Perhaps out of ignorance or general befuddlement, the director-centric film freaks among us may still have trouble comprehending the producer’s role in cinema. Are they liaisons to the studios, for gain or loss? Are they visionaries by proxy, money changers, creative enablers and sounding boards — or all of the above? And why do they get to grab the Best Film Oscar?
Jeremy Thomas, the veteran art film producer and subject of the intriguing documentary The Storms of Jeremy Thomas puts his finger on one pithy description of his day job, deep into the film: “putting together people, ideas and money.”
Setting aside the money equation, Thomas’ life in cinema has found him manifesting important, often left-of-center and highly creative “people and ideas.” His filmography includes Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (for which Thomas got a grab and gab moment a Best Film Oscar), and the Italian director’s The Sheltering Sky and the spicy The Dreamers; such David Cronenberg classics as Naked Lunch and the controversial Crash; British iconoclast Nicholas Roeg’s films, including Bad Timing and Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence; and Richard Linklater’s Fast Food Nation, on a list of dozens of Thomas-produced projects.