Big fish, some pond

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

In the Hollywood pond, Jeffrey Katzenberg is a very big fish. He's the K in DreamWorks SKG. According to Forbes he's got a net worth of US$800 million ($1200 million and change). He's also a moviebiz legend: the guy who, having rescued Disney after taking over as head of production in 1984, was fired 10 years later by boss Michael Eisner after he complained about not being promoted. He sued and won an estimated US$250 million ($376.5 million) settlement. Meanwhile, he set up DreamWorks in 1994 with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen. As the head of its animation arm he's had some big hits and some misses (see Lowdown). Along with the films by Pixar (Katzenberg brokered their marriage with Disney; Pixar is now DreamWorks' biggest rival), Katzenberg has helped bring down the curtain on the 2D hand-drawn cartoon at the movie and ushered in the age of computer-animated features.

He was the guy behind New Zealander Andrew Adamson - "Truly a brilliant man and one of the most gifted storytellers of our time" - on Shrek and Shrek 2 and its planned third instalment.

But right now Katzenberg is wondering if his latest Shark Tale will bite at the international box office. It opened in New Zealand this week before the rest of the world, says Katzenberg on the phone from his office, because so many of us lapped up the Shrek flicks.

How do you deal with the long gestation of animated movies?

It's interesting because if you ask all the people who know me, "Pick a characteristic you would say Jeffrey has the least of," they would all come up with the same thing - patience. It's somewhat ironic I find myself in love with a job that requires unlimited amounts of animation and unlimited amounts of patience.

Hasn't the computer age sped things up?

Not much - by about half a year. A traditional animated movie takes about four years and these are about three and a half. So they don't go a whole lot faster.

How do you think Shark Tale will go?

We're excited about it. We're very proud of it. I don't think it's the phenomenon of Shrek 2 but I didn't think Shrek 2 was going to be Shrek 2. But I think this is a worthy successor. It certainly embraces the same sensibility. I think it's got the same comedy and satire and parody and it's got a lot of very cool things in it that look pretty cool and the music is very contemporary. It's a brilliant cast - the [voice] cast of the movie is unmatched by any movie. Marty Scorsese is awfully unique ...

How did you convince him?

I just went and pitched the story to him and we drew his character with the big eyebrows on it and he just laughed and laughed and laughed and said, "I'm in".

So right now you're the expectant father.

This is the moment that all your insecurities and all your anxieties kick into high gear. That is what is so amazing about movies. You can pour your heart and soul into it and then the movie opens and you're in the hands of the movie gods. Sometimes they smile on ya and sometimes they pour rain on ya.

Do you think Nemo will affect movie goer's preceptions of Shark Tale?

A little bit but not once they see the advertising for the movie and certainly not once they've seen the film itself. It's like comparing Collateral and Terminal - they both take place in the air, they both take place in time and they are both one-word titles and they both have star actors called Tom but after that they have nothing in common. They are made by the same company. But actually they couldn't be more different from each other. As soon as you see the city - an anthropomorphised world which is New York City filled up with water and fish - you get the joke.

Do you rue your box-office failures as much as you celebrate the successes?

They are all your children - you love them all but every now and then your children do something slightly embarrassing. My 21-year-old son was walking around with a mohawk haircut for a couple of weeks. Fortunately he got over it and fortunately the dogs I make go away. They're there, they just don't haunt you every day.

Do you like cartoons? Or do you sit there and think, "I don't know if this will play in Des Moines?"

No, I love them. I get up every day and I breathe this. It's all I do and I'm happy for it.

What would someone have to convince you with if they came to you saying, "I've got an idea for an animated feature ... "

Just tell a good story. Just tell an interesting story that sounds unique and original.

Does it have to have talking animals?

No, there are no rules. The limitation is just your imagination. There is no other.

What advice would you give folks still in the business of drawing cartoons?

I guess I would say this is a time of unprecedented opportunity and that the craft of animation has never been more popular, so go for it.

And buy a very powerful computer?

You bet.

Given your success, why do you need to work any more?

Because I love it, it's not work. The day I use the word work to describe what I do is probably the day it stops being worth doing. This is love, this ain't work.

Are you a hard boss?

Ah, I have a lot of ambition for people and I want a lot of people to do their best so I would say I push people to do their best work. Sometimes it's with a stick, sometimes it's with a carrot. Just ask Andrew [Adamson].

You seem to have cornered another market; the likes of Shrek and Shark Tale is the only satire at the cinema.

It's a sensibility we have fun with at DreamWorks. There is satire and parody and social commentary in all the movies we're making right now and that is what makes them interesting for adults.

But in this age, if the best examples of movie satire are cartoons, what does that say about the age?

Ah, I don't know - I mean ... I don't know.

LOWDOWN

WHO: Jeffrey Katzenberg, producer, movie mogul, cartoon czar

BORN: New York, 1950

NOTABLE HITS: Shrek, Shrek 2, Prince of Egypt, Chicken Run

NOTABLE MISSES: The Road to El Dorado (which he directed himself), Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas

NOW SHOWING: Shark Tale