PART DEUX OF MY INTERVIEW WITH
HOLLYWOOD EXEC JEFF TAPLIN FROM INFINITUM NIHIL
If you missed Part One click here
ACT TWO
SHEQUETA
What kind of projects are you interested in doing?
JEFF
I guess just good projects (laughter), you know. I mean if I had my sort of wherewithal, there’s only a few things that I would really like to do. I would like to do something based on a Philip K. Dick novel cause I love Philip K. Dick. He’s a Sci-Fi writer. He wrote the source material for movies like Blade Runner and Minority Report and Paycheck. So the ideals are very out there and far reaching which I really like. It would be that and I think there’s some great August Wilson plays that could maybe be adapted into film that would be great. Like “Two Trains Running” is a great piece and I would like to see that done as movie. Toni Morrison, I could maybe see some more of her kind of stuff out there. I mean I liked “Beloved” on one level but I think on another level I don’t think it quite went to that ideal of generation memory which is a very fascinating concept. I could see where that’s a hard thing to wrestle with and deal with.
SHEQUETA
In two hours.
JEFF
Yeah in two hours. So I don’t really fault the film for not hitting all those keys. But those are the kind of things I would like to do. Just things that are not done or out there right now, but it’s a tough marketplace.
SHEQUETA
Is Sci-Fi your favorite genre?
JEFF
No, not really. There are a lot of different genres I like.
SHEQUETA
What upcoming projects do you guys have coming up?
JEFF
Upcoming projects, let’s see… we’re working on a book by Nick Hornby called “A Long Way Down."
SHEQUETA
Isn’t he a sports writer?
JEFF
No, he wrote the book the movies based on: "High Fidelity" and "About a Boy." And this one (A Long Way Down), is about four people who meet on a on a rooftop in London on New Years Eve with the intent of killing themselves. They talk each other out of killing themselves. They spend like the next year trying to fix their lives. You know, become mentally better. So we’re working on that. We have this book called Shantaram, this big epic journey through India. This guy is on the lam and ends up in India.
SHEQUETA
Who is it by?
JEFF
Gregory Roberts. Let’s see what else. Rex Mundi, which is a comic book property. And it’s basically like an alternate future where the Spanish Inquisition was able to take hold and essentially control the development of the industry and technology. So essentially the Catholic Church owned all this hi-tech stuff and the rest of the people live in this almost like eighteen century- nineteen century kind of world but it’s two thousand eight. And it’s like an alternate parallel universe essentially. So the civil war had a different outcome and so the US is split between North and South and there’s still problems like literally where the US is split apart and fractioned but the story takes place like in Europe.
SHEQUETA
Is Johnny starring in all of those?
JEFF
I think probably just in Rex Mundi. What else do we have…we have “Dark Shadows” based on the TV (show)…the vampire soap opera from the seventies. (It) was actually like a TV soap that was about a family where there was a vampire in the family. It was sort of a weird concept yeah. But it’s a cult classic in a sense because the production values were very laughable. So you would see the boom mics and the set would kind of wobble a bit but people loved it. So, we’re working on that. We have a story called “Bomb in my Garden” which is about Saddam‘s top nuclear scientist--nuclear enrichment scientist (and) everything he knew and did for Saddam. So we have a lotta projects coming up.
SHEQUETA
If you could go back in time and tell yourself something about the business what would that be?
JEFF
I don’t know if I would tell myself anything. Just because it’s just unpredictable, you know. You have to kind of go with the flow, roll with the punches. I remember I thought about this a little when I first got this job and I thought to myself you know if I could go back to…like if I was in college and someone said oh you’re gonna go and work for Johnny Depp someday I’d be like hey get outta here that’s not gonna happen. I mean it may happen but you know I don’t see it happening, I don’t know where that path is. So, I don’t think I would really tell myself anything but just to stay on the path (and) be willing to change directions. I mean I knew this anyway, I knew that there’s no one sort of quick and easy way. Everyone finds their own way in this business. Everyone has a different story about how they got to where they got. No two stories are the same. So there’s really nothing I would tell myself because there’s really nothing to be told. (laughs)
SHEQUETA
So just keep going blindly?
JEFF
Kind of yeah, I mean not blindly…I guess I’m getting at the fact that there just is no one way. And again I knew that ten years ago and I know it today and I’ll know it ten years from now when maybe I’m doing something else.
SHEQUETA
Who’s the most powerful person in Hollywood?
JEFF
I guess I would say just like a collective group, they would be the heads of the media companies. Whether it’s Sumner Redstone, who has Viacom, whether it’s Ron Myer, I think he’s head of Universal I believe. Whether it’s Bob Iger, who’s head of Disney/ABC, Rupert Murdoch (Fox). Those guys, they’re really the most powerful people because what they do, their decisions, effect so many people. We see like these various labor contract dispute negotiations and the fact is you know they could end these. They could’ve ended the writer’s strike in a heartbeat by just saying oh we’re not gonna be greedy sob’s and we have enough money and we can give you writers--the people who create things for us—a little bit more money. Same thing with the actors, they could do the same thing. They could go yeah you guys do deserve to be more sort of equity partners and all but no. So in a way they are the most powerful people (in Hollywood) as a group collectively.
SHEQUETA
What about in Black Hollywood, who’s the most powerful?
JEFF
Well I guess it would be Will Smith. Because he’s a multi-hyphenate he’s an actor, he’s a producer, he’s able to move projects. His name on something gets it green lit. His attachment to something gets interest in something.
SHEQUETA
Do you think that with all the new movies coming out starring fortysomething actors like Will Ferrell and Steve Carrell, we'll ever have a new young Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, etc?
JEFF
Oh yeah. They’re coming out. You know you got guys like…James McAvoy who was in “Wanted” who was in “Atonement.” You got guys like Channing…he was in that movie recently “Stop-Loss”…Channing Tatum I think is his name. We got the Sturgis kid who was in “21.” Jim Sturgis is his name. You got guys like Emile Hirsch who was in “Into the Wild” and “Speed Racer.”
SHEQUETA
Are they like early twenties like Tom Cruise when he started?
JEFF
Yeah. You got all these guys with that kinda look. So you have a new generation coming up. Cause again, those guys are getting into their forties and fifties and they’re gonna start taking on older roles and it’s tough. I mean having acted I know it’s tough on an actor to, psychologically speaking, be told you’re a little too old for this. You know, I’m sorry Sly Stone (Sylvester Stallone) but you’re not 25-30 anymore.
SHEQUETA
Although he did another one.
JEFF
Yeah he did Rambo. It’s smart actors…they’re able to transition and they know when the time is right. They know when to transition into those other kind of parts and roles. More father parts, more sort of the wise mentor parts.
SHEQUETA
Like Morgan Freeman?
JEFF
Yeah. But some actors, they find success later in life too like Morgan Freeman, like Sam Jackson, like Anthony Hopkins, Brian Cox…they were like in their 40’s and 50’s when people started saying oh wow you’re a great actor. As opposed to the Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt’s, (and) even the Johnny Depp’s who when they were in their twenties people were like oh wow this guy is amazing, wow.
END OF ACT TWO
ACT TWO
SHEQUETA
What kind of projects are you interested in doing?
JEFF
I guess just good projects (laughter), you know. I mean if I had my sort of wherewithal, there’s only a few things that I would really like to do. I would like to do something based on a Philip K. Dick novel cause I love Philip K. Dick. He’s a Sci-Fi writer. He wrote the source material for movies like Blade Runner and Minority Report and Paycheck. So the ideals are very out there and far reaching which I really like. It would be that and I think there’s some great August Wilson plays that could maybe be adapted into film that would be great. Like “Two Trains Running” is a great piece and I would like to see that done as movie. Toni Morrison, I could maybe see some more of her kind of stuff out there. I mean I liked “Beloved” on one level but I think on another level I don’t think it quite went to that ideal of generation memory which is a very fascinating concept. I could see where that’s a hard thing to wrestle with and deal with.
SHEQUETA
In two hours.
JEFF
Yeah in two hours. So I don’t really fault the film for not hitting all those keys. But those are the kind of things I would like to do. Just things that are not done or out there right now, but it’s a tough marketplace.
SHEQUETA
Is Sci-Fi your favorite genre?
JEFF
No, not really. There are a lot of different genres I like.
SHEQUETA
What upcoming projects do you guys have coming up?
JEFF
Upcoming projects, let’s see… we’re working on a book by Nick Hornby called “A Long Way Down."
SHEQUETA
Isn’t he a sports writer?
JEFF
No, he wrote the book the movies based on: "High Fidelity" and "About a Boy." And this one (A Long Way Down), is about four people who meet on a on a rooftop in London on New Years Eve with the intent of killing themselves. They talk each other out of killing themselves. They spend like the next year trying to fix their lives. You know, become mentally better. So we’re working on that. We have this book called Shantaram, this big epic journey through India. This guy is on the lam and ends up in India.
SHEQUETA
Who is it by?
JEFF
Gregory Roberts. Let’s see what else. Rex Mundi, which is a comic book property. And it’s basically like an alternate future where the Spanish Inquisition was able to take hold and essentially control the development of the industry and technology. So essentially the Catholic Church owned all this hi-tech stuff and the rest of the people live in this almost like eighteen century- nineteen century kind of world but it’s two thousand eight. And it’s like an alternate parallel universe essentially. So the civil war had a different outcome and so the US is split between North and South and there’s still problems like literally where the US is split apart and fractioned but the story takes place like in Europe.
SHEQUETA
Is Johnny starring in all of those?
JEFF
I think probably just in Rex Mundi. What else do we have…we have “Dark Shadows” based on the TV (show)…the vampire soap opera from the seventies. (It) was actually like a TV soap that was about a family where there was a vampire in the family. It was sort of a weird concept yeah. But it’s a cult classic in a sense because the production values were very laughable. So you would see the boom mics and the set would kind of wobble a bit but people loved it. So, we’re working on that. We have a story called “Bomb in my Garden” which is about Saddam‘s top nuclear scientist--nuclear enrichment scientist (and) everything he knew and did for Saddam. So we have a lotta projects coming up.
SHEQUETA
If you could go back in time and tell yourself something about the business what would that be?
JEFF
I don’t know if I would tell myself anything. Just because it’s just unpredictable, you know. You have to kind of go with the flow, roll with the punches. I remember I thought about this a little when I first got this job and I thought to myself you know if I could go back to…like if I was in college and someone said oh you’re gonna go and work for Johnny Depp someday I’d be like hey get outta here that’s not gonna happen. I mean it may happen but you know I don’t see it happening, I don’t know where that path is. So, I don’t think I would really tell myself anything but just to stay on the path (and) be willing to change directions. I mean I knew this anyway, I knew that there’s no one sort of quick and easy way. Everyone finds their own way in this business. Everyone has a different story about how they got to where they got. No two stories are the same. So there’s really nothing I would tell myself because there’s really nothing to be told. (laughs)
SHEQUETA
So just keep going blindly?
JEFF
Kind of yeah, I mean not blindly…I guess I’m getting at the fact that there just is no one way. And again I knew that ten years ago and I know it today and I’ll know it ten years from now when maybe I’m doing something else.
SHEQUETA
Who’s the most powerful person in Hollywood?
JEFF
I guess I would say just like a collective group, they would be the heads of the media companies. Whether it’s Sumner Redstone, who has Viacom, whether it’s Ron Myer, I think he’s head of Universal I believe. Whether it’s Bob Iger, who’s head of Disney/ABC, Rupert Murdoch (Fox). Those guys, they’re really the most powerful people because what they do, their decisions, effect so many people. We see like these various labor contract dispute negotiations and the fact is you know they could end these. They could’ve ended the writer’s strike in a heartbeat by just saying oh we’re not gonna be greedy sob’s and we have enough money and we can give you writers--the people who create things for us—a little bit more money. Same thing with the actors, they could do the same thing. They could go yeah you guys do deserve to be more sort of equity partners and all but no. So in a way they are the most powerful people (in Hollywood) as a group collectively.
SHEQUETA
What about in Black Hollywood, who’s the most powerful?
JEFF
Well I guess it would be Will Smith. Because he’s a multi-hyphenate he’s an actor, he’s a producer, he’s able to move projects. His name on something gets it green lit. His attachment to something gets interest in something.
SHEQUETA
Do you think that with all the new movies coming out starring fortysomething actors like Will Ferrell and Steve Carrell, we'll ever have a new young Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, etc?
JEFF
Oh yeah. They’re coming out. You know you got guys like…James McAvoy who was in “Wanted” who was in “Atonement.” You got guys like Channing…he was in that movie recently “Stop-Loss”…Channing Tatum I think is his name. We got the Sturgis kid who was in “21.” Jim Sturgis is his name. You got guys like Emile Hirsch who was in “Into the Wild” and “Speed Racer.”
SHEQUETA
Are they like early twenties like Tom Cruise when he started?
JEFF
Yeah. You got all these guys with that kinda look. So you have a new generation coming up. Cause again, those guys are getting into their forties and fifties and they’re gonna start taking on older roles and it’s tough. I mean having acted I know it’s tough on an actor to, psychologically speaking, be told you’re a little too old for this. You know, I’m sorry Sly Stone (Sylvester Stallone) but you’re not 25-30 anymore.
SHEQUETA
Although he did another one.
JEFF
Yeah he did Rambo. It’s smart actors…they’re able to transition and they know when the time is right. They know when to transition into those other kind of parts and roles. More father parts, more sort of the wise mentor parts.
SHEQUETA
Like Morgan Freeman?
JEFF
Yeah. But some actors, they find success later in life too like Morgan Freeman, like Sam Jackson, like Anthony Hopkins, Brian Cox…they were like in their 40’s and 50’s when people started saying oh wow you’re a great actor. As opposed to the Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt’s, (and) even the Johnny Depp’s who when they were in their twenties people were like oh wow this guy is amazing, wow.
END OF ACT TWO
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