…You Make It Happen.
This excellent Vanity Fair article describes in detail the making of RAGING BULL. At the center of it is Robert DeNiro’s desire, make that obsession, to bring Jake LaMotta’s life story to the big screen. It’s a miracle the film was made as Scorsese’s originally wasn’t interested. It was only DeNiro’s repeated requests, his refusal to take no for an answer, that we have this cinematic masterpiece, and one of the greatest performances ever captured on film.
When you find your passion project, when you’re so lit up by something that you just have to do it–and if it’s in a collaborative medium like film or theatre–be prepared to convince many others to come along with you. To enlist them on your journey. Because you need and want their talents.
And it’s your job as a producer to understand their initial reluctance. They might not see what you see. They may turn you down repeatedly. Just like Scorcese did with DeNiro (and they were great friends who’d previously collaborated on several incredible films). But if you want it bad enough, if you can communicate your passion, communicate why you need and must have them and only them as collaborators, communicate that they will have an incredible experience, communicate you’ll make a great piece of art together, etc…I believe you’ll eventually break through You’ll turn the No’s into Yes’s. As DeNiro says in the article re: Scorcese’s repeated objections, “I’d have found some other way to get him to do it.”
It’s so rare to connect with a piece of material on such a deep and guttural level. When you’re called by something in that way, when you find your own personal RAGING BULL, answer the bell. Do it. Realize that you and only you, will make it happen.
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