Michael Ovitz

Made films the shows talk about.

Wikidata Q653333: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by the only person who goes by that name on Wikidata.

Counted as other. The films the hosts said they were tied to, which the two lists below run through too: Ghostbusters (1984); The Color of Money (1986); Jurassic Park (1993).

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.

The Hustler (1961): 7 lines

  1. lineage (callback) · through The Color of Money (1986), which they were tied to as agent/CAA co-founder; packaged: The Hustler ⇒ The Color of Money (the host's read). The mentoring conversation Newman has with Vince and Carmen mirrors the one George C. Scott has with Newman in The Hustler; both films also go on the road.
    “that's basically the George C. Scott has the same conversation with Paul Newman and the Hustler.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Color of Money’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:44:53 · Chris Ryan (0.65 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (sequel/continuation) · through The Color of Money (1986), which they were tied to as agent/CAA co-founder; packaged: The Hustler ⇒ The Color of Money (the host's read). Newman's Eddie Felson in 1986 becomes the George C. Scott hustler-mentor character of the original, and the sequel answers rather than remakes it.
    “the Newman character in the color of money becomes the George C. Scott character in the Hustler.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Color of Money’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:45:31 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  3. lineage (lineage) · through The Color of Money (1986), which they were tied to as agent/CAA co-founder; packaged: The Hustler ⇒ The Color of Money (the host's read). The Color of Money revisits Eddie Felson years later, with Paul Newman in his twilight and a new protege.
    “Now we find Paul Newman bringing up like a new protégé.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Gladiator II’ Is Here. Are We Not Entertained? · 1:47:28 · Chris Ryan (0.60 sure it was them)
  4. lineage (callback) · through The Color of Money (1986), which they were tied to as agent/CAA co-founder; packaged: The Hustler ⇒ The Color of Money (the host's read). Newman getting drunk and hustled by Amos is the first time he plays the Jackie Gleason role of the original, drunk and overconfident.
    “it's basically the 1st time he plays Jackie Gleason and the hustler where he's just like wasted and thinks he's going to win and then gets gets hustled.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Color of Money’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:45:56 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  5. lineage (source material) · through The Color of Money (1986), which they were tied to as agent/CAA co-founder; packaged: The Hustler ⇒ The Color of Money (the host's read). The film is theoretically based on Walter Tevis's follow-up novel to The Hustler but has almost nothing to do with it; Minnesota Fats was in the novel.
    “this is theoretically based on Walter Tevis's follow-up novel to the Hustler, but the movie has almost nothing to do with the novel”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Color of Money’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:52:26 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  6. unmapped (continuing tragedy) · through The Color of Money (1986), which they were tied to as agent/CAA co-founder; packaged: The Hustler ⇒ The Color of Money (the host's read). The Color of Money carries the original film's tragedy as backstory without explaining it in a monologue.
    “And that's all the backstory for this movie, which is so interesting that he doesn't give the big monologue explaining what happened in the 1st film.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · The Color of Money with Chris Ryan · 0:12:13 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  7. lineage (sequel) · through The Color of Money (1986), which they were tied to as agent/CAA co-founder; packaged: The Hustler ⇒ The Color of Money (the host's read). The Color of Money is the sequel to The Hustler, but built from a new script that keeps only the title of the Tevis sequel novel.
    “Even when they start developing scripts and go, like, throw all that out, start fresh, they kept writing in parts from Minnesota fats.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · The Color of Money with Chris Ryan · 0:13:06 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Michael Ovitz: 2 lines, within their own work

  1. industry (super-packaging precedent) · through Ghostbusters (1984), which they were tied to as packager: Michael Ovitz ⇒ Ghostbusters (the host's read). Ovitz's famous packaging example: assembling the cast, director and effects on paper and forcing studios to bid, as with Ghostbusters.
    “His famous example of this is that he puts together like Ghostbusters and goes to all of the studios and is like, like, it's on everyone's table, you know, like, start bidding.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · The Color of Money with Chris Ryan · 0:57:34 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. industry (packager) · through The Color of Money (1986), which they were tied to as agent/CAA co-founder; packaged: Michael Ovitz ⇒ The Color of Money (the host's read). Ovitz engineered the Newman-plus-Scorsese pairing, nudging Newman to write a letter and nudging Scorsese toward a commercial project.
    “I know he's an artiste. He's probably not going to want to do like a commercial thing. So I'm going to try and like nudge him towards something commercial.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · The Color of Money with Chris Ryan · 0:55:45 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

After Hours (1985): 1 line

  1. career (career bridge) · through The Color of Money (1986), which they were tied to as agent/CAA co-founder; packaged: After Hours ⇒ The Color of Money (the host's read). The camera moves of After Hours carry into Color of Money's pool table, tied to Ballhaus; both lead to Goodfellas.
    “that same thing, that camera is flying across the pool table.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 0:30:24 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

Alien Resurrection (1997): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Jurassic Park (1993), which they were tied to as agent / talker at the 92nd Street Y: Alien Resurrection ⇒ Jurassic Park (the host's read). Aliens caged and taunted while hunting you feels like the raptors; raptors may be Alien rip-offs.
    “the raptors have a bit of an alien rip off vibe, honestly”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Resurrection · 0:46:01 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)

Michael Crichton: 1 line

  1. unmapped (adapted) · through Jurassic Park (1993), which they were tied to as agent / talker at the 92nd Street Y: Michael Crichton ⇒ Jurassic Park (the host's read). Named among the Crichton adaptations they could do another time.
    “we would not do Jurassic Park”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:18:30 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Paul Newman: 1 line

  1. unmapped (mentorship) · through The Color of Money (1986), which they were tied to as agent/CAA co-founder; packaged: Paul Newman ⇒ The Color of Money (the host's read). Cruise picked up tips on managing movie stardom from Paul Newman on The Color of Money.
    “he picked up from the Paul Newmans of the world when appearing in the color of money.”
    The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:44:17 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)

Raging Bull (1980): 1 line

  1. people (origin of collaboration) · through The Color of Money (1986), which they were tied to as agent/CAA co-founder; packaged: Raging Bull ⇒ The Color of Money (the host's read). Newman watched Raging Bull on Ovitz's recommendation and wanted to work with Scorsese.
    “Paul Newman watches Raging Bull on, I guess Ovid's his recommendation and says, like, that's one of the best things I've ever seen.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · The Color of Money with Chris Ryan · 0:53:44 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981): 1 line

  1. craft (camera-movement coverage) · through The Color of Money (1986), which they were tied to as agent/CAA co-founder; packaged: 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)

Drawn on by

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

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001): 1 line

  1. unmapped (technology showed it was possible) · through Jurassic Park (1993), which they were tied to as agent / talker at the 92nd Street Y: Jurassic Park ⇒ A.I. Artificial Intelligence (the host's read). The speaker says Kubrick, who first asked Spielberg to build a robot, saw Jurassic Park and reconsidered.
    “And then he sees Jurassic Park and he's once again like, well, wait a second.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:31:56 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Anaconda (1997): 1 line

  1. lineage (ripple effect) · through Jurassic Park (1993), which they were tied to as agent / talker at the 92nd Street Y: Jurassic Park ⇒ Anaconda (the host's read). Anaconda is called the final lapping of the Jurassic Park creature-feature wave.
    “that's like the final lapping of the Jurassic Park ripple, sort of washing up on the beach.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · The Lost World: Jurassic Park · 1:37:19 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Doom (2005): 1 line

  1. unmapped (cultural legacy) · through The Color of Money (1986), which they were tied to as agent/CAA co-founder; packaged: The Color of Money ⇒ Doom (the host's read). Cruise saying 'Doom' in the pool hall scene led a software company to name its video game Doom.
    “That leads to the software company coming up with the name for their new revolutionary video game.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘The Color of Money’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey · 0:59:44 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)

Ghostbusters (1984): 1 line, within their own work

  1. industry (super-packaging precedent) · them, directly: Michael Ovitz ⇒ Ghostbusters (the host's read). Ovitz's famous packaging example: assembling the cast, director and effects on paper and forcing studios to bid, as with Ghostbusters.
    “His famous example of this is that he puts together like Ghostbusters and goes to all of the studios and is like, like, it's on everyone's table, you know, like, start bidding.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · The Color of Money with Chris Ryan · 0:57:34 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Ghostbusters (1984), which they were tied to as packager: Ghostbusters ⇒ Ghostbusters: Afterlife (the host's read). Afterlife is a revival of the original series by Ivan Reitman's son, loaded with its mythology.
    “This is Jason Reitman's revivification of his father, Ivan Reitman's famed film series.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:02:45 · Sean Fennessey (0.85 sure it was them)

Jason Reitman: 1 line

  1. people (people) · through Ghostbusters (1984), which they were tied to as packager: Ghostbusters ⇒ Jason Reitman (the host's read). Reitman has said he wants to honor his father's franchise; Jason was on set of some of the originals.
    “Jason Reitman was on the set of some of these movies”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:16:17 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

Jurassic World (2015): 1 line

  1. unmapped (misreading) · through Jurassic Park (1993), which they were tied to as agent / talker at the 92nd Street Y: Jurassic Park ⇒ Jurassic World (the host's read). Spielberg's line that the T-Rex is the hero of Jurassic Park was taken too literally by Trevorrow in Jurassic World.
    “Which Colin Trevor took way too literally in making Jurassic World.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · The Lost World: Jurassic Park · 1:08:10 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Jurassic Park (1993), which they were tied to as agent / talker at the 92nd Street Y: Jurassic Park ⇒ Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (the host's read). The sequels are a spinoff of Spielberg's imagination though he only executive produces them.
    “even though he's just an executive producer on those movies, it is this interesting spinoff of his imagination.”
    The Big Picture · Steven Spielberg's Top 5 Movies With Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan | The Big Picture (Ep. 57) · 0:08:07 · Sean Fennessey (0.85 sure it was them)

Pixels (2015): 1 line

  1. unmapped (tonal model) · through Ghostbusters (1984), which they were tied to as packager: Ghostbusters ⇒ Pixels (the host's read). Pixels is called a Ghostbusters knockoff, with Adam Sandler trying to do Ghostbusters with Chris Columbus.
    “Hixels is Ghostbusters.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 1:48:24 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

The Color of Money (1986): 1 line, within their own work

  1. industry (packager) · them, directly: Michael Ovitz ⇒ The Color of Money (the host's read). Ovitz engineered the Newman-plus-Scorsese pairing, nudging Newman to write a letter and nudging Scorsese toward a commercial project.
    “I know he's an artiste. He's probably not going to want to do like a commercial thing. So I'm going to try and like nudge him towards something commercial.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · The Color of Money with Chris Ryan · 0:55:45 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

The Last Temptation of Christ (1988): 1 line

  1. career (career enabler) · through The Color of Money (1986), which they were tied to as agent/CAA co-founder; packaged: The Color of Money ⇒ The Last Temptation of Christ (the host's read). The paycheck-gig hit stabilizes Scorsese's career and makes Last Temptation and Goodfellas possible.
    “Must admit though, it is the guarantor that allows him to immediately then make. Last temptation of Christ in Goodfellas.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · The Color of Money with Chris Ryan · 0:17:57 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997): 1 line

  1. lineage (sequel-comparison) · through Jurassic Park (1993), which they were tied to as agent / talker at the 92nd Street Y: Jurassic Park ⇒ The Lost World: Jurassic Park (the host's read). The hosts judge the sequel as normalizing the dinosaurs too fast and dropping the wonder-before-terror structure of the original.
    “This movie normalizes the dinosaurs way too much.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · The Lost World: Jurassic Park · 1:03:46 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Top Gun: Maverick (2022): 1 line

  1. lineage (legacy-sequel heirs) · through The Color of Money (1986), which they were tied to as agent/CAA co-founder; packaged: The Color of Money ⇒ Top Gun: Maverick (the host's read). Gap-based legacy sequels like Top Gun Maverick, Tron Legacy and Blade Runner follow the template Color of Money invented, though in 1986 sequels were derided.
    “now we get more and more like your your Tron legacies and your Top Gun Mavericks, where it's just casually... 37, 40 years later”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · The Color of Money with Chris Ryan · 1:07:05 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

Twister (1996): 1 line

  1. industry (industry) · through Jurassic Park (1993), which they were tied to as agent / talker at the 92nd Street Y: Jurassic Park ⇒ Twister (the host's read). Marketing a disaster around unknown leads follows Jurassic Park, where Sam Neill and Laura Dern were known but not famous.
    “coming off of Jurassic Park where it was like Sam Neil and Laura Dern were like well-known, but not famous.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Twister’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 1:53:21 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

Other (3) everyone in other

What was said about them, by kind

industry (2)

  1. industry (packager): Michael Ovitz → The Color of Money. Ovitz engineered the Newman-plus-Scorsese pairing, nudging Newman to write a letter and nudging Scorsese toward a commercial project.
    “I know he's an artiste. He's probably not going to want to do like a commercial thing. So I'm going to try and like nudge him towards something commercial.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · The Color of Money with Chris Ryan · 0:55:45 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  2. industry (super-packaging precedent): Michael Ovitz → Ghostbusters. Ovitz's famous packaging example: assembling the cast, director and effects on paper and forcing studios to bid, as with Ghostbusters.
    “His famous example of this is that he puts together like Ghostbusters and goes to all of the studios and is like, like, it's on everyone's table, you know, like, start bidding.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · The Color of Money with Chris Ryan · 0:57:34 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)

unmapped (1)

  1. unmapped (neighbor / patron): Michael Ovitz → Martin Scorsese. Ovitz lived near or under Scorsese early on, borrowing movies and being shown VHS tapes upstairs.
    “Ovitz was Scorsese's neighbor for a long time. I think he lived underneath him.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · The Color of Money with Chris Ryan · 0:54:17 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

  1. fun, about Michael Ovitz: Ovitz coaxes Newman into writing Scorsese a fan letter; Scorsese lights up despite it being addressed to Michael Scorsett.
    “it is addressed to Michael Scorsett. But he forgives that.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · The Color of Money with Chris Ryan · 0:55:35 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)