You very seldom pay the big actors their full freight. How do you constantly convince them to take pay cuts?
It's all based on material. It's not like we're cheap. We're not. On [the upcoming] ''Duplex,'' we paid Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore their asking price plus a huge piece of the gross. It's a romantic comedy. There's no pretension that it's going to win art awards, or that we're making it for anything other than to make money. When Gwyneth [Paltrow] does ''View From the Top'' [another comedy, opening March 21], she gets paid $10 million. We paid Meg Ryan $15 million to do ''Kate & Leopold.'' See, there's another misconception about us. Whenever we do a studio movie, we always pay retail.
You had some strong words for director Todd Haynes about ''Far From Heaven'' after he decided to go with Focus instead of Miramax.
I was upset. We made ''Velvet Goldmine.'' I lost a lot of money on it. I supported ''Velvet Goldmine.'' It wasn't like I buried it. I personally embraced the movie. It was hard for us to lose ''Far From Heaven.'' I've talked that movie up so much I feel like I'm distributing it anyhow. Maybe you'll be the first to know that Miramax is secretly campaigning for ''Far From Heaven.''
Okay. The bottom line: ''Gangs of New York'' is going to be profitable.
Yeah, can you write that, please?
So at the end of the day, you'll have...
A profit -- and a big one. Everybody wrote the doom story. Now do the math. If you only have $32 million in the movie [Miramax and Disney division Touchstone split that; IEG put up the $68 million balance of the budget in return for foreign rights], and $40 to $45 million marketing it [split by Miramax and Touchstone], and you gross $100 million [the film has so far grossed $73 million], that leaves you with a lot of money for profit [when DVD and video sales are tallied].
''Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.'' How will that do?
If we break even...it will be tough, but we are going to fight it home. I don't care. I love the movie. Breaking even is an honor on ''Confessions.''
''Pinocchio''?
[A hearty chuckle] Certainly we are going to lose a lot of money. We bought it for $21 million [including] all foreign [rights], and I suspect that we'll get 75, 80 percent of that back. I don't think we'll lose more than 2 to 3 million bucks,
honestly.
Why in the world did you back ''Pinocchio''?
Because Fellini told Roberto [Benigni] he should play Pinocchio and I'm a sucker for that. You lay that on me and I'm there. Did you ever see [Fellini's] ''The Voice of the Moon''? It's unwatchable, but I watched it 10 times. It's just unwatchable for a normal human being. If you see ''Voice of the Moon,'' that's my answer on ''Pinocchio.''
Do you buy too many movies?
I'm a sucker for movies. I'll have to admit that sometimes things appeal to me that don't appeal to anybody else. I like doing them anyhow. I bought Baran, the Iranian movie. I bought ''Ararat'' and put $2.5 million into the movie. I'm so happy I lost money on that. I don't care. The movie is important for what it says, and everybody who shies away from it is foolish.
What happened to ''The Third Wheel'' [a long-shelved comedy that Ben Affleck and Matt Damon executive-produced and acted in with Luke Wilson]?
It's going to be sold to television. Where it belongs.
Looking to the coming year, how is Quentin Tarantino's ''Kill Bill''?
It rocks.
Is the budget under control?
Who cares whether it's controlled or not! Out of control it's $55 million. So what's the difference? Of all the guys who I'm going to say yes to on overbudget who I'm not supervising, it's Quentin, because I love him. Plain and simple, he built the company, so he can do what he wants.
And you have a picture you are going to direct?
It's called ''Mila 18.'' It's the story of the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto. I'm developing it with [''The Wings of the Dove'' screenwriter] Hossein Amini writing it, and Marty Scorsese and Anthony Minghella have both said that they would produce and edit the movie. Marty said, ''You'll have five hours of footage on your first cut, and by the time I'm done it will be a 10-minute short.'' I said to Hoss when he handed in the first draft, ''A happy ending...what are you, crazy? That's for Marty or Anthony. Now you've got to keep it real. I'm directing this one, baby. Tell the truth.''
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