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Annapurna Pictures, Oracle's heiress, is facing financial difficulties, but the producer behind such films as "Vice", "The Master" and "Where's You Go, Bernadette" should to be commended for its increasingly rare commitment to quality.
Let me be honest: Megan Ellison is a pain in the neck. From the point of view of a journalist, she is distant, indifferent to the brand image, as secretive as the Kremlin. It is the worst thing about press relations: someone who has no desire for the press. So why do I admire him so much?
Because there is no longer an executive who is passionate about film – not just support but a particular type of shooting that becomes an endangered species: the specialty release, the thoughtful drama focused on character that the majors once turned back.
Few are those who share his dedication: a few executives in the art world (Michael Barker of Sony Pictures Classics, Fox Searchlight's Nancy Utley) and even the occasional studio costume (Amy Pascal before she's be excluded from Sony and Tom Rothman, the man who replaced him).
At another time, we would not admire Ellison's commitment, we would venerate him. She is not just an investor, she is a protector and if her patronage was lavished in a different art form – for example, subsidizing sculptors or giving gifts to the Metropolitan Opera – she would be screwed up. But because his obsession is cinema, people are skeptical – as if, deep down, we still do not consider the film as equal to all these other art forms, as if we were showing it Business should be the operational term. And so happens the strangest of phenomena: people ask him to fail.
When The Hollywood journalist reported on August 7 that Ellison's company, Annapurna Pictures, had retained the services of a law firm to investigate a possible bankruptcy; some felt a kind of joy rather than sorrow – not on file, of course; but among the 13 pm lunch at Beverly Hills and Burbank, rumors about the possible disappearance of Annapurna are a real thrill.
Granted, part of this comes from resentment at the source of Ellison's funding: it comes from his father, Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle. And skepticism reigns over his good faith, as well as about all other rich and affluent children, from Murdochs to the inferior life – sometimes without foundation, sometimes legitimate. Only it's so much worse for Ellison because she's a woman.
His brother, David, does not receive the same glow. His Skydance has had better financial results with images like True courage, World War z and Mission: Impossible – Fallout, good entertainment but none of them changes lives. Nevertheless, her relative immunity to criticism, unlike her sister, means that sexism must play a role.
It is still unclear to what extent the finances of Ellison are perilous, although the sheer amount of money she has devoted to production, marketing and, since 2017, to the arm of distribution, does not seem to matter. all justified by the box office of his films. If the financial situation of his company made him make fewer films or less ambitious films, it would be a huge loss.
This is the woman who greenlit movies from The master at Dark Zero Thirty, from spring breakers at American Hustle, from If Beale Street could speak to the excellent of this summer Booksmart; which allowed authors like David O. Russell, Barry Jenkins and Kathryn Bigelow to work without constraint; which has funded some of the most interesting and challenging projects of the last decade.
It follows a long tradition of non-conformists who place their money where their mouths were, from Sam Goldwyn to Sam Spiegel. These players were not just players, they were fanatics, no matter the intimidation and the belligerent, whatever their flaws.
Maybe the time of the fanatics has passed. Perhaps we do not trust people who sacrifice their souls for their passion, let alone those who sacrifice their wallets. But that's what Ellison did. In the era of algorithms and anodyne, she recalls how much love of movies is a reality.
This story was published in the August 21 issue of Hollywood Reporter. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
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