Jeffrey Katzenberg
He's one third of Hollywood’s triumphant trinity.
The "k" in DreamWorks SKG is Jeffrey Katzenberg,
the mogul who, along with seven Spielberg and David Geffen,
launched the studio that's repeatedly struck Oscar gold with
movies like "A Beautiful Mind," "Gladiator,"
and "Shrek."
"We all kind of depend on one another
for help and opinions, and support," Katzenberg says of
his partners.
Now worth more than a billion dollars, Katzenberg started out
as an assistant to then-CEO of Paramount, Barry Diller. His
next stop was Disney, where in 1984 he took the reins of the
fading animation division, championing future mega hits like
"Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin," and "The
Lion King."
But a famous feud with Disney chief Michael Eisner led to Katzenberg's
sudden exit from the mouse house. After a lengthy court battle,
Katzenberg walked away with an estimated half a billion dollars
and the cartoon king teamed up with Spielberg, the moviemaker,
and Geffen, the music man.
DreamWorks began to sketch out its future with animated epics
like "Antz" and "The Prince of Egypt," but
the studio hit pay dirt with an ogre named Shrek, which took
home the first Oscar for an animated feature and has grossed
more than 500 million dollars to date. "'Shrek' was sort
of off the charts. It’s the gift that keeps on giving,"
Katzenberg says of his creation.
Although it’s hard to believe, Katzenberg told "Extra"
that Mike Myers wasn't the original ogre. He says, "We
started a really long time ago with Chris Farley. But Chris
tragically passed away."
So Myers lent his voice, but after a screening, the star wasn't
happy with his performance. Katzenberg says, "That's when
he invented that sort of Irish accent. We went back and we threw
out four million dollars worth of animation and started all
over again."
SO what other stars would Jeffrey like to work with? He says,
"Well, Jack Nicholson, I would love to work with him. I
would love to work with Bruce Willis."
While giving us an exclusive look at the storyboards for his
new film, "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron" featuring
the voice of Matt Damon, Katzenberg told me he had Bruce Willis
to thank indirectly. He says the inspiration for the character
came from Bruce Willis’ character in the first "Die Hard"
movie. He explains, "I actually made the animators watch
‘Die Hard’ all the time and I actually called the movie ‘Spirit:
Die Horse.’" |
