Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 22, 1993 TAG: 9310220058
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAL VINCENT LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Unsheathing his sword, he runs directly into Union cannon fire.
It's typecasting.
This is the man who built a global communications empire by taking risks - flouting the odds and refuting the naysayers.
Obviously, he likes the terrain uphill. With today's release of "Gettysburg," he's climbing a new hilltop; the movie industry.
"All my life, I've been getting ready to do this," Turner said as he bounded into the room at Manhattan's Regency Hotel.
"I love movies. I like all kinds of movies. I like Westerns. I like romances. I just lived and died watching `Wuthering Heights.'
"I like musicals. I like them all. And now I own `Casablanca.' I own `Gone With the Wind,' `Ben Hur,' `Dr. Zhivago' and `Citizen Kane.' But it's not enough. I want to be a part of new films. I need new films to feed the TV networks, and I want to make them myself."
Turner Pictures' bold debut is "Gettysburg," a restaging of the tragic and heroic Civil War battle in which about 5,700 soldiers died in the Battle of Gettysburg during the first three days of July 1863. It changed the face of American history and, effectively, lost the war for the South.
If Turner has his say, "Gettysburg" will have as big an impact on the industry.
It was early on a Saturday, but he had already read The New York Times, which had a story about his making a bid for Paramount Studios. "It's true. We have a bid in mind. I can't tell you any more. I tried to reach my lawyers this morning to find out how much I could tell, but they weren't available. Lawyers are like that."
The cheeky boast comes just a month after he scored a coup by acquiring both Castle Rock Pictures and New Line Cinema, two of the leading independents.
"Those companies are fine, but Paramount is a major studio," he said. "That's a different thing." nn
\ "Up until now, my favorite action scene in movies was the chariot race in `Ben Hur.' Now, it's Pickett's Charge. This scene is just unbelievable. I never get tired of seeing it. Jane and I are seeing it again tonight."
Jane, of course, is his wife, actress Jane Fonda. She was flying into New York to sit with Turner, much as she does in the owner's box at Atlanta Braves games. Actually, the film takes a good deal of sitting. It runs four hours and eight minutes.
"The director's cut was something like 5 1/2 hours long," Turner said. "We cut that, but where is it written that a movie has to be two hours? I had my researchers take a look at the length of `Cleopatra,' and I said `Gettysburg' could be a few minutes longer. I wanted this to be the longest movie ever made."
"Gettysburg," based on Michael Shaara's Pulitzer-winning novel, is a three-year odyssey for Turner. At one time, ABC planned to turn it into a miniseries but got cold feet when a similar project on George Custer, "Son of the Morning Star," failed in the ratings.
The particular problem with "Gettysburg" was that it had to have Pickett's Charge and a cast of thousands - with a checkbook to match.
"Jane read the script, and I read the book, and then we compared notes," Turner said. "She thought the script was great. I thought the book was great. And then Ron [director-writer Ronald F. Maxwell] came up with a budget around $20 million - a feat possible only because we'd use Civil War re-enactors.
"We did it on the original site. It's the biggest battle scene filmed in North America since D.W. Griffith did `Birth of a Nation.' Without the re-enactors, it would have cost at least $60 million. It's too good to premiere on television."
He lowered his voice. "My board met yesterday and told me we'd lose $13 million on it, but that's just because we're opening in only 80 theaters. We don't expect to do what `Jurassic Park' did, but I think the movie might surprise them."
For Maxwell, the investment has been more substantial: He spent 15 years getting the movie made, at one time mortgaging his home.
"People kept telling me, `Ron, if everyone tells you you're dead, why don't you lie down?' " the director said. "The tide turned when 37 million people stayed home to watch Ken Burns' Civil War documentary on PBS.
"I cannot imagine getting this movie made with any organization other than Ted Turner. I never felt controlled."
As for Turner's "acting" debut, it's brief - and even his investment couldn't keep a cannon from drowning out his single line. Still, he's gung-ho about the experience.
"I loved being an actor," he said, laughing. "Since I was a little kid, I wanted to be in Pickett's Charge. I was sent to military preparatory school when I was 9 years old, and part of the required reading is the Gettysburg battle. I wanted to die leading Pickett's Charge. I thought that was the only way to go."
by CNB