Johnson went on to produce a broad range of projects, including the Chronicles of Narnia films, Breaking Bad, Galaxy Quest, and Lance Hammer’s self-distributed drama Ballast. But looking back, he says a studio wouldn’t produce Rain Man today. It wouldn’t play to a broad enough audience, they’d say. The historical data doesn’t support its success.
“I go to pitch movies all the time and they say, ‘We love you, but know we’re not interested in dramas.’ If it won’t travel, if it’s too American, they aren’t interested. You point to a movie — ‘Look at how Argo did!’ — and they’ll [just] say it’s the exception that proves the rule.”
Making Rain Man — through a writer’s strike, and defined by non-commercial subject matter — was not easy. Still, Johnson says it never is.
“A lot of my contemporaries complain that [making movies] is harder than it ever was,” he says. “But I maintain that it’s always been hard. It’s just different.”
via Remembering Rain Man: The $350 Million Movie That Hollywood Wouldn’t Touch Today – Hollywood Prospectus Blog – Grantland.
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