Killing Them Softly

https://lebeauleblog.com/2020/04/24/killing-them-softly/

Producer Denise Di Novi was best-known for her collaborations with director Tim Burton. The movies they made together made them both Hollywood power players. But it’s undeniable that Burton received most of the fanfare. When Di Novi left or was fired from her position as the head of Burton’s company, tongues wagged and rumors swirled.

At the time of this profile piece from the June 1994 issue of Movieline magazine, Di Novi was still working with Burton as a producer on movies like James and the Giant Peach and Ed Wood which was about to be released. She was also getting ready to strike out on her own with Little Women.

Here’s something Denise Di Novi always hears about herself: “Gee, you’re not like other producers.” Meaning what, exactly? Well, that this producer, whose credits include Batman Returns, Edward Scissorhands, Heathers, The Nightmare Before Christmas and the forthcoming Ed Wood, isn’t a high-decibel screamer of the Joel Silver variety, nor a fast-talking pitchwoman like journalist-turned-producer Lynda Obst, nor a charmins schmoozer like David Permut. In short, she doesn’t strike one as a prototypical, power-drunk Hollywood monster whose raison d’etre seems to be to make others eat dirt as if treating everyone like shit somehow evens up old scores from childhood.

On the other hand, one doesn’t have to look far to find people around town who call her “The Bulldozer.” And then there’s this to consider: Daniel Waters, writer of such past and future Di Novi projects as Heathers, Batman Returns and The Model Daughter, says,” Having worked with only two producers, Joel Silver and Denise, I think of them as the same person, only different. Denise is much beloved, never raises her voice; Joel is an abusive, castigating monster whom everyone makes fun of. They have totally different philosophies–his approach is, ‘We’re dead, totally fucked’; hers is, ‘Everything’s great’–but they’re both lying, controlling the information, making sure they’re the ones with the power. Both always get what they want. Either way,” he adds, “your brain is being melted”

As I’m ushered into her office at Sony Pictures, Di Novi initially reminds me of a chic young professor at an Ivy League school. But she’s fast to trash that by laughing as she says,” People do call me a ‘Bulldozer.'” She then hastens to add,” I do things in a quiet, steady way that’s effective for me. I’m very aggressive but not flamboyant. I don’t yell and scream at anybody. I know people think, ‘How did she get Heathers or Ed Wood made?’

“Who knows,” she continues,” maybe my career would improve if I were more like those other types of producers.” With a shrug, she says, “Whenever I feel inadequate because I’m not like some other producers we all hear about, I think, ‘Well, I’m not doing so badly. I’ve gotten unusual movies made, movies that I really care about.'”

And they’ve been profitable as well, she might add. Trying to explain why many scream and carry on but she does not, Di Novi straight off bears out the truth of Dan Waters’s take on her:” Producers in this business have to have a very high level of intensity. There’s the intensity that a Joel Silver or a Scott Rudin have. Then, there’s my kind of intensity which is equal, but quieter. When I’m in a room with [Columbia TriStar chairman] Mark Canton or with an actor, I fight just as hard. If I really want something, really believe in it, I am relentless. But I’ve never yelled at anybody in my whole life. I get mad, lose my temper, sure. Whenever I work with anyone who says, ‘I was in so-and-so’s office and they were screaming, calling me “asshole” and throwing something across the room,’ I ask them to tell me every lurid detail. I’m fascinated. More than that: I would pay a lot of money to be a fly on the wall when these people act this way. I mean, how do you yell at somebody right to his face like that, wake up in the morning, and see the same person again? I just can’t picture being that way, but I’d love to see it.”

“She doesn’t have to see it,” opines a Di Novi associate. “She’s one of the few women producers who doesn’t make a grand show of ‘I can play hardball just like the boys.’ That would be giving herself away. She doesn’t play her cards. She’s always a step ahead of you. She’s talked you into agreeing to do something before you’ve even realized it.” Considering how odd Di Novi’s movies have been, I ask her whether she has ever felt that she and her colleagues have just gotten lucky in striking a nerve with audiences and critics.” I’ve felt that way with pretty much all of the movies,” she answers. “They’ve all been kind of weird. I know this sounds simplistic, but I’m convinced that movies don’t have to be predictable and derivative to have people like them.