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The feature-length presentation explores the thin line between success and failure,
and the elements that can make or break a film. Says George Clooney, "There's so
many ways to screw this up. You start off with a great script, the director screws it up, an
actor gives a bad performance, the editor screws up, the music sucks. The release date
sucks, the ad campaign sucks...So when it works, it's a miracle."
Discussing some of the industry's all-time biggest movie blockbusters, BOFFO!
reveals the inside stories of their development and production, and the often unsuccessful
efforts to emulate their recipes for success. Top stars and filmmakers appear in the
documentary to comment on the cavalcade of hits and wannabe hits, and explain how
these affected their careers. Among those appearing are Peter Bogdanovich, Pierce
Brosnan, David Brown, George Clooney, Danny DeVito, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Evans,
Morgan Freeman, Brian Grazer, Peter Guber, Alan Horn, Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz,
Sherry Lansing, Sydney Pollack, Tom Rothman, John Singleton, Charlize Theron, Nia
Vardalos and Richard Zanuck.
Considering such topics as taking risks, the written script and the renowned "movie
gods," BOFFO! looks at the commercial success and failure of moviemaking when there
is no defined set of rules or guarantees. Comments producer Brian Grazer, "The line
between success and non-success is very, very razor-thin."
Films featured prominently in BOFFO! include "Jaws," the first movie to make more
than $100 million; "The Godfather," the first epic genre built around a best seller; "Indiana
Jones and the Temple of Doom" and "The Silence of the Lambs," and their subsequent
sequel successes; and such timeless hits as "Forrest Gump," "Tootsie," "Titanic" and
"Driving Miss Daisy."
BOFFO! was suggested by the book "Boffo: How I Learned to Love the
Blockbuster and Fear the Bomb," written by Peter Bart, editor-in-chief of Variety, to be
published June 15 by Miramax Books in conjunction with Variety's 100th anniversary.
Observes Bart, "The history of our biggest hits in film, TV and theater is a story of
iconoclasm and defiance. By and large, they were not embraced by the critics or,
immediately, by the audiences. But the perseverance of their creators ultimately
overcame these obstacles and won them great success - a success that was usually
denied their imitators. Variety through the years has chronicled this phenomenon in our
popular culture, and these resources are drawn upon in preparing the documentary."
BOFFO! was produced and directed by Bill Couturié, whose previous HBO credits
include "Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam," which won two Emmys®, a
Peabody and a Special Jury Prize at Sundance; "Common Threads: Stories from the
Quilt," winner of the 1989 Best Documentary Feature Oscar® and a Peabody; "Earth and
the American Dream," winner of a 1993 Emmy®; and "Last Letters Home: Voices of
American Troops from the Battlefields of Iraq," which was nominated for an Emmy®.
Couturié also executive produced "Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks," which won
a Daytime Emmy® and was Oscar®-nominated.
BOFFO! TINSELTOWN'S BOMBS AND BLOCKBUSTERS is an HBO
Documentary Films presentation; directed by Bill Couturié; written by Peter Bart and Bill
Couturié; produced by Anne Sandkuhler, Bill Couturié. For Variety: executive producers,
Peter Bart, editor-in-chief of Variety, and Charlie Koones, president and publisher of
Variety. Co-producer, Timothy M. Gray; associate producer, Alexis Ercoli; editor, Mark H.
Brewer; cinematographer, Stephen Lighthill, ASC; original music by Todd Boekelheide.
For HBO: executive producer, Sheila Nevins; supervising producer, John Hoffman.
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