Despite its sterling track record, the company, housed in Central London offices near the West End, is an anomaly in today’s movie business. The films that form the spine of its reputation, such as “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Notting Hill” and “Billy Elliot,” are part of a vanishing style of moviemaking. They are human stories that don’t rely on caped heroes or explosions to draw crowds.
Moreover, the cats themselves have changed in appearance. The versions that were shown in the initial trailer were not the finished renditions; they were the result of a mad scramble to get visual effects shots completed in time for the teaser, says Fellner. “You’re seeing subtle changes,” he says. “The characters have progressed and are progressing every day.”
A key ingredient to Working Title’s stature as one of Europe’s preeminent production operations is its long-standing relationships with talent. “He did a huge amount of gentle shepherding,” says Rourke. “He would just tell me: ‘You’ll be fine. It’s just like what you’ve done in theater. You just need to put the right people around you.’”
It also helps that the duo eschews publicity, preferring to focus on the films. Bevan and Fellner approach the photo shoot that accompanies this story with an enthusiasm usually reserved for a tax audit. “The only thing we really hate is having our photo taken,” Fellner mutters at one point. Fellner and Bevan didn’t join forces until 1992, but they share professional trajectories. Both broke into the business making music videos and then leveraged those connections to work with up-and-coming talent behind the camera. Bevan’s big break came with 1985’s “My Beautiful Laundrette.” Director Stephen Frears was introduced to the aspiring producer through a mutual friend, the filmmaker Nicolas Roeg, and decided to give Bevan his first feature gig. “He took to it effortlessly,” says Frears.
“You were risking everything, and then you were betting the bank on the next film,” says Bevan. “The world we live in now is so risk-averse that you can talk yourself out of doing anything. We learned that if you want to be a film producer, you’ve got to produce films. There’s no point in talking about it. Nothing’s ever going to be perfect.”
Unlike other U.K. execs, Fellner and Bevan never decamped for Hollywood. Working Title maintains an office in Los Angeles, and the two often make the trip west, but London remains home. Edgar Wright, who worked with them on “Baby Driver,” “Shaun of the Dead” and several other films, believes that’s critical to the company’s continued success.Polygram/Working Title/Kobal/Shutterstock
hey this is stupid
6YearsOfSelfTitled
attn EmilyGould
lmao y'all really writing about a play that had an 18 year Broadway run like it's some niche British thing?
...you...you know that two people just got murdered by a terrorist on London Bridge right?
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