Saul Zaentz
Encyclopedia
Saul Zaentz is an American film producer
and former record company executive. He has won the Academy Award for Best Picture three times and in 1996 was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.
Zaentz's film production career is marked by a dedication to the adaptation of the novel. A prolific reader, Zaentz typically does not produce original screenplays. His most recent production, Goya's Ghosts
, is an exception, being an original story by Jean-Claude Carrière
and Miloš Forman
.
. After serving in the United States Army during World War II
, Zaentz began realizing his passion for music as a distributor for Granz's Jazz Record company, a job that included managing concert tours for greats like Duke Ellington
and Stan Getz
. Zaentz went to William B.Cruz Memorial school number 11 in Passaic New Jersey as a child.
, for many years the largest independent jazz record label in the world. In 1967 Zaentz and other partners purchased the label from founders Max and Sol Weiss. The partners signed roots-rock group Creedence Clearwater Revival
(CCR), fronted by former Fantasy warehouseman John Fogerty
.
Fantasy Records owns the distribution and publishing rights to the music of CCR, and Zaentz had a long-running dispute about this with former CCR singer/songwriter Fogerty. Zaentz sued Fogerty for plagiarizing himself asking $140 million in damages, and lost (Fantasy, Inc. v. Fogerty); Fogerty sued for reimbursement of attorneys' fees and won in a case that reached the U.S. Supreme Court
, Fogerty v. Fantasy
, 510 U.S. 517 (1994). The songs "Zanz Kant Danz" and "Mr. Greed" from Fogerty's album Centerfield
are thinly veiled slams at Zaentz.
Zaentz brought a series of lawsuits against Fogerty, claiming defamation of character for the lyric "Zanz can't dance but he'll steal your money," and also claiming that the fundamental music in "The Old Man Down the Road
" was a lift from the Fantasy-copyright
ed-but-Fogerty-written song "Run Through the Jungle
" from CCR's smash 1970 album Cosmo's Factory
. The defamation issue was settled, with Warner Bros.
and Fogerty changing the title and lyric to "Vanz Kant Danz". Zaentz lost on the copyright issue as a jury found Fogerty not liable. Fogerty in turn claimed the label misled him about investing and managing his earnings from royalties, resulting in a devastating financial loss. Years later, when Zaentz sold his interest in Fantasy, Fogerty almost immediately re-signed with the label.
for three films, two of them directed by Miloš Forman
—One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
(1975) and Amadeus
(1984)—as well as for The English Patient
(1996), directed by Anthony Minghella
.
In the early 1970s he saw the stage adaptation
of Ken Kesey
's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
at a theatre in the Jackson Square area of San Francisco. Zaentz co-produced the film adaptation with Michael Douglas
. The film won five Academy Awards including Best Picture, which Zaentz and Douglas shared.
In 1976 Zaentz acquired certain rights in J. R. R. Tolkien
's books of The Hobbit
and The Lord of the Rings
. In 1978 he produced an animated version of The Lord of the Rings, written chiefly by Peter S. Beagle and directed by animator Ralph Bakshi
. Through Tolkien Enterprises
, Saul Zaentz owns the worldwide film, stage, and merchandise rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.
In 1980 Zaentz created The Saul Zaentz Film Center in Berkeley, California
, an editing and sound-mixing studio for his own films, independent filmmakers and Hollywood productions.
In 1984 Zaentz and Forman collaborated again, on the adaptation of the Peter Schaffer's stage play Amadeus
about composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
. It won eight Academy Awards, including Zaentz's second Best Picture, and spun off a best-selling soundtrack album (distributed by Fantasy Records).
Zaentz next produced The Mosquito Coast
, directed by Peter Weir
on location in Belize
, Central America, starring Harrison Ford
, from the book by Paul Theroux
.
In 1988 Zaentz produced The Unbearable Lightness of Being
, based on the Milan Kundera
novel. The adaptation was directed by San Francisco's Philip Kaufman
from a screenplay by Jean-Claude Carrière
.
Zaentz's following film, At Play in the Fields of the Lord
, adapted by Jean-Claude Carrière from the book by Peter Matthiessen
, shot by Hector Babenco
on location in the Amazon rain forest
, continued Mosquito Coast's theme of the clash of western values with the primitive.
In 1992 Zaentz purchased the rights to the unpublished novel The English Patient
and worked up a scenario with author Michael Ondaatje
. In developing the project Zaentz resisted attempts by his backers to make the story more acceptable to a mainstream audience by casting of Demi Moore
in a leading part. The book was adapted for the screen and directed by Anthony Minghella
. English Patient swept the 1997 Academy Awards, winning Best Director for Minghella and Best Picture for Zaentz. At the 69th Academy Awards Zaentz also accepted The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award
for lifetime achievement.
In 2003, Zaentz was made a Fellow of BAFTA, in recognition of his film career.
In 2004-2005 Zaentz and partners sold Fantasy Records to independent jazz label Concord Records
, and closed the Saul Zaentz Film Center.
In 2005-2006 Zaentz embarked on a new film project, Goya's Ghosts
, centered on events in the life of Spanish painter Francisco Goya
, starring Natalie Portman
, Javier Bardem
, Stellan Skarsgård
as Goya, and featuring Randy Quaid
as the king of Spain. The film was made with long-time collaborators Miloš Forman (director) and Jean-Claude Carrière (screenplay). Shot on location in Spain and edited in New York, the film was released in late 2006.
, because he owns the film rights to that novel. Peter Jackson
, who directed the successful The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
, was the first person scheduled to direct The Hobbit.
However, Jackson's production company Wingnut Films questioned New Line Cinema
's accounting methods, bringing in an outside auditor as allowed by the contract, and eventually sued New Line. New Line executive Robert Shaye
took great offense, declared that they would never work with Jackson again, and began looking for another director.
Jackson said that he couldn't work on the film until the lawsuit was settled, and that he was apparently off the project indefinitely. MGM, which owns the distribution rights, was more optimistic that a deal could be worked out.
Shaye explained his company's position, saying that New Line's contract with Zaentz was going to expire soon, which forced them to find a new director. Of course, if the litigation were resolved, by a court or by a settlement, the original plan could proceed, but then New Line might need to reorganize to allow someone other than Shaye to deal with Jackson.
The situation was made more complex by Zaentz's ongoing dispute with New Line Cinema over profits from the Lord of the Rings films. The dispute began shortly after the release of the films. In December 2007 Variety reported that Zaentz was also suing New Line Cinema, alleging that the studio has refused to make records available so that he can confirm his profit-participation statements are accurate.
In 2010 it became clear that Peter Jackson would direct the movie after all.
In response to the dispute, Zaentz' company began several trivial legal actions in the UK to enforce their claim over the "Hobbit" brand.
that for many years provided production and post-production services for Bay Area filmmakers.
Along with American Zoetrope
and Lucasfilm
, it was one of only three major film production facilities in Northern California
. By 2005, it has largely shut down its post-production
facilities, except for the foley recording studio, which is part of the still-active Fantasy Studios
.
The film center was sold in 2007 and, after renovations, became the Zaentz Media Center. It continues to house The Saul Zaentz Company, Concord Music Group
and Fantasy Studios
as well the Berkeley Digital Film Institute
and other media production companies.
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
and former record company executive. He has won the Academy Award for Best Picture three times and in 1996 was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.
Zaentz's film production career is marked by a dedication to the adaptation of the novel. A prolific reader, Zaentz typically does not produce original screenplays. His most recent production, Goya's Ghosts
Goya's Ghosts
Goya's Ghosts is a 2006 Spanish/American film directed by Miloš Forman, and produced by Xuxa Producciones and by Saul Zaentz, and written by Miloš Forman and Jean-Claude Carrière. The film stars Natalie Portman, Javier Bardem, and Stellan Skarsgård, and was filmed on location in Spain during late...
, is an exception, being an original story by Jean-Claude Carrière
Jean-Claude Carrière
Jean-Claude Carrière is a screenwriter and actor. Alumnus of the École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud, he was a frequent collaborator with Luis Buñuel...
and Miloš Forman
Miloš Forman
Jan Tomáš Forman , better known as Miloš Forman , is a Czech-American director, screenwriter, professor, and an emigrant from Czechoslovakia. Two of his films, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus, are among the most celebrated in the history of film, both gaining him the Academy Award for...
.
Early life
Zaentz was born to immigrant Jewish parents in Passaic, New JerseyPassaic, New Jersey
Passaic is a city in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 69,781, maintaining its status as the 15th largest municipality in New Jersey with an increase of 1,920 residents from the 2000 Census population of 67,861...
. After serving in the United States Army during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Zaentz began realizing his passion for music as a distributor for Granz's Jazz Record company, a job that included managing concert tours for greats like Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
and Stan Getz
Stan Getz
Stanley Getz was an American jazz saxophone player. Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s with Woody Herman's big band, Getz is described by critic Scott...
. Zaentz went to William B.Cruz Memorial school number 11 in Passaic New Jersey as a child.
Music career
In 1955 he joined Fantasy RecordsFantasy Records
Fantasy Records is a United States-based record label that was founded by Max and Sol Weiss in 1949 in San Francisco, California. They had previously operated a record-pressing plant called Circle Record Company before forming the Fantasy label...
, for many years the largest independent jazz record label in the world. In 1967 Zaentz and other partners purchased the label from founders Max and Sol Weiss. The partners signed roots-rock group Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival was an American rock band that gained popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a number of successful singles drawn from various albums....
(CCR), fronted by former Fantasy warehouseman John Fogerty
John Fogerty
John Cameron Fogerty is an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for his time with the swamp rock/roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival and as a #1 solo recording artist. Fogerty has a rare distinction of being named on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 Greatest...
.
Fantasy Records owns the distribution and publishing rights to the music of CCR, and Zaentz had a long-running dispute about this with former CCR singer/songwriter Fogerty. Zaentz sued Fogerty for plagiarizing himself asking $140 million in damages, and lost (Fantasy, Inc. v. Fogerty); Fogerty sued for reimbursement of attorneys' fees and won in a case that reached the U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
, Fogerty v. Fantasy
Fogerty v. Fantasy
Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc., , was a U.S. Supreme Court case that elaborated the standards that should factor into a district court's decision to award attorney's fees in copyright litigation...
, 510 U.S. 517 (1994). The songs "Zanz Kant Danz" and "Mr. Greed" from Fogerty's album Centerfield
Centerfield
Centerfield is an album by musician John Fogerty, released in 1985. It was his most popular post-Creedence album, containing the hit singles "The Old Man Down the Road", "Rock and Roll Girls" and the title track "Centerfield". Fogerty played all the instruments on this album himself, thanks to...
are thinly veiled slams at Zaentz.
Zaentz brought a series of lawsuits against Fogerty, claiming defamation of character for the lyric "Zanz can't dance but he'll steal your money," and also claiming that the fundamental music in "The Old Man Down the Road
The Old Man Down the Road
"The Old Man Down the Road" is a popular song written and recorded by John Fogerty. It was released in 1985 and became a top 10 hit single, peaking at #10 on the US singles chart, and spending three weeks at the #1 spot on the Billboard Top Rock Tracks chart. It was lifted from Fogerty's comeback...
" was a lift from the Fantasy-copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
ed-but-Fogerty-written song "Run Through the Jungle
Run Through the Jungle
"Run Through the Jungle" is a 1970 rock song recorded by the North American band Creedence Clearwater Revival.-History:The song was written by the Creedence's lead singer, guitarist and songwriter, John Fogerty. It was included on their 1970 album Cosmo's Factory, the group's fifth album...
" from CCR's smash 1970 album Cosmo's Factory
Cosmo's Factory
Cosmo's Factory is the fifth studio album by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, released by Fantasy Records in July 1970 and released as Fantasy 8402, the same month as the single release of "Lookin' out My Back Door" b/w "Long As I Can See the Light" .The name of the album comes from...
. The defamation issue was settled, with Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
and Fogerty changing the title and lyric to "Vanz Kant Danz". Zaentz lost on the copyright issue as a jury found Fogerty not liable. Fogerty in turn claimed the label misled him about investing and managing his earnings from royalties, resulting in a devastating financial loss. Years later, when Zaentz sold his interest in Fantasy, Fogerty almost immediately re-signed with the label.
Film career
Zaentz has received the Best Picture OscarAcademy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for three films, two of them directed by Miloš Forman
Miloš Forman
Jan Tomáš Forman , better known as Miloš Forman , is a Czech-American director, screenwriter, professor, and an emigrant from Czechoslovakia. Two of his films, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus, are among the most celebrated in the history of film, both gaining him the Academy Award for...
—One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a 1975 American drama film directed by Miloš Forman and based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Ken Kesey....
(1975) and Amadeus
Amadeus (film)
Amadeus is a 1984 period drama film directed by Miloš Forman and written by Peter Shaffer. Adapted from Shaffer's stage play Amadeus, the story is based loosely on the lives of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, two composers who lived in Vienna, Austria, during the latter half of the...
(1984)—as well as for The English Patient
The English Patient (film)
The English Patient is a 1996 romantic drama film based on the novel of the same name by Sri Lankan-Canadian writer Michael Ondaatje. The film, written for the screen and directed by Anthony Minghella, won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture...
(1996), directed by Anthony Minghella
Anthony Minghella
Anthony Minghella, CBE was an English film director, playwright and screenwriter. He was Chairman of the Board of Governors at the British Film Institute between 2003 and 2007....
.
In the early 1970s he saw the stage adaptation
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (play)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a play based on Ken Kesey's 1962 novel of the same name. Dale Wasserman's stage adaptation, with music by Teiji Ito, made its Broadway preview on November 12, 1963, its premiere on November 13, and ran until January 25, 1964 for a total of one preview and 82...
of Ken Kesey
Ken Kesey
Kenneth Elton "Ken" Kesey was an American author, best known for his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest , and as a counter-cultural figure who considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. "I was too young to be a beatnik, and too old to be a...
's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (novel)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a novel written by Ken Kesey. Set in an Oregon asylum, the narrative serves as a study of the institutional process and the human mind, as well as a critique of Behaviorism and a celebration of humanistic principles. Written in 1959, the novel was adapted into a...
at a theatre in the Jackson Square area of San Francisco. Zaentz co-produced the film adaptation with Michael Douglas
Michael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...
. The film won five Academy Awards including Best Picture, which Zaentz and Douglas shared.
In 1976 Zaentz acquired certain rights in J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
's books of The Hobbit
The Hobbit
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, better known by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald...
and The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
. In 1978 he produced an animated version of The Lord of the Rings, written chiefly by Peter S. Beagle and directed by animator Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi is an Israeli-American director of animated and live-action films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, five of which he wrote...
. Through Tolkien Enterprises
Tolkien Enterprises
Middle-earth Enterprises, formerly known as Tolkien Enterprises, is a trading name for a division of the Saul Zaentz Company based in Berkeley, California which owns the worldwide exclusive rights to certain elements of J. R. R. Tolkien's two most famous literary works; The Lord of the Rings and...
, Saul Zaentz owns the worldwide film, stage, and merchandise rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.
In 1980 Zaentz created The Saul Zaentz Film Center in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, an editing and sound-mixing studio for his own films, independent filmmakers and Hollywood productions.
In 1984 Zaentz and Forman collaborated again, on the adaptation of the Peter Schaffer's stage play Amadeus
Amadeus
Amadeus is a play by Peter Shaffer.It is based on the lives of the composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, highly fictionalized.Amadeus was first performed in 1979...
about composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
. It won eight Academy Awards, including Zaentz's second Best Picture, and spun off a best-selling soundtrack album (distributed by Fantasy Records).
Zaentz next produced The Mosquito Coast
The Mosquito Coast
The Mosquito Coast is a 1986 American film directed by Peter Weir, based on the novel by Paul Theroux. The film stars Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren, and River Phoenix. The film tells the story of a family that leaves the United States and tries to find a happier and simpler life in the jungles of...
, directed by Peter Weir
Peter Weir
Peter Lindsay Weir, AM is an Australian film director. After playing a leading role in the Australian New Wave cinema with his films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave and Gallipoli, Weir directed a diverse group of American and international films—many of them major box office...
on location in Belize
Belize
Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...
, Central America, starring Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in...
, from the book by Paul Theroux
Paul Theroux
Paul Edward Theroux is an American travel writer and novelist, whose best known work of travel writing is perhaps The Great Railway Bazaar . He has also published numerous works of fiction, some of which were made into feature films. He was awarded the 1981 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his...
.
In 1988 Zaentz produced The Unbearable Lightness of Being
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (film)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a 1988 American film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Milan Kundera, published in 1984. Director Philip Kaufman and screenplay writer Jean-Claude Carrière show Czechoslovak artistic and intellectual life during the Prague Spring of the Communist...
, based on the Milan Kundera
Milan Kundera
Milan Kundera , born 1 April 1929, is a writer of Czech origin who has lived in exile in France since 1975, where he became a naturalized citizen in 1981. He is best known as the author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, and The Joke. Kundera has written in...
novel. The adaptation was directed by San Francisco's Philip Kaufman
Philip Kaufman
Philip Kaufman is an American film director and screenwriter. His movies have adapted novels of widely different types – from Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being to Michael Crichton’s Rising Sun; from Tom Wolfe’s heroic epic The Right Stuff to the erotic writings of Anaïs Nin’s...
from a screenplay by Jean-Claude Carrière
Jean-Claude Carrière
Jean-Claude Carrière is a screenwriter and actor. Alumnus of the École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud, he was a frequent collaborator with Luis Buñuel...
.
Zaentz's following film, At Play in the Fields of the Lord
At Play in the Fields of the Lord
At Play in the Fields of the Lord is a drama film directed by Héctor Babenco adapted from the 1965 novel of the same name by American author Peter Matthiessen. The screenplay was written by Babenco and Jean-Claude Carrière...
, adapted by Jean-Claude Carrière from the book by Peter Matthiessen
Peter Matthiessen
Peter Matthiessen is a two-time National Book Award-winning American novelist and non-fiction writer, as well as an environmental activist...
, shot by Hector Babenco
Hector Babenco
Héctor Eduardo Babenco is an Argentine-born Brazilian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor.He has worked in several countries including Argentina, Brazil and the United States....
on location in the Amazon rain forest
Amazon Rainforest
The Amazon Rainforest , also known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America...
, continued Mosquito Coast's theme of the clash of western values with the primitive.
In 1992 Zaentz purchased the rights to the unpublished novel The English Patient
The English Patient
The English Patient is a 1992 novel by Sri Lankan-Canadian novelist Michael Ondaatje. The story deals with the gradually revealed histories of a critically burned English accented Hungarian man, his Canadian nurse, a Canadian-Italian thief, and an Indian sapper in the British Army as they live out...
and worked up a scenario with author Michael Ondaatje
Michael Ondaatje
Philip Michael Ondaatje , OC, is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian novelist and poet of Burgher origin. He is perhaps best known for his Booker Prize-winning novel, The English Patient, which was adapted into an Academy-Award-winning film.-Life and work:...
. In developing the project Zaentz resisted attempts by his backers to make the story more acceptable to a mainstream audience by casting of Demi Moore
Demi Moore
Demi Guynes Kutcher , known professionally as Demi Moore, is an American actress. After minor roles in film and a role in the soap opera General Hospital, Moore established her career in films such as St...
in a leading part. The book was adapted for the screen and directed by Anthony Minghella
Anthony Minghella
Anthony Minghella, CBE was an English film director, playwright and screenwriter. He was Chairman of the Board of Governors at the British Film Institute between 2003 and 2007....
. English Patient swept the 1997 Academy Awards, winning Best Director for Minghella and Best Picture for Zaentz. At the 69th Academy Awards Zaentz also accepted The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award
The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award
The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award is awarded periodically at the Academy Awards ceremonies to "Creative producers, whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production." The award is named for Irving Thalberg, legendary head of the Production Division of...
for lifetime achievement.
In 2003, Zaentz was made a Fellow of BAFTA, in recognition of his film career.
In 2004-2005 Zaentz and partners sold Fantasy Records to independent jazz label Concord Records
Concord Records
Concord Records is a U.S. record label now based in Beverly Hills, California. Originally known as Concord Jazz, it was established in 1972 as an off-shoot of the Concord Jazz Festival in Concord, California by festival founder Carl Jefferson, a local automobile dealer and jazz fan who sold his...
, and closed the Saul Zaentz Film Center.
In 2005-2006 Zaentz embarked on a new film project, Goya's Ghosts
Goya's Ghosts
Goya's Ghosts is a 2006 Spanish/American film directed by Miloš Forman, and produced by Xuxa Producciones and by Saul Zaentz, and written by Miloš Forman and Jean-Claude Carrière. The film stars Natalie Portman, Javier Bardem, and Stellan Skarsgård, and was filmed on location in Spain during late...
, centered on events in the life of Spanish painter Francisco Goya
Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era...
, starring Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman
Natalie Hershlag , better known by her stage name Natalie Portman, is an actress with dual American and Israeli citizenship. Her first role was as an orphan taken in by a hitman in the 1994 French action film Léon, but major success came when she was cast as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel...
, Javier Bardem
Javier Bardem
Javier Ángel Encinas Bardem is a Spanish actor. In 2007 he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as sociopathic assassin Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men, and has also garnered critical acclaim for roles in films such as Jamón, jamón, Carne trémula, Boca a boca, Los...
, Stellan Skarsgård
Stellan Skarsgård
Stellan John Skarsgård is a Swedish actor, known internationally for his film roles in Angels & Demons, Breaking the Waves, The Hunt for Red October, Ronin, Good Will Hunting, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist,...
as Goya, and featuring Randy Quaid
Randy Quaid
Randall Rudy "Randy" Quaid is an American actor perhaps best known for his role as Cousin Eddie in the National Lampoon's Vacation movies, as well as his numerous supporting roles in films, including his Oscar nominated performance in The Last Detail, Independence Day, Kingpin and Brokeback Mountain...
as the king of Spain. The film was made with long-time collaborators Miloš Forman (director) and Jean-Claude Carrière (screenplay). Shot on location in Spain and edited in New York, the film was released in late 2006.
The Hobbit
Zaentz was peripherally involved in the controversy about who would make a live-action film version of The HobbitThe Hobbit
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, better known by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald...
, because he owns the film rights to that novel. Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
, who directed the successful The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
The Lord of the Rings is an epic film trilogy consisting of three fantasy adventure films based on the three-volume book of the same name by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King .The films were directed by Peter...
, was the first person scheduled to direct The Hobbit.
However, Jackson's production company Wingnut Films questioned New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...
's accounting methods, bringing in an outside auditor as allowed by the contract, and eventually sued New Line. New Line executive Robert Shaye
Robert Shaye
Robert Kenneth Shaye , often referred to as Bob Shaye, is an American businessman, film producer, director and actor.-Early life:...
took great offense, declared that they would never work with Jackson again, and began looking for another director.
Jackson said that he couldn't work on the film until the lawsuit was settled, and that he was apparently off the project indefinitely. MGM, which owns the distribution rights, was more optimistic that a deal could be worked out.
Shaye explained his company's position, saying that New Line's contract with Zaentz was going to expire soon, which forced them to find a new director. Of course, if the litigation were resolved, by a court or by a settlement, the original plan could proceed, but then New Line might need to reorganize to allow someone other than Shaye to deal with Jackson.
The situation was made more complex by Zaentz's ongoing dispute with New Line Cinema over profits from the Lord of the Rings films. The dispute began shortly after the release of the films. In December 2007 Variety reported that Zaentz was also suing New Line Cinema, alleging that the studio has refused to make records available so that he can confirm his profit-participation statements are accurate.
In 2010 it became clear that Peter Jackson would direct the movie after all.
In response to the dispute, Zaentz' company began several trivial legal actions in the UK to enforce their claim over the "Hobbit" brand.
The Saul Zaentz Film Center
The Saul Zaentz Film Center (now the Zaentz Media Center) is a facility in Berkeley, CaliforniaBerkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
that for many years provided production and post-production services for Bay Area filmmakers.
Along with American Zoetrope
American Zoetrope
American Zoetrope is a studio founded by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas. Founded on December 12, 1969, American Zoetrope was an early adopter of digital filmmaking, including some of the earliest uses of HDTV...
and Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm Limited is an American film production company founded by George Lucas in 1971, based in San Francisco, California. Lucas is the company's current chairman and CEO, and Micheline Chau is the president and COO....
, it was one of only three major film production facilities in Northern California
Northern California
Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...
. By 2005, it has largely shut down its post-production
Post-production
Post-production is part of filmmaking and the video production process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs, advertising, audio recordings, photography, and digital art...
facilities, except for the foley recording studio, which is part of the still-active Fantasy Studios
Fantasy Studios
Fantasy Studios is a recording studio in Berkeley, California at the Zaentz Media Center, known for its recording of award-winning albums such as Journey's Escape and Green Day's Dookie. Built as a private recording studio for artists on the Fantasy Records label in 1971, it was opened to the...
.
The film center was sold in 2007 and, after renovations, became the Zaentz Media Center. It continues to house The Saul Zaentz Company, Concord Music Group
Concord Music Group
Concord Music Group is a record company owned by Village Roadshow formed in 2004 by the merger of Concord Records and Fantasy Records. In 2005, the company acquired the classics and jazz label Telarc International. On December 18, 2006, Concord announced the re-launch of the soul label Stax;...
and Fantasy Studios
Fantasy Studios
Fantasy Studios is a recording studio in Berkeley, California at the Zaentz Media Center, known for its recording of award-winning albums such as Journey's Escape and Green Day's Dookie. Built as a private recording studio for artists on the Fantasy Records label in 1971, it was opened to the...
as well the Berkeley Digital Film Institute
Berkeley Digital Film Institute
The Berkeley Digital Film Institute is the newest addition in San Francisco Bay Area film schools. The program is an intense, 16-month, total immersion with emphasis on Producing and Directing for Motion Pictures, Television, Commercials and Music Videos. The institute was founded in early 2007 by...
and other media production companies.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Director | Oscar wins | Oscar nominations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Payday Pay Day (1972 film) Payday is a film released in 1972 written by Don Carpenter and directed by Daryl Duke. It stars Rip Torn as a country music singer. Other members of the cast include Ahna Capri, Elayne Heilveil and Michael C. Gwynne. It was filmed in and around Selma, Alabama.... |
Don Carpenter Don Carpenter Don Carpenter was an American writer, best known as the author of Hard Rain Falling. He wrote numerous novels, novellas, short stories and screenplays over the course of a 22-year career that took him from a childhood in Berkeley, California and the Pacific Northwest to the corridors of power and... |
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| 1975 | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a 1975 American drama film directed by Miloš Forman and based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Ken Kesey.... |
Milos Forman Miloš Forman Jan Tomáš Forman , better known as Miloš Forman , is a Czech-American director, screenwriter, professor, and an emigrant from Czechoslovakia. Two of his films, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus, are among the most celebrated in the history of film, both gaining him the Academy Award for... |
5 | 9 |
| 1978 | The Lord of the Rings The Lord of the Rings (1978 film) J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is a 1978 American fantasy film directed by Ralph Bakshi. It contains both animation and live action footage which is rotoscoped to give it a more consistent look throughout the length of the movie. It is an adaptation of the first half of the high fantasy... |
Ralph Bakshi Ralph Bakshi Ralph Bakshi is an Israeli-American director of animated and live-action films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, five of which he wrote... |
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| 1978 | Three Warriors | Kieth Merrill Kieth Merrill Kieth W. Merrill is an American filmmaker who has worked as a writer, director, and producer in the film industry since 1967... |
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| 1984 | Amadeus Amadeus (film) Amadeus is a 1984 period drama film directed by Miloš Forman and written by Peter Shaffer. Adapted from Shaffer's stage play Amadeus, the story is based loosely on the lives of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, two composers who lived in Vienna, Austria, during the latter half of the... |
Milos Forman Miloš Forman Jan Tomáš Forman , better known as Miloš Forman , is a Czech-American director, screenwriter, professor, and an emigrant from Czechoslovakia. Two of his films, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus, are among the most celebrated in the history of film, both gaining him the Academy Award for... |
8 | 11 |
| 1986 | The Mosquito Coast The Mosquito Coast The Mosquito Coast is a 1986 American film directed by Peter Weir, based on the novel by Paul Theroux. The film stars Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren, and River Phoenix. The film tells the story of a family that leaves the United States and tries to find a happier and simpler life in the jungles of... |
Peter Weir Peter Weir Peter Lindsay Weir, AM is an Australian film director. After playing a leading role in the Australian New Wave cinema with his films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave and Gallipoli, Weir directed a diverse group of American and international films—many of them major box office... |
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| 1988 | The Unbearable Lightness of Being The Unbearable Lightness of Being (film) The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a 1988 American film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Milan Kundera, published in 1984. Director Philip Kaufman and screenplay writer Jean-Claude Carrière show Czechoslovak artistic and intellectual life during the Prague Spring of the Communist... |
Philip Kaufman Philip Kaufman Philip Kaufman is an American film director and screenwriter. His movies have adapted novels of widely different types – from Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being to Michael Crichton’s Rising Sun; from Tom Wolfe’s heroic epic The Right Stuff to the erotic writings of Anaïs Nin’s... |
2 | |
| 1991 | At Play in the Fields of the Lord At Play in the Fields of the Lord At Play in the Fields of the Lord is a drama film directed by Héctor Babenco adapted from the 1965 novel of the same name by American author Peter Matthiessen. The screenplay was written by Babenco and Jean-Claude Carrière... |
Hector Babenco Hector Babenco Héctor Eduardo Babenco is an Argentine-born Brazilian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor.He has worked in several countries including Argentina, Brazil and the United States.... |
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| 1996 | The English Patient The English Patient (film) The English Patient is a 1996 romantic drama film based on the novel of the same name by Sri Lankan-Canadian writer Michael Ondaatje. The film, written for the screen and directed by Anthony Minghella, won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture... |
Anthony Minghella Anthony Minghella Anthony Minghella, CBE was an English film director, playwright and screenwriter. He was Chairman of the Board of Governors at the British Film Institute between 2003 and 2007.... |
9 | 12 |
| 2005 | Goya's Ghosts Goya's Ghosts Goya's Ghosts is a 2006 Spanish/American film directed by Miloš Forman, and produced by Xuxa Producciones and by Saul Zaentz, and written by Miloš Forman and Jean-Claude Carrière. The film stars Natalie Portman, Javier Bardem, and Stellan Skarsgård, and was filmed on location in Spain during late... |
Milos Forman Miloš Forman Jan Tomáš Forman , better known as Miloš Forman , is a Czech-American director, screenwriter, professor, and an emigrant from Czechoslovakia. Two of his films, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus, are among the most celebrated in the history of film, both gaining him the Academy Award for... |