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Peter Jackson and Robert Shaye

NEW LINE FOUNDER, ROBERT SHAYE, IS BACK TO ACTION AFTER INDUCED COMA AND THE SUCCESS OF THE RING TRILOGY

Robert Shaye, founder and co-president of the independent producing company New Line Cinema, is going through a decisive moment in his life. In an interview to Sharon Waxman, Economy reporter for the Herald Tribune international edition, he talked about his six-week coma in 2005, which most people didn’t know about until last February, and the profile change New Line is experiencing after the great success of “Lord of the Rings” and a terrible year in 2006.

Shaye, 67 years old, has been behind New Line for forty (!) years, always with his partner Michael Lynne. Presently a company in the Time-Warner group, New Line was able to stand out commercially and has gained strategic respectability among the “second team” studios. With Peter Jackson’s trilogy, the company’s status raised and the studio conquered its first main Oscar, for “The Return of the King”, the conclusion.

Since this gain of reputation, though, tides have been troubled. In 2005, Shaye was struck by a lethal and rare form of pneumonia, similar to the one that suddenly killed Jim Henson, the Muppets’ father, in 1990. He was induced to a coma for six weeks for treatment, was in hospital for other two months and for weeks was only able to walk a few minutes a day. But he is back to his rhythm. “I started this company in 1967, and still come to work everyday, with the same passion ", he declared to Waxman.

During his absence, New Line clearly lost track. It hasn’t made any hits since Jackson’s trilogy. In 2005, the studio had a solid (and unexpected) success with the comedy “The Wedding Crashers” and a satisfactory result with another comedy “Monster-in-Law”, which brought Jane Fonda back to activity. In 2006, on the other hand, the only satisfactory result was the teenage terror “Final Destination 3”, with an extra deception for “Snakes on a Plane”, which had an impressive campaign on the internet, but, when playing, earned in the American market just what it had cost (US$ 34 million).

For 2007, year in which New Line intends to go back into competition, Shaye highlights three bets. The first one has already proved to have little energy: “The Last Mimsy”, a family science-fiction fantasy, made only US$ 10 million on the opening weekend (March 23 to 25), much below expectations. It is Shaye’s personal project, who directed the movie (co-written by Toby Emmerich, production president at New Line) and named one of the characters dr. Sherman, after one of the doctors who treated him. The idea involves a message from the future about something we are doing wrong today.

Another bet is on an established franchise, but rather “old”, for Hollywood standards: “Rush Hour 3”, with Jackie Chan and Chris Rock, which had its second part in 2001 – American release is scheduled for August 10, and now the action takes place in Paris. And there is still "The Golden Compass", a fantasy/adventure costing US$ 150 million, which will have its world release in December and is starred by Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig and Eva Green. It is hope for a new franchise, and Craig will act with Green again, after "007 Cassino Royale".

Among these expectations for the future, Shaye still has another concern ahead: Peter Jackson himself. The trilogy brought US$ 1 billion to New Line, and Jackson alone got, according to his ex-friend Shaye, over a quarter of that amount. But the filmmaker believes he has been harmed and is suing the studio for compensation. Shaye called him “arrogant and short-sighted”, and said he doesn’t care if Jackson is asking for other US$ 50 or 100 million. "He wants to sue us, not sit and talk", he completed. And says he is sorry to lose a friend. But they are still commercial partners: New Line and Peter Jackson share until 2009 the adaptation rights of another classic by J.R.R. Tolkien: "The Hobbit". Shaye wants the film to come into life. It could be with an easier director, he wonders.

On the other hand, Jackson, in a text with cover headlines by colunist Tom Roston ("Notes from the Dream Factory") published in the American magazine Premiere in march this year, declared that the judicial process started because New Line didn’t want to review the amounts referring to the first part of the trilogy, "The Fellowship of the Ring". And sets fire on the discussion by declaring his independence and affirming that he will not shoot "The Hobbit" the way New Line wants to impose, a decision hysterically supported by his thousands of online fans. This quarrel is just beginning. And may Shaye be healthy!