“The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” is the sequel to a blockbuster that reportedly cost $180 million and grossed more than $745 million worldwide. It begins shooting on February 12, 2007 in New Zealand and then moves to Prague before ultimately finishing production next August.
Somewhere in the middle of those two films is “Spring Break in Bosnia,” which stars Terrence Howard and Richard Gere and will be released by The Weinstein Company.
Currently, Johnson has a production deal with Walden Media to make G and PG-rated movies (from which has come the “Narnia” franchise and “How to Eat Fried Worms”). He is free to take his other movies anywhere. We reached Johnson in Prague, where he is deep into pre-production on the “Narnia” sequel.
HWT: “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” is the kind of movie that Walt Disney has said it will focus on in its new plan to make 10 or branded films a year. Has this new strategy trimmed your budget or given you more financial freedom?
Mark Johnson: We are having big budget discussions with Disney right now, but I think we would’ve had them two years ago. When you start making a movie on this scale, everything becomes scrutinized and questioned.
HWT: Sequels to successful movies always cost more than the first. Is that the case with the second “Narnia”?
Mark Johnson: I cant comment on that but it’s a good assumption.
HWT:You produce movies at every budget level, mixing it up between intimate dramas and massive event films. What are you looking for in a project?
Mark Johnson: Primarily, it’s characters that interest me, followed by relationships. I’m usually less interested in the big, bombastic stuff than I am in the smaller, more intimate stuff. Look at movies I’ve done like “A Little Princess,” “Donnie Brasco,” “The Rookie” or for that matter “The Notebook.” They are all smaller, more intimate character relationship movies. I would maintain that “Narnia” is that movie. For me, the heart and soul of the movie is the relationships with the kids. If I had an underlying theme of my movies, I would say it’s family. All of those films have to do with families, families you are either born into, like “Avalon”, or families that you create like “A Little Princess.”
HWT: You hear constant complaints from producers that movies are harder and harder to get made. Now that studios have all but abandoned the mid-level dramas, how difficult is it to make these smaller, more intimate films?
Mark Johnson: What happens when you make a movie like “In the Bedroom,” which I’m a big fan of, it’s got to work perfectly. Every element has to work. Otherwise, it becomes one of 30 odd movies that get made that year that are well intentioned but (that have) no compelling reason for an audience to see them. You’ve got to hit them just right, whereas if you go off and do a big action movie, you can have a performance that doesn’t work or an action scene that’s not as good as the others, but the total makes up for it. I call those smaller films “landmine films,” because any false step and the whole movie blows up.
HWT: Are independents more eager to work with established film makers who are willing to work on a smaller scale, or do they want fresh talent?
Mark Johnson: It depends. But there more established directors and actors today have quite frankly priced themselves out of the market. A lot of studios big and small say, “We can’t make those deals any more. We would rather go with somebody and take a chance on them, whether or not he or she is a first or second time director.