Frank Marshall

Made films the shows talk about.

Counted as producer, the making department they hold the most credits in. The films the hosts said they produced, which the two lists below run through too: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981); The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008). Count them as director (1 film) instead.

Draws on

What the speakers say they, or a film of theirs, drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

James Bond films (the franchise): 3 lines

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they produced: James Bond films (the franchise) ⇒ Raiders of the Lost Ark (the maker said so: Spielberg's account of the Hawaii conversation with Lucas). Lucas pitched Raiders to Spielberg as a better, American take on the Bond idea Spielberg had been wanting to do.
    “I have the I have the same basic idea, but better, and it's this Raiders of the Lost Ark idea.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:49:39 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. craft (craft) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they produced: James Bond films (the franchise) ⇒ Raiders of the Lost Ark (the host's read). The Cairo plane fight with the burly Nazi is called a straight James Bond henchman scene.
    “that's that's a flat out James Bond jaw scene.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:50:56 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. craft (craft) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they produced: James Bond films (the franchise) ⇒ Raiders of the Lost Ark (the host's read). Raiders borrowed the Bond villain structure: a refined man in a lair with separate gimmicky henchmen to fight.
    “that's a clear thing they lifted from James Bond very wisely, right?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:50:59 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Chuck Jones: 2 lines

  1. craft (craft) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they produced: Chuck Jones ⇒ Raiders of the Lost Ark (the host's read). Spielberg's staging has a Chuck Jones element, going back to Chuck Jones as a cartoon influence.
    “how important Chuck Jones was to Steven Spielberg at the time”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:36:15 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. craft (craft) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they produced: Chuck Jones ⇒ Raiders of the Lost Ark (the host's read). The wordless anticipation and subversion of Wile E. Coyote shows up in Indy's silent action beats.
    “the importance of anticipation, and how to visually, uh, sort of indicate to the audience, what the character thinks is going to happen”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:39:05 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

F. Scott Fitzgerald: 2 lines

  1. lineage (adaptation) · through The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), which they produced: F. Scott Fitzgerald ⇒ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (the host's read). The film is adapted from Fitzgerald's short story, though the speakers say it shares little with it.
    “It's quite, it's, it doesn't have too much in common with the film, right?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:01:30 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (adaptation distance) · through The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), which they produced: F. Scott Fitzgerald ⇒ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (the host's read). By the time Roth finished, the film resembles the story in name only.
    “By the time he's done with it, the movie has no resemblance to Benjamin Button apart from, it's called Benjamin Button.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:42:01 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Forrest Gump (1994): 2 lines

  1. unmapped (anti-Gump answer) · through The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), which they produced: Forrest Gump ⇒ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (the host's read). Griffin reads Benjamin Button as a pointed answer to Gump, showing the death behind the Americana.
    “But I think it's almost like pointedly an anti-gump.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:22:50 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. unmapped (attempt at a Gump) · through The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), which they produced: Forrest Gump ⇒ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (the host's read). The speaker says the cultural narrative is that Benjamin Button is Fincher trying to do Gump.
    “but I do think this is like the cultural narrative of this movie is he's trying to do Gump, right?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:10:05 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

The Fabelmans (2022): 2 lines

  1. theme (theme) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they produced: The Fabelmans ⇒ Raiders of the Lost Ark (the host's read). Marion's monkey scenes mirror Spielberg's mother's relationship with the monkey shown in The Fabelmans.
    “the relationship Marion has with the monkey, in that brief amount of screen time, feels so mirrored to his mother's relationship with the monkey”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:28:09 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. theme (theme) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they produced: The Fabelmans ⇒ Raiders of the Lost Ark (the host's read). Marion is partly Spielberg's mother, which keeps her from being an idealized tough-girl fantasy.
    “it does feel like to some degree she's like his mom.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:28:40 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)

Flash Gordon (Republic serial): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they produced: Flash Gordon (Republic serial) ⇒ Raiders of the Lost Ark (the host's read). Lucas conceived Indiana Jones as a B-picture at A-picture scale, like the old Republic serials.
    “let's make a sort of B picture at an A picture scale, right?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 0:46:47 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Love Is Strong (Rolling Stones video): 1 line

  1. lineage (technique precursor) · through The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), which they produced: Love Is Strong (Rolling Stones video) ⇒ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (the host's read). A host guesses the Stones' giant-scale effects helped Fincher on Benjamin Button.
    “Well, and I bet this helped for Benjamin Button eventually.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · David Fincher Music Videos · 1:59:12 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Orville Redenbacher commercial (Fincher, Digital Domain): 1 line

  1. unmapped (proof of concept) · through The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), which they produced: Orville Redenbacher commercial (Fincher, Digital Domain) ⇒ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (the maker said so). Fincher used a Redenbacher commercial to test whether the film was makeable.
    “I'm basically stealing money from Orvell Redbocker to figure out whether this film is makeable or not.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:52:07 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

What the speakers say drew on them or a film of theirs, marked the same way.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984): 2 lines

  1. contrast (contrast) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they produced: Raiders of the Lost Ark ⇒ Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (the host's read). Willie Scott was built as the anti-Marion, which means doing the opposite of what works.
    “the anti-Marian means you're doing the opposite of what works.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 1:53:35 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. craft (craft) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they produced: Raiders of the Lost Ark ⇒ Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (the host's read). Temple of Doom was a prequel partly to avoid doing the Nazis again.
    “part of the calculation of making a Temple of Doom, a prequel was that he didn't want to just do the Nazis again.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:59:23 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Chris Pratt: 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they produced: Raiders of the Lost Ark ⇒ Chris Pratt (the host's read). The wrong lessons from Indiana Jones were taken by later action heroes like Pratt.
    “the lessons that we took from that character that like Chris Pratt took maybe from that character are not the ones that I think we should have been taking”
    The Big Picture · Steven Spielberg's Top 5 Movies With Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan | The Big Picture (Ep. 57) · 0:09:40 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

Empire of the Sun (1987): 1 line

  1. craft (shot design) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they produced: Raiders of the Lost Ark ⇒ Empire of the Sun (the host's read). Same slow reveal as Indiana Jones in pieces before the hero shot.
    “which similarly has the like Spielberg taking 5 minutes to show you Indiana Jones in pieces before you really get the hero shot”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 1:38:17 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

House of Cards (TV series): 1 line

  1. career (career step) · through The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), which they produced: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ⇒ House of Cards (TV series) (the host's read). Fincher moved Mahershala Ali from Button into House of Cards.
    “But I mean, look, Fincher puts him from this into House of Cards, which is one of the things that definitely levels him up.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:05:36 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Soderbergh's silent Raiders remix: 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they produced: Raiders of the Lost Ark ⇒ Soderbergh's silent Raiders remix (the host's read). Soderbergh re-cut Raiders silent, black and white, over The Social Network score.
    “It's basically his silent film remix of Raiders, black and white film with the social network score playing over it”
    The Big Picture · Steven Spielberg's Top 5 Movies With Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan | The Big Picture (Ep. 57) · 0:10:25 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

The Color of Money (1986): 1 line

  1. craft (camera-movement coverage) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they produced: Raiders of the Lost Ark ⇒ The Color of Money (the host's read). Scorsese covers scenes with morphing moving master shots, like Spielberg's quick efficient coverage, to stay under schedule.
    “But he's doing like all this Spielberg, like coverage with camera movement.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · The Color of Money with Chris Ryan · 1:21:44 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

The Horizon Experiment (comic): 1 line

  1. contrast (contrast) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they produced: Raiders of the Lost Ark ⇒ The Horizon Experiment (comic) (the host's read). A current comic flips Indiana Jones into someone taking things out of museums back to adventure.
    “a comic book out right now called the Horizon experiment by the guys that did the good Asian”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 2:24:12 · Brian Michael Bendis (0.80 sure it was them)

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013): 1 line

  1. unmapped (parody) · through The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), which they produced: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ⇒ The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (the host's read). The speaker says Walter Mitty parodies Benjamin Button, as if to say Button got the Gump wrong.
    “And Walter Mitty parodies Benjamin Button, almost as if to say, they fucked up.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 0:10:46 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024): 1 line

  1. craft (plot structure) · through Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which they produced: Raiders of the Lost Ark ⇒ Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (the host's read). The film fails to tie its Indiana-Jones-style MacGuffin to the Wallace-Gromit relationship.
    “They fail to make the, um, the plot, the sort of like Indiana Jones-S McGuffin of what they're up against directly relate to Wallace and Gromit's relationship.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 2:11:21 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

Producing (3) everyone in producing

Directing (1) everyone in directing

What was said about them, by kind

No claims join them to a film or another person.

Fun items about them

None.