Will Gale Anne Hurd do the right thing by Ray Stevenson?

Seems not.  I've been pretty silent the last day or two, thinking that the change in running time here on the [i]PWZ[/i] IMDB page meant that either Lion's Gate or Gale Anne Hurd was getting ready to do what they should have done on the very day IESB published their "insider" leak: which is to make a public statement disavowing the vicious comments about Lexi Alexander and the film.  That is, if they really weren't responsible for the "insider" leak in the first place.

This is what IESB had to say, in part:

About three months ago, Lexi Alexander turned in her cut of Punisher: War Zone. After a small screening of the film to studio execs, we were told it was un-releasable and by far one of the worst movies ever made.  Apparently, the dialogue and action sequences were so bad that it was practically unwatchable.

Pretty shocking, neh?  And Gale Anne Hurd was watching the dailies, so it's rather amazing that she didn't notice any of these problems.  She certainly could have done something about it early on, as this is what she has to say about how she perceives her job:

Hurd told THR 2/28/02: "In the old days, producers used to be buffers between the studios, the bankers and these kind of creative (people). Producers brought a real service and value to the studio because they were mediators; they were the reasonable ones in the middle. Now it seems like some of them are enablers to directors."*

Gale Anne seems to have gone to the dark side...the side where supporting your creative people is seen as "enabling" them.  Even so, since there was no interference during filming, presumably GAH was satisfied with what she was seeing.

This quote is especially ironic:

Hurd's movies usually feature strong female characters. ''In a sense, you're the godmother,'' she says. ''You have to be the cheerleader, the den mother, the person the cast and crew come to when they're upset. As women, we are collaborators, problem solvers. We tend to be interested in solutions, not blame. The worst scenario is for a crew to think they have to hide problems because they're afraid of what will happen to them if you find out. I don't have that problem. People come to me early.*

People come to her early?  So we can presume there were no problems requiring Gale Anne's collaborative problem-solving style, or that there were problems she simply solved.  Then how can we explain a film of hers that is suddenly "unwatchable?"

It's Ray Stevenson who is left twisting in the wind, associated with a film the producers won't lift a finger to support, won't say a word to correct a mis-impression intentionally created by someone in their organisation to discredit the director.  

Everyone involved with the production of this film says Ray's performance is amazing.  But if that performance is cut up and left on the cutting room floor and PWZ doesn't do well, who gets the blame?  Most people will never have heard of Gale Anne Hurd or any of the other producers.  The blame will rest on the shoulders of the man whose face is on the screen..Ray Stevenson. 

Actors should look very carefully at the producers of films they are considering.  They may not be a PART of the creative team, but they surely are in a position to sabotage it:

Todd Jones writes on alt.video.dvd: "The perfect example of why the Producer is NOT a creative force: Gale Anne Hurd. She was the Producer of The Terminator, Aliens, and The Abyss. Wow, sounds impressive, right? Wrong, she was JUST the Producer. After she had a falling out with James Cameron, the director of the Terminator, Aliens, and Abyss, Cameron went on to direct T2: Judgment Day, True Lies, and Titanic. Gale Anne Hurd went on to produce such classics of modern cinema as Switchback and The Relic. Watch any making-of documentary or listen to any commentary track with a Producer on it to realize that Producers are just shmoozing phone jockeys who don't have an ounce of talent in them, except maybe for finding money."*

Still, Gale Anne Hurd MAY have a sense of ethics, if this quote is to be believed:

About an effort to give director Eli Kazan an honorary Oscar, Hurd reportedly said: "I don't care about the films he directed. He named names, and we just can't honor someone who did that." (The New Republic, 4/5/99)*

Now all she needs to do is to grow a pair and do the right thing by Ray Stevenson.  If she doesn't, I can't imagine why any actor would want to work with her.

* http://www.lukeford.net/profiles/profiles/gale_anne_hurd.htm

Nomad