National Treasure: Book of Secrets - Jerry Bruckheimer interview
Interview by Rob Carnevale
SUPER-producer Jerry Bruckheimer discusses the National Treasure franchise and how he manages his relationships with his various directors…
Q: Can we deal with the issue of franchise… we seem to have another one here. You’ve left it hanging with the idea that page 47 could provide the inspiration for National Treasure 3…
Jerry Bruckheimer: We kind of think that if we are as successful as the first one, we’ll talk to the panel here about coming back and go back to our writers to see if they can come up with something that’s really interesting to carry on the series. At the moment it’s in the hands of the public. If they embrace it like they did the first one, we like to give them what they like to see. We’re in the entertainment business and we want to entertain people.
Q: The international response to National Treasure was fantastic. Were you surprised since it is a very American story?
Jerry Bruckheimer: The first question that was probably asked in Europe about the first movie is that nobody can see this film outside of America because it was really quite the opposite. But it was quite the opposite; worldwide grosses outside America were much larger than America. The reason for that is that people are always looking for good entertainment, it has nothing to do with what the movie is about. It’s like The Da Vinci Code, it has nothing to do with America and yet it was an enormous success in America. So we’re all looking for ways to lose reality I guess and get into a dark theatre and forget about things for a while. That’s what National Treasure is – and the fact that we’ve opened it up now to make it more international will, I think, again broaden its reach. It has a very broad reach already.
Q. How do you manage your relationship with your directors, such as John Turtletaub?
Jerry Bruckheimer: It’s a balancing act. There’s a collaborative spirit on all my movies. We have boundaries and guidelines and budgets and things that we have to look to. But you try to get someone like John, who’s enormously talented, and make him rise even above the terrific work he’s done in the past by surrounding him with enormously talented people. That’s who we actively seek out – whether it’s photographers, the production designers, the screenwriters or whatever. We try to give them all the tools that will make them succeed beyond their own ability to do it on their own. I think that’s what’s so important.
I think every director looks forward to the fact that we get these wonderful people like Helen Mirren and Ed Harris on board. The standard of all these people is what makes it so good and that’s why our films have been so successful, because of the standard of the talent.