was done in
Collider: So when we left off we were talking about Metal Gear. When you were at ShoWest, you mentioned to Coming Soon I believe Kurt Wimmer?
Mike De Luca: This writer Kurt Wimmer is one of the people weâre looking at to talk to about pitching on it.
Collider: Yeah, because a lot of people onlineâyou know the way the Internet community gets. They hear one name and they immediately assume thatâs the guy.
Mike De Luca: Not only do they do that but they assumed he was directing, too and itâs actuallyâKurt is like one of many people weâre talking to about pitching us back a take on adapting the franchise. He hasnât been hired or anything.
Collider: So itâs sort of like the way what happened with Universal with the âWolfmanâ where they had a lot of people come in afterâ¦I forget the guyâs nameâ¦who dropped out. Where they had like 8 different filmmakers come in, pitch their ideas and they went to Joe Johnson.
Mike De Luca: Yeah. Well this is moreâ¦I mean there was a script already and they were looking for a director. This is more normal course of doing business like you have something that needs adaptation whether itâs a book or a play or a video game, and you take the initial property and you go out to a bunch of writers that you like and you see who comes back with a take on adapting the thing that turns you on.
Collider: So how does that work? Thatâs actually something that I think a lot of us who are are on the outsideâ¦what is itâ¦do you know when youâre talking to a filmmaker youâre like, âwow, thatâs the guy.â Is it almost like a casting session? Or do you guysâ¦you know you have a few different filmmakers who all pitch you great ideas and then how exactly does that work?
Mike De Luca: Itâs well put. It is like a casting session only youâre casting the writer instead of the actors, but you justâ¦in this case Kojima and Sony and ourselves will hear how ever many takes from writers that we all think could do well with this property and we get to a point where we agree that thereâs this one take thatâs just the best out of the bunch and weâll go with that writer.
Collider: Have you ever had when⦠Iâm sure this has happenedâ¦youâve worked with this kind of a situation in the pastâ¦have you ever 2 filmmakers come in and they both have such great takes that you almost try to combine their 2 ideas into 1?
Mike De Luca: No, Iâm sure itâs happened but that never happened to me.
Collider: Well, moving off Metal Gear Solid because Iâm veryâ¦well, when do you thinkâ¦let me do my last question, when do you think that this project is going to be getting announced like more concrete stuff?
Mike De Luca: Probablyâ¦hopefullyâ¦well, letâs see, the writerâs strike just ended so we just started this interviewâ¦you know this process of hearing takes from writers. Best case Iâm hoping 6 weeks from now.
Collider: Okay, cool. Iâm now going to ask you aboutâ¦you have a few other projects according to the always accurate IMDB. As you know that is really on the money. So, I figure what the hell letâs just put it out there. So you are attached to something called âThe Hands of Shang-Chiâ.
Mike De Luca: Thatâs old information and no longer accurate.
Collider: Okay.
Mike De Luca: It was a project that I tried to acquire for development from Marvel while I was at DreamWorks as an executive and the deal never happened so it actually never even went into development at DreamWorks.
Collider: See, proving that IMDB has to be taken with a grain of salt.
Mike De Luca: Right.
Collider: Okay, letâs go to the next one. âHammer Downâ.
Mike De Luca: âHammer Downâ is another old and I believe inactive Dream Works development project.
Collider: Okay, letâs go to the next one. âPriestâ
Mike De Luca: âPriestâ is an active project of mine as a producer over at Screen Gems and my producing partner on that is Josh Donen who works with Sam Rami on those I think those âGhost Houseâ movies.
Collider: So can you tell us what the film is going to be about?
Mike De Luca: âPriestâ is a genre-blending movie. Itâs kind of like a sci-fi horror film about a group of specially trained priests that hunt down vampires in kind of a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Collider: Is that like something that youâreâ¦is that in a real fast-track kind of thing or thatâs just one of the many project that youâre developing?
Mike De Luca: No, Screen Gems hopes it can be a franchise for them so it is fast-track to the extent that weâd like to get a director on it sooner than later but itâs currently not out to anyone and we donât have anybody on it.
Collider: The last question about future projects. Do you have anything else that you areâ¦and Iâm about to talk to you about âLove Guruâ but is there anything else that you are working on that is not listed? Stuff that you are, you know, passionate about that is going on in the background.
Mike De Luca: Nothing is about to get âgreen litâ. Everythingâs development projects but I think the onesâ¦some of the ones weâre excited about in terms of getting to that next stage include âDracula Year Zeroâ at Universal. âMoney Ballâ at Sony. âMetal Gear Solidâ at Sony and weâre trying to get a writer on that.
Collider: So those are the 3?
Mike De Luca: âThis Present Darknessâ at Fox waiting for a new draft on that. Itâs just one of my faves so Iâm trying to get going.
Collider: Before we go any further, let me ask you about âMoney Ballâ. Thatâs based on the book.
Mike De Luca: Correct.
Collider: So what is going to be the take on the movie?
Mike De Luca: The take is basically a kind of dramatic depiction of that 2002 season. Just kind of you know its still going to be kind of a journalistic endeavor, the movie, but itâs condensed to really the beginning and end of that season that contained the 22 game winning streak.
Collider: I would imagineâ¦you know itâs interesting theyâve done a lot a lot of sports movies, but they havenât done a lot of really modern sports movies.
Mike De Luca: Yeah, I think there should be a mix of like a sports movie but also an anti-establishment triumph of the individual movie in terms of the way Billy Bean went up against conventional wisdom and the bureaucracy.
Collider: Yeah, a lot of people who donât follow sports donât know about Billy and his mentality for doing things.
Mike De Luca: Yeah but the good news is the theme in that book of individuality over the establishment and thinking outside the box, you know, I think one of the reasonsâ¦I think its universal and the book is handed out at all these corporate retreats for any business because what it has in its DNA is this strong advocating of not sticking to conventional wisdom.
Collider: Do you guys have an idea of likeâ¦have you asked Billy whoâs going to beâ¦you know how is that going to work?
Mike De Luca: No, we havenât even gotten the casting yet. Weâre still trying to see if we can find a time to make with a director we like.
Collider: Okay, letâs move on to if you donât mind âDracula Year Zeroâ. So whatâs that about?
Mike De Luca: âDracula Year Zeroâ is a origin story for kind of an origin story for Prince Vlad of
Collider: Is Alex Proyas still doing it?
Mike De Luca: Yeah, weâre supposed to pick him up after his finishes the Nick Cage movie, âKnowingâ.
Collider: Iâm a big fan of Alex, was this one of those things where he came in a pitched you the way we just talked about, you know his take on the material or is this one of these things where you went after him?
Mike De Luca: No, I went after him and he did come back and pitch a take on the material that was great.
Collider: And is this one of theseâ¦and pardon me because I donât really know much about the storyâ¦but does this take place in modern times?
Mike De Luca: No, itâs almost a mix of historical fact and supernatural fiction. It takes place during the time of the original Price Vlad.
Collider: Okay, again itâsâ¦thereâs going to be a Dracula fan who reads this whoâs just going to be angry with me for not knowing enough about the history.
Mike De Luca: Iâm just blanking on what century it was. I want to say the 12th century, I could be wrong, but itâs in there. Itâs in that zone. Hold on one second.
Collider: Sure.
Mike De Luca: Itâs 13th century, I just looked it up. Vlad was born in 1390, so itâs the 14th century.
Collider: So what was it about the script that pulled you into thisâ¦.to wanting to make this movie?
Mike De Luca: The script was an ingenious blend of âBraveheartâ and a horror film. Prince Vlad is positioned as a young ruler who to protect his kingdom from the tyranny of the invading Turk army allows himself to become a vampire and in doing so ends up defeating the invading Turks but is now stuck being Dracula for the rest of his undead life.
Collider: So Iâm very curious how Alex is going to approach this material. Like what kind of style because Dracula has been done many times.
Mike De Luca: Itâs Dracula as a warrior prince so itâs Dracula as Gladiator or Dracula as Braveheart.
Collider: That actually sounds very interesting. Iâm curious if heâs going to go very dark, if itâs going to be you know a bright kind of thing, but I mean these are questions for once he actually gets on the project.
Mike De Luca: Yeah, I canât imagine it being bright.
Collider: Neither can I. I canât imagine a âBraveheartâ look, you know with the bright sun.
Mike De Luca: No, itâs just aboutâ¦itâs about what kind of devilâs bargain would you agree to to protect your people.
Collider: So will the film go and follow him like through for hundreds of years?
Mike De Luca: If weâre lucky. If people enjoy the first film you could take the story all the way up to the time period of Bram Strokerâs Dracula.
Collider: What was the 3rd thing you said?
Mike De Luca: Oh, that adaptation of Frank Perettiâs novel, âThis Present Darknessâ at Fox. Weâre waiting for a draft on that.
Collider: And how is it as a producer to be balancing this many projects or does it end up working out that while you have all these projects in development itâs never 3 at the same time?
Mike De Luca: I guess âcos so few films get made out of the films that are in development you try to develop enough where you have a good shot at some of them kind of popping, but I donât overdo it, like I donât load us up with 20 or 30 projects. We try to keep it small and really try to work on things we think have a chance of getting made.
Collider: How has it been throughâ¦because you have a very long career and youâve been at many different companies, is it pretty much the same at all the different companies with the way things actually get made that you know how things get green lit?
Mike De Luca: Well, itâs different because the personalities at each studio are different but the machine in place and the principles are the same, you know, in terms of balancing your creative passion for something with what you think will be a financial return on investment.
Collider: So, we talked earlier and I donât remember the exact conversation during our part one of the interview about you being a big comic book guy.
Mike De Luca: Yes.
Collider: So is there anything out there right now that youâre reading and saying, âwow this could make a really great movieâ?
Mike De Luca: No, you know, most of the stuff I read now is graphic novels or limited series in any of the Marvel or DC Cannon. I really enjoyed the Civil War mini-series at Marvel. I really enjoyed âLast Frontierâ at DC, you know this kind of take on the âJustice Leagueâ. I read them just for fun obviously. Not only are they owned by other people, but theyâre not necessarily good movies so almost all of my comic book reading in the last 5 years has been for fun.
Collider: And so, and I ask this to a lot of people, are you one of these peopleâ¦have you ever gone through the eBay addiction phase?
Mike De Luca: No, Iâve gone throughâ¦for comic books I go to this site Comic Link which is an auction web site and Iâve bought some stuff off there, but I havenât gone through eBay.
Collider: Iâve spoken to a number of people who have gone through the 3 or 6 month addiction.
Mike De Luca: Right.
Collider: So itâs always interesting. So getting on to as a producer, I often ask about test screenings. How do you view test screenings and do you get nervous about with the way the Internet is with how everything gets out there the minute you show it, how do you balance that?
Mike De Luca: I donât sweat the Internet, you know itâs still something I enjoy as a movie geek myself to get on and like look at all the websites, however when it comes to marketing a movie the Internet is still not the thing that gets people to the theatre. Itâs stillâmaybe it will change in the futureâbut itâs still TV spots or whatever, so I think even though nobody wants bad buzz I think itâs always something you try to avoid but if it happens on the InternetâIâve seen movies survive it. You know, âBatman & Robinâ probably had some of the worst advance buzz on the Internet but still opened to $42 million for that weekend. So I donât sweat it too much but itâs nice when you have something that can get good buzz on the Internet and you can build from it as opposed to having to downplay something. I think the worst thing you can do on the Internet is try to spin anything because then itâs like a double-story like you made a crappy movie and theyâre trying to spin it and lie about it and then it becomes a story that feeds itself until you open and then I think thatâs worse than just dealing with honest bad buzz if thatâs truly what it is.
Collider: So do you, but getting back to the test screenings, do you believe in the test screening process?
Mike De Luca: I do for certain kinds of pictures. For straight down the middle movies I think they can be instructional. For curve ball movies or movies that disturb you, I donât think they serve a big purpose. You know, shocking people or disturbing people and handing out a pencil to fill out a form 10 minutes after the lights come upâ¦. I donât think its going to do you a lot of good, so I donât think theyâre good for art films, specialized films, anything truly disturbing, but for down the middle mainstream movies you know where youâre seeking a mainstream audience I think they can help you kind of see where the movie spikes with people or where the movie has some values. You know, theyâre really good for comedies, they can be good for action films, you know they can be good for mainstream thrillers or even mainstream dramas but once you get into more of an artsy area or a specialized film area or curve ball movies or you know truly disturbing films, to chase numbers on movies like that is silly.
Collider: Okay, so now Iâm going to ask you the big question. The most important thing ever. You were involved in an episode of âStar Trek Voyagerâ. So, how did the come about?
Mike De Luca: Well, Iâm a huge Trekie and Brannon Braga and Ron Moore took pity on me. Really Brannon Braga whoâs become a friend of mine, but they took pity on me that I was such a unrequited Trekie and they let me go into âVoyagerâ and pitch ideas and I think I came up with one that they kind of liked: this idea of what happens when you go warp 11 and it sounds really geeky.
Collider: No, no, no. Believe me, I can geek out with you on Trek.
Mike De Luca: I think my pitch was if you break the warp 10 barrier youâ¦at warp 11 youâre in touch with every molecule in the universe at the same time and it has a bad effect on that character on the show that played the test pilot. I think it was Lt. Paris or something. So, they bought the story and I got to have my name on that episode of the Star Trek series and it made me really happy.
Collider: Letâs geek out a little bit over the new J.J. movie then.
Mike De Luca: Right.
Collider: So are you like as a fan are you just incredibly excited.
Mike De Luca: Not only am I incredibly excited, I actually asked Kurtzman and Orci who were writing to see if I could come on set and be an extra and wear the outfit, but I was away shooting so I missed my window of opportunity.
Collider: That I would not have been happy. Not at all.
Mike De Luca: Right.
Collider: So I ask since youâre a Trekie and if you donât mind doing it, a favorite of the 4 or 5 shows. How do you rank them?
Mike De Luca: You know itâs a tough one. Iâd have rank the original first just because itâs the original and the âNext Generationâ and then âVoyagerâ and then â
Collider: So where do you put âDeep Space Nineâ?
Mike De Luca: Sorry, sorry. I forgot about âDeep Space Nineâ. Iâd have to go âNext Generationâ, âDeep Space Nineâ, âVoyagerâ, â
Collider: So, okay now Iâm really going to geek out with you and the people who are reading this are going to if youâre a big fan of âTrekâ youâre going to probably just want to forward down a little bitâI mean not a fan of âTrekâ, youâre going to want to forward down. Do you think that â
Mike De Luca: I think it didnât get a chance to get into its groove. I do agree with you there. And Iâm notâ¦if I was producing the show and I am a fan of this actor but there was something un-Treklike about Scott Bakula just for me personally.
Collider: Did you enjoy the way the storyline though in the 3rd and 4th season they way they pulled all the episodes together for one long story?
Mike De Luca: I did enjoy that.
Collider: Because I gave them a lot of credit for that. It was unfortunate that itâ¦
Mike De Luca: It was an ambitious arc and I did enjoy that. I enjoyed the last 2 seasons quite a bit and the last one especially.
Collider: Weâre on the same page. I also re-watched âDeep Space Nineâ not too long ago and was really blown away by the quality of that show from day one.
Mike De Luca: Yeah, thatâs a lotâ¦I think that has a lot to do with Michael PillerâI forget how you pronounce his last nameâMichael Pilar.
Collider: Yeah, its also unfortunate that heâs passed on.
Mike De Luca: Yeah. Yeah, but âDeep Space Nineâ kind of reminds me⦠âDeep Space Nineâ I feel had a little bit of the social relevance that âBattlestar Galacticaâ does now with such excellence.
Collider: And speaking of âBattlestarâ, so as a fan because you really do come across as someone who like belongsâ¦youâre a geek like all of us online. You know, and pardon me for saying that, but you know, so what are you as a fan what do you watch? What are you most excited by? Do you watch âLostâ?
Mike De Luca: I watch âLostâ, âThe Wireâ which is now gone unfortunately. I was a huge âSopranosâ fan obviously. I miss âDeadwoodâ but I watch âLostâ. I watch âTerminatorâSarah Connor Chroniclesâ. I watchâ¦
Collider: Are you a âHeroesâ fan?
Mike De Luca: Iâm a âHeroesâ fan and Iâm actually a big fan of âIn Treatmentâ, HBOâs new drama series.
Collider: Yeah, I havenât seen that yet.
Mike De Luca: You know Iâve probably watched all the genre stuff that you would imagine I would watch. Iâm a huge âBattlestar Galacticaâ fanatic I would say.
Collider: So youâre just as excited as us for April 4th?
Mike De Luca: Yes.
Collider: Okay, so Iâll also ask you, weâre nearing the end of our time together, I wanted to knowâso youâre cutting âLove Guruâ as we speak.
Mike De Luca: Yeah with Mike Myers and the director Marco Schnabel in
Collider: So what is that like working on a comedy in the editing room like that? How does that go?
Mike De Luca: Itâs great because we shot alternate jokes for almost every scene so in the editing room Mike mines for comedy and we go looking for jokes and we get to try out like 6 or 7 different versions of the scene with all kinds of different jokes and stuff and then pare it down and choose whatâs going to be in a test screening.
Collider: And so have you guys tested the movie yet?
Mike De Luca: No, the first test is coming up.
Collider: And so is that always, you know, for a comedy like that where you do have so many other takes is it constantly trying to figure out which one is the best one?
Mike De Luca: Yeah, I think you test screen comedies more than other genres because you get to audition different jokes, but we had a fantastic time making it and you know, it feels really funny. It feels good. It feels like when I kind of â¦when he immersed me in the âAustin Powersâ world, so I canât wait to get this in front of a test audience.
Collider: And last question: 3D filmmaking. It was the big thing at Show West and it really seems to be coming a huge part of the industry. How are you as a producerâare you looking forward to doing 3D filmmaking and do you see it on any of your immediate future projects?
Mike De Luca: I donât see it on any of my immediate future projects. I donât know enough about it but as a film-goer, Iâm excited about going to see more films done in that format, especially in the IMAX format.
Collider: Do you think, because what Iâve had a big debate with many people about is you see a movie like âBeowulfâ which in IMAX 3D is jaw dropping.
Mike De Luca: Right.
Collider: But then you try to reproduce that at home on DVD and itâs just not the same movie at all. Do you think there is an inherent danger because
Mike De Luca: Well I think the bigger the event it is theatrically the more units it pushes on home video and DVD so it still has a life. Some things are just not going to be replicatable at home but if the story is good enough I think people will still want the home version and then maybe someday theyâre be a way for them to figure out how to reproduce the 3D at home.
Collider: Yeah, Iâm very curious how this is allâ¦
Mike De Luca: Itâs all new like weâre all in new territory so weâll see.
Collider: And which movieâif you had a choice between âIron Manâ and âIncredible Hulkâ the new films that are coming out this summer, just those 2, which one would you see.
Mike De Luca: Oh, âIron Manâ.
Collider: Not even a debate?
Mike De Luca: No, because I first of all I had âIron Manâ in development at New Line way back when. I love the character. I love Robert Downey Jr. I worked with Jon Favreau on âZathuraâ, so and the trailer just blew me away so Iâve only seen the âHulkâ trailer online. I havenât seen it in a theatre, but Iâm just like a huge Iron Man fan, so Iâm really excited about âIron Manâ. And Iâm very curious about âThe Hulkâ like Iâm an Edward Norton fan, too, so Iâm really curious to see âThe Hulkâ but âIron Manâ is the one for me.
Collider: Yeah, I think youâre echoing the sentiment of many people online. Personally I think the âIron Manâ stuff looks just incredible.
Mike De Luca: Also, like if thereâs ever a character tailor-made for CGI itâs âIron Manâ because you can do metal so photo real, you know the Hulk still has to look humanâ¦not human but inhuman in an organic way. âIron Manâ is tailor-made for CGI because you can do metallic surface so easy so itâs going toâ¦itâs probably just unleashed Favreauâs imagination on screen which will be awesome.