SHAKESPEARE'S GLOBE FILM SPOTLIGHT: Fathom VP Dan Diamond Talks Shakespeare, COMPANY, MEMPHIS, LES MIZ, PHANTOM & More

By: Aug. 18, 2011
Enter Your Email to Unlock This Article

Plus, get the best of BroadwayWorld delivered to your inbox, and unlimited access to our editorial content across the globe.




Existing user? Just click login.

Just in time for this week's international movie theater broadcast of the simply must-see Shakespeare's Globe Film Series production of HENRY IV: Part 2 on August 18, Vice President of NCM Fathom, Dan Diamond, was kind enough discuss with me the role his company plays in bringing major entertainment events to movie screens around the world - such as Shakespeare‘s Globe Film Series, Stephen Sondheim's COMPANY: IN CONCERT, the Tony-winning Best Musical MEMPHIS, the 25th Anniversary concert presentation of LES MISEABLES, Metropolitan Opera broadcasts, ballet, sports events like last year's WIMBELDON in 3D, as well as the August 31 re-release of the new HD print of Brian DePalma's SCARFACE - plus, most importantly, what the eminently exciting future holds for Fathom. Additionally, we touch on upcoming innovations coming to a movie theater near you courtesy of Fathom, such as 4D and lensless 3D technologies and the possibility they hold for capturing live theatre on film, as well as the ever-expanding company's goals for improving the local arts scene in communities large and small, world-wide. In the age of GLEE bringing theatre to a larger audience than ever before, the time is surely right for feature film presentations in the cinema of the best of Broadway and live performance - as well the plans to present all 37 of Shakespeare's plays - and Diamond's commitment and passion for his work comes through in this expansive conversation touching on virtually every aspect of what makes Fathom so fascinating and a formative, necessary element in the foundering and sustaining of a local and national arts scene connected by a network of movie theaters. If all that were not enough, Diamond also clues us in on some future showings such as the new Ozzy Osbourne documentary by his son, Jack, the upcoming Floyd Mayweather boxing match and, just maybe, the upcoming 25th Anniversary production of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA slated for October.

For more information about Fathom's presentation of Shakespeare's Globe production of HENRY IV: Part 2 on August 18, go here. For BroadwayWorld's SOUND OFF review of both nights of the two-part presentation, go here. Also, here is our extensive InDepth InterView from earlier this week with Shakespeare's Globe Artistic Director Dominic Dromgoole.

Shakespeare, Sondheim, SCARFACE & Success

PC: It's so astounding to me that you have managed to bring such diverse projects to local movie theaters - Sondheim, Shakespeare, the Met and beyond. How did Fathom first begin?

DD: Thank you so much, Pat. Actually, we began back in 2002 as a wholly owned division of the Regal Entertainment Group. What we wanted to do was to create the first digitally interconnected chain in the world, for three main purposes: Number one, to improve the pre-movie entertainment by creating a pre-movie program called First Look that comes before the start of each movie that is part of our network. It takes you behind the scenes.

PC: The documentaries created for the Shakespeare's Globe series, especially, have been sensational and really give you a sense of the backstage goings-on at the Globe and the rehearsal process, as well as what goes on off-stage during the performance.

DD: Yes, our First Look programs are designed to do that. The initial idea was that we would create this digital network that would also be able to deliver the use of the theater on a private basis or a business basis, as well. We've got 760+ churches that utilize our theaters for services every weekend, all the way up to Microsoft and Wells Fargo and Mary Kay and Intel who utilize our theaters for corporate training and major CEO announcements and things of that nature. So, we began with that premise.

PC: Wow! Big beginning - but you've still come so far in less than ten years.

DD: Over that course of time, we have gone from a wholly owned subsidiary of the Regal Entertainment Group to a public company that the majority of which is jointly owned by the Regal Theater Group, the AMC Theater Group and Cinemark Theaters - the number one, two and three chains in the US. We now reach 17,000 screens with our advertising program and nearly 1000 screens for our digital broadcast network, which is called NCM/Fathom.

PC: So, how is the company broken up?

DD: It is broken into two distinct areas - business events and entertainment. Fathom Entertainment is everything from the Metropolitan Opera to Shakespeare's Globe Film Series...

PC: MEMPHIS, COMPANY...

DD: Yeah. Yeah. You go from that to Broadway shows.... And, we just did Renee Fleming from the Wall Of Jerusalem. We have done boxing - and we are going to be doing the Floyd Mayweahter fight again.

PC: WIMBELDON.

DD: Yes, WIMBELDON in 3D. Also, GISELLE IN 3D.

PC: How did the first live 3D ballet film come about?

DD: Our content partners in the UK felt very strongly about carrying GISELLE, in 3D, and asked if we would be interested in carrying it here in the United States. We said, "Absolutely!" We wanted to open up another opportunity for families and fans of the arts to experience a very unique entertainment opportunity in their local movie theater that is also very affordable. GISELLE IN 3D did very well.

PC: That's so great to hear it was successful - especially since you now know there is an audience for ballet.

DD: We are clearly providing all types of one of kind entertainment experiences - whether it's the Met or ballet or Broadway or Bon Jovi! We've done some 250+ events in just the last three years.

PC: Shakespeare's Globe series is so exciting in its scope and mastery and the COMPANY: IN CONCERT film is truly one of the biggest and most important Broadway-related events of the century in my estimation.

DD: The interesting part of that was that we've had a long-standing relationship with Screen Vision. Screen Vision worked very closely with the owners of the intellectual property rights of COMPANY and we worked together to bring that event to movie theaters - both across their network and across ours.

PC: What about the rousing LES MISERABLES: 25th ANNIVERSARY?

DD: Yes, we worked with Cameron Mackintosh and our partners in the UK on bringing LES MIZ back for the 25th last year.

PC: I'm so glad that that was so successful. I know COMPANY: IN CONCERT was a big hit, as well, correct?

DD: Yes. COMPANY was fabulous. Actually, MEMPHIS was terrific as well. It did very, very well.

PC: And MEMPHIS is currently available on Netflix, as well. Is that what we can expect for COMPANY eventually down the line?

DD: I think that, in many ways, yes. I think it depends on when it gets released to Netflix - you have to remember, with MEMPHIS it was the first time a currently running Tony-winner was playing in movie theaters. The response was just fantastic.

PC: It must be so satisfying to have major commercial risks like COMPANY and MEMPHIS really pay off.

DD: I think that one of the most gratifying things that we've seen is that, even though we create national events, they are all very local by their nature in their local movie theaters. What we get is a very passionate group of fans in each market across the country who want to come and experience this as a community in their theaters. What it does is that it creates an enormous amount of awareness and momentum for the arts - supporting the local arts.

PC: That's the societal goal for you, then, it seems.

DD: Much like you'll see when you go to any of our LA Phil performances, the fact is that we really work with our local content partners to emphasize just how important supporting your local arts and your local communities is to that community. We feel very strongly that there is so much economic challenge on the local non-profit arts organizations and schools and the arts are starting to vanish. We really feel that we can be a part of the fabric of American entertainment.

PC: And, by doing so, bringing Broadway and Shakespeare and more to a significantly larger audience than ever before.

DD: And in an affordable manner! People can get excited again about, you know, things like the symphony and Shakespeare - from Shakespeare's theatrical birthplace, the Globe - to the best of Broadway - in a program like COMPANY: IN CONCERT or MEMPHIS or LES MIZ or whatever it may be. It really generates local awareness and enormous local buzz and creates a great opportunity.

PC: What you and Fathom are doing is so revolutionary - Broadway is six blocks in Manhattan and you are bringing it to the entire country. You've changed how we see theatre.

DD: Absolutely. I think the great thing about Fathom is that we have changed the way that fans can see entertainment - from the best places in the world, literally: live from the Metropolitan Opera; direct from Broadway; from the Wall of Jerusalem; from the UK for rock concerts. Whatever it might be, we've really been able to transform that local movie theater to a local community events center and create the opportunity to gather as like-minded fans and go have a shared experience around something they wouldn't normally get to see.

PC: Without a doubt - and that's the very best part.

DD: What we've seen as a result, for example, is that more people are coming to New York to see the Met - their patron base has gone way up and their ticket sales have gone way up.

PC: And Broadway is bringing in more money than ever - at whatever the artistic cost, but that's another discussion.

DD: I think, for me, having grown up with the arts as so much a part of my life and my family - going through school knowing that whatever I want to play or whatever I wanted to participate in - whether it was drama club or symphony - those things were all available to us. I mean, I think I started playing violin when I was six.

PC: How things have changed in music programs in schools since.

DD: Yeah, I know! I look at kids today and I talk to my son and he's like, "Well, dad, I'm really interested in guitar but the school doesn't have it, so it's an extra $150 a month and we have to go rent one." We didn't have those challenges when I was a young person in school, and, I think, to be able to bring these type of opportunities - and we promote them in all of our First Look programs that run in movie theaters; so, the fact is that suddenly students and families are aware of Shakespeare and can get a glimpse of it in the theater, and then if they are interested they can come back to see a Shakespeare play.

PC: And, really, seeing Shakespeare is the only way to truly understand it or enjoy it - especially for first-timers.

DD: Definitely. I'll give you another example: we are going into our sixth season with the Met. Six years ago, the Metropolitan Opera was not a part of the vernacular of most young people in the United States, but if you have gone to a movie theater in the last six years you cannot get away from the fact that, not only you know what the Met is, but that these are the finest opera performers in the world that are appearing from Lincoln Center in your local movie theater. So, there is an opportunity to build and cement the arts well into the future with what we are doing - and we feel very passionately about that.

PC: So that's the overall goal of Fathom Entertainment's many programs?

DD: We feel that bringing the arts to local communities and building fans for the future is every bit as important as serving the fans that are there today - because, really, these are our cultural treasures. It's something we are very passionate about at Fathom.

PC: No complete HENRY IV such as this existed on film prior to the truly flawless two-night presentation you are doing. Dominic Droomgoole from the Globe and I were discussing how your ultimate plan is to present all 37 Shakespeare plays - the cultural legacy you will leave with that is immeasurable.

DD: Thank you, Pat. I appreciate that. I think that's really at the heart of why we do what we do. You know, we are clearly a business that has been successful because the opportunities it has afforded to fans in local communities and it works well for the movie theaters in that they have the option to provide their patrons with other types of entertainment besides the first-run releases that are out.

PC: The ultimate in alternative programming.

DD: Yes. We also have some great partners - like with the Shakespeare's Globe series, we are working very closely with Arts Alliance Media over in the UK. For them to give us their particular content and showcase the Globe in this manner and build awareness for what they are doing - it all fits together very nicely.

PC: It's the ideal recipe for presenting special events like Shakespeare and Broadway shows, for sure.

DD: You know, television is a great medium but it doesn't bring people together in that larger-than-life community sense and it doesn't provide the entertainment opportunity that a movie theater does. I mean, to see Shakespeare presented in this way by some of the finest actors in the world...

PC: Have you actually been to the actual Globe in the UK yet?

DD: No, I've never had the opportunity - but, I've been there at the movie theater!

PC: Touche!

DD: It makes me want to go all the more, though! I think that that is the key: it really ignites that fire within anyone who attends who is a true fan of Shakespeare or symphony or theatre or whatever to want to go and experience it first hand. It really is a one of a kind experience in a theater and we do believe strongly in the legacy that we want to leave with these programs, which is: your local movie theaters are for far more than just movies. I mean, when I was a kid, when you went to the movies it was an event!

PC: It was a big deal - but you did it quite often, no?

DD: Yeah! What we try to do, though, is to create an event. Whatever it is, you will get something special in the pre-show, behind-the-scenes - you'll walk out feeling like, "I know more about Shakespeare. I know something about the Globe I never knew. I got to experience the arts direct from London. I got to do all this - and I got to stay in town and take my kids."

PC: And it was fun!

DD: Right! It was fun, it was different and for those couple of hours of time you felt like you were really seated in the Globe, in the actual theater-in-the-round. If you can do that and take your family in these tough economic times and be able to have this kind of experience? That's huge for us to be able to provide and we are really proud to bring it to fans across the country.

PC: Since we are talking so much about supporting the arts: are you a GLEE fan? I think it is really changing how theatre is perceived and what functions it can serve for a modern society. Do you think that this Fathom series would not have been as successful without the GLEE impact?

DD: I love GLEE, too. I think it works syllogistically - but, GLEE on its own is a phenomenon that is absolutely fabulous. I have a thirty-one-year old son and a twenty-six-year-old daughter and a sixteen-year-old son and just seeing what GLEE has done for Glee club in schools in the last few years...

PC: GLEE has brought the outsiders in and brought theatre to the forefront again in a very visible and exciting way.

DD: And, it's done in a manner that is so incredibly entertaining!

PC: For sure.

DD: I think, clearly, it is changing the opportunities in the landscape of the arts in this country - and worldwide, really.

PC: It's an international hit, after all.

DD: It's created a phenomenon that has synergy with what we have been doing since, literally, 2002, here - on a very organic basis, it's helped ignite that in an even bigger way. It got young people much more engaged with different types of music and art - other than just what they heard on the radio or downloaded on their entertainment device at home. It's something they can relate directly to.

PC: The oh-so-integral relate-ability factor.

DD: Yeah. For us, that's the key as well - we want every fan in every theater to have a direct relationship with the content on that screen and walk out feeling like they got more than they could have imagined out of the experience.

PC: The internet generation wants a comprehensive experience, as well - and these broadcasts provide that. Stephen Sondheim himself spoke so favorably of recent filmings of his work when he did this column last year.

DD: Oh, yeah! It's a terrific thing. I mean, to watch my youngest and my daughter, who lives in the area here - my oldest son is in Phoenix so I don't get a chance to see his TV consumption patterns much anymore - but, when my daughter comes over for dinner and GLEE is on the whole family sitting around the television watching GLEE. That's terrific. It kind of harkens back to what I remember when I was a young person: we sat around as an entire family watching entertainment!

PC: It was real entertainment, too - in the classic sense.

DD: That kind of vanished from television for a while - and it was really vanishing in a lot of places, I think, until programs like GLEE came along.

PC: AMERICAN IDOL and performance-based, stage-bound, live entertainment.

DD: Yeah. I mean, we've even brought boxing back - and the fight fans came out!

PC: Really?

DD: We brought back boxing for the first time in thirty years to movie theaters - live boxing title fights. Fight fans came out and felt like they didn't have to go to a bar to go see it - they could even take their kids and go to a movie theater and go watch Floyd Mayweather fight.

PC: Better than Vegas!

DD: I remember that as a kid - but, back then, you had to roll a big satellite truck up and run wires into the theater and hook it all up to a projector! (Laughs.)

PC: Thank goodness for modern technology! Speaking of which: what do you think of 4D and incorporating smell and even air textures I've read about in presentations in the future?

DD: Oh, yeah. I really think that is the future of the local movie theater - to continue to create a more and more immersive experience; something that cannot be replicated anywhere else. I think that, no matter how big televisions get, there are only so many people you can fit in your family room - but, when we get a full house in a movie theater, like what we see for the Met - and, if you can only imagine as production becomes more affordable on these technologies, you can imagine opera and symphony in Full 3D with the entire opportunity to feel like you are seated, watching the conductor play with the players live in the hall.

PC: What a thrilling notion.

DD: Even now, symphony in the movie theater is something that is just amazing - looking at it from the first violin's chair, through to the conductor and into the audience and backstage and seeing all the nuances done when a great director is cutting to the right shots at the right times and understanding why Beethoven or Tchaikovsky may have selected this particular portion of their work to emphasize the flute or the bassoon or whatever it might be. It's thrilling.

PC: It magnifies the detail, as only film video and surround sound can do - and 3D and 4D will bring it to another level.

DD: It really is an amazing thing that you can't replicate some place else. So, I think theaters have to and are very much a part of the cutting edge of what will become an ever-increasing entertainment opportunity for fans and communities.

PC: Do you use predominantly RedOne cameras in the filmings?

DD: You know, the cameras that are used vary by production. Depending on the production, what they are doing it with, you name it - but, I do know there is a lot of Sony equipment that is used..

PC: Blu-ray releases for these titles are eventually planned, then - in Full HD?

DD: Yeah - there are going to be more and more Blu-ray titles.

PC: Wonderful - great news.

DD: I think that is what is really happening. I actually still have a cassette player in my garage... (Laughs.)

PC: I'm recording this interview on an audio cassette - and a digital backup. You get far more vocal detail, I've found.

DD: Oh, you betcha! It's funny you say that, Pat. I actually used to be an entertainer many, many years ago back in the 70s. You've heard all my greatest hits, I'm sure! (Laughs.)

PC: No way! I'd never suspect it, to be honest.

DD: I grew up in a family that actually had the first recording studio in Denver; my uncle's. So, I grew up in a recording studio and I went on to learn audio engineering and really take a liking to audio production and those types of things. And, I can tell you, the nuances that are created on analog tape with the harmonic distortion that is there and with the richness of the sound is something you just cannot replicate in digital, no matter what.

PC: How interesting to hear you say that.

DD: So, as they are coming up with new software routines to write algorithms over the top of the digital stuff to make it more like the cassette you are talking about and to bring back some of the warmth - I think all of that is just now really beginning to come out technically to allow digital to become an even greater experience.

PC: It's just the start.

DD: If you couple that with 4D and all of the different aspects of what the future is holding - glassless 3D, 7.1 sound...

PC: COMPANY had some of the best sound I've ever heard and that was only perfectly-mixed HD 5.1.

DD: Yeah, the vast majority are 5.1 matrix. What we will do sometimes, though - there are certain devices that are available if an event is not native 5.1 and we can digitally unwrap it and the stereo signal is remixed to make a 5.1 sound mix.

PC: It's sort of like back to TODD AO with six separated channels of sound!

DD: You're right! It is. It is. (Laughs.) It's all gotten so much better, though, and it really is an exciting time to be in this business and to be able to do these types of things - and to have this experience become more and more real.

PC: Can you can confirm any dates for upcoming DVD and Blu-ray releases - COMPANY, in particular?

DD: Honestly, I have no idea at this point - the intellectual property rights holders are the ones controlling that, so we don't have a vested interest in the Blu-ray and DVD release. In some cases we will and in many cases we won't.

PC: You are the presenter, after all, not the DVD producer.

DD: Yeah, our goal right now is to put the best possible quality programming in movie theaters that we can to get audiences to come in greater and greater numbers - and, once they see the Met, they become interested in the symphony; or, once they see Shakespeare, they can get interested in Broadway. People then realize that this is all happening in their local movie theater.

PC: Like a true community events center, as you said earlier.

DD: That's really the key for us: putting on the best entertainment in the world right there in your home town, right around the corner at your local movie theater.

PC: DIE WULKERIE was so fabulous. Can we look forward to the next three parts of Wagner's THE RINGS next year?

DD: I can definitely say you can look forward to more RINGS next year.

PC: Are you involved with filming THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA's 25th Anniversary, especially since you did LES MISERABLES?

DD: (Laughs.) Let me put it this way: stay tuned. We are very much involved with trying to make that happen right now.

PC: Let's hope Michael Crawford will return - it would not be PHANTOM without him doing "Music Of the Night".

DD: Right. I understand and I agree. Clearly!

PC: So, the process of filming the 25th has started...

DD: We are doing all we can and working with all of our partners on multiple fronts. We will let you know immediately once anything is official around PHANTOM, but we are clearly very excited about - even thinking about the opportunity to - bring this kind of a celebration of PHANTOM to movie theaters.

PC: I could not be more excited! Ramin Karimloo will be sensational. Have you seen him in it or in LOVE NEVER DIES?

DD: Yeah. But, it's one of those shows - there are a few that you can count on one hand - that are just the pinnacle of Broadway. It is one of those unforgettable performances that just continues to endure and build audiences in bigger and bigger numbers. It's just a masterpiece - it is. So, to have the opportunity to even be in the conversations right now is something we are extremely, extremely excited about.

PC: It was the #1 entry in BroadwayWorld's Tony Award countdown this year, as well - plus, it's the most successful entertainment of all time (movies included).

DD: Oh, yeah. It's absolutely just mesmerizing - there is just something about it that speaks to the heart of everyone, no matter where you are or who you are. That kind of a program only comes along once in a generation, so we are extremely hopeful that we can get all the pieces together to be able to bring that one to audiences across the country here, coming up in the not-too-distant future.

PC: It would be exquisite if Hal Prince were to be involved - he did the Vegas PHANTOM recently that was just astounding.

DD: Yeah. Yeah.

PC: Are you considering filming PHANTOM in 3D?

DD: Well, there is 3D in discussion right now. My gut is - and, again, I can't be certain of since it depends on the people doing the production because we do not hold the intellectual property rights on PHANTOM - it doesn't appear that 3D is going to be a part of this.

PC: What about for future musicals?

DD: Well, with 3D right now, it's still at one of those points where the cost of 3D and the amount of equipment that is needed takes away from the live audience experience and adds significant cost to bringing the production to a broader mass of people. The concern that we have got is that, although we'd love it to be that way - and if it works out then all the better - but it is likely not in the cards for this one.

PC: So, no 3D chandelier!

DD: We don't want it to become so expensive to film it that we have to raise prices to the point where it is not accessible to everyone.

PC: That's totally understandable, then.

DD: As 3D becomes more affordable and the camera technology pieces become smaller and less intrusive into the live experience at the venues where these events are occurring live, I think you will start to see more 3D filming going on.

PC: Makes sense.

DD: Remember, if you think about it, AVATAR wasn't that long ago, so it is still relatively new technology that is beginning to break though, but it has got to be in the right kind of situation where you don't have to stick cameras everywhere taking up half the house seats and people can't see over them - those are some problems! (Laughs.)

PC: A logistical nightmare, it sounds like!

DD: Yeah - but, it's getting better! Like everything else. It's kind of like our discussion about close-circuit boxing versus now what we can do - you used to have to roll a big satellite truck up, but now we just put the signal in digitally.

PC: What a difference forty years makes!

DD: It's just gotta get there, you know? With things like WIMBELDON, we were able to go to fifty-something theaters, and we are able to scale a little bigger and bigger and bigger but until the time comes when it is really able to be done in a manner that is scaleable and not intrusive and remains affordable, I think you will see more smaller-scale 3D built around larger-scale 2D. Then, kind of like how HDTV took over for standard definition, you'll see 3D begin to become more the norm. Then, 4D and those things will be the new, next big steps.

PC: If I were to make a suggestion: I hope INTO THE WOODS is the first 3D musical Fathom does!

DD: OK! Ok. I have heard about INTO THE WOODS, but I don't know it personally. I won't forget you told me!

PC: Tell me about the just-announced SCARFACE HD re-release in select movie theaters coming up.

DD: Yes, we are going to bring SCARFACE back for one night in movie theaters on August 31. We are going to celebrate the Blu-ray release.

PC: More than a month before the Blu hits stores!

DD: Yeah, we are going to bring it back for fans - like we did before with WIZARD OF OZ and a whole host of movies. We just brought back the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy.

PC: What is the impetus for this?

DD: We want fans to have a chance to experience this in movie theaters in digital and see it like never before in a movie theater one last time before it goes out into mass market digital distribution. So, August 31, we are bringing back SCARFACE. And, it's an unbelievable movie.

PC: You can say that again - talk about an opera!

DD: Yeah! (Laughs.)

PC: Will there be an intermission?

DD: It's just gonna go straight through, but there will be all kinds of unique content around it.

PC: There will be a new twenty-minute documentary, yes?

DD: Yeah. And, if it's anything like the LORD OF THE RINGS fans - they can't get enough!

PC: Well, SCARFACE is all about gross excess after all...

DD: Let me tell you a little side story: You know, my sixteen-year-old was, I think, thirteen, at the time when I took him to the first opera he saw in movie theaters - because, "Hey! Let's go to New York and go see an opera!" was not at the top of his list when he was listening to My Chemical Romance.... (Laughs.)

PC: I'd imagine not!

DD: But, he agreed to go a movie theater with me to see ROMEO & JULIET.

PC: Fathom's recent presentation, of course, I assume?

DD: Of course. And, he was absolutely mesmerized. He knew if he didn't like it he could get up and go out or whatever, but he never moved. He just sat there and said, "Oh, my God. I never knew that this was so amazing."

PC: That's a great story.

DD: I think it's true for a lot of people, though: you don't have any idea how great it is until you get there.

PC: You can't like it if you don't know it at all, right?

DD: It's the same kind of thing when you get to go back as a fan and see a movie like SCARFACE - you forget how much fun you had going to the theaters.

PC: Especially with Fathom engagements: it's an event, too.

DD: Oh, yeah! My mom is in her mid-eighties and she hasn't been to a movie in years and years and years - but, she has not missed an opera, I can tell you that! She was there for every one.

PC: That's so funny - it's so cross-generational.

DD: A few months back she was telling me, "Oh, me and my girlfriends went and saw that new Matt Damon movie." And, I'm like, "You went to the movies?" And, she goes, "We have a good time, so we go to movies every few weeks together now." I think it's one of those things where we are all creatures of habit and we get out of the habit of going to the movie theater because we watch everything at home. Then, you have such a great time at an opera event or a Shakespeare play or a Broadway show or whatever, you go back to the movie theater again and think, "Oh, gosh, maybe I'll go see that movie, too."

PC: It reintroduces the movie theater as a special entertainment venue worth exploring.

DD: Totally. Absolutely. But, back to your original question: to bring a classic like SCARFACE back? We are as excited as we can be.

PC: So, it's a one-night-only event?

DD: Yeah, it's August 31 and we are in about 500 theaters nationally.

PC: Have you seen the HD print or the Blu-ray itself yet?

DD: You know, I have heard it is great, but I haven't had the good fortune to see it myself just yet! I can't wait to get my copy, though. I am taking the family and we are going to see it. My family loves going and we have a great time.

PC: The whole family to see SCARFACE?!

DD: Well, my son's sixteen, so he gets it! (Laughs.) We all enjoy a great movie like anybody else. And, there is something about being with a bunch of people who you know are loving it and are there because they want to see it. It's so different than sitting around at home going, "Oh, what looks good on TV tonight?"

PC: So true. The home theater experience got ten times better, so, now, you are making the movie theater experience exponentially more entertaining.

DD: Well, we are trying! We are certainly trying.

PC: And you have already succeeded. The MPAA hasn't given you trouble on SCARFACE re-release, have they? The original R-rated cut shown in theaters was originally X, of course, until Oliver Stone and DePalma got it reduced to an R.

DD: No. At this point, everyone has been excited about it coming back and we followed the normal guidelines with no problems.

PC: Since it is the essence of entertainment, especially theatre: Define collaboration.

DD: You know, I think life is a collaboration - because life is give and take. That's how we approach everything that we do - we certainly want to collaborate with the finest artists in the world, along with the best producers that we can work with and the best content partners. All of our movie theaters have been collaborating to find a way to bring unique entertainment to local communities. I really look at life as a huge collaboration because none of us is ever going to get everything the way we want all the time; I think it's about finding the best solution for each other as we move forward. I think that the collaboration that has occurred between three rival movie theater chains investing in what we do and being very supportive of this particular type of entertainment coming together to say, "When it comes to alternative programming and the arts, we all stand together in this effort to bring this to local communities;" I think it is an enormous collaboration.

PC: And more.

DD: You know, it is really unprecedented in many ways - because, you know, when movie theaters are working with the studios it is a very different discussion than when we are trying to figure out how to put Shakespeare into theaters. They are incredibly supportive and collaborative in figuring out the best way to do it to make sure fans get the opportunity to see it.

PC: Who else but you guys at Fathom could put Shakespeare, Sondheim and SCARFACE in movie theaters all in one summer?!

DD: I mean, we've got it all!

PC: And boxing! And the opera!

DD: (Laughs.)

PC: Thank you so much for what you have done and continue to do - you folks at Fathom are changing the face of entertainment day by day, right before our eyes (literally). What is coming up next that you are particularly excited about?

DD: Ozzy Osbourne's son, Jack, did a real inside look at his father's life and his performances called GOD BLESS OZZY OSBOURNE.

PC: Whoa - what an apropos title!

DD: I can tell you that, just by the way Jack did this - he is an amazing young storyteller. He really is.

PC: It sounds interesting.

DD: Yeah. So, that's coming up in late August. Then, we have the Mayweather fight, as we discussed. Then, the Eric Clapton/Wynton Marsalis JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER concert coming up in September.

PC: So, we have jazz covered, too! Good to know.

DD: We've also got The Red Hot Chilli Peppers on the 30th, from the United Kingdom.

PC: With songs from their rad new album! Should be great.

DD: All of these different types of programs are catching the attention of a lot of folks of all different types in communities - that's the thing: no matter where you live there are Shakespeare fans, and Ozzy Osbourne fans. We want everybody to be able to know that, whatever it is: hey, it's probably a Fathom Event and probably available to see at your local movie theater.

PC: And you can find out all about it at BroadwayWorld.com!

DD: Absolutely! Absolutely. (Laughs.)

PC: Thank you so much, Dan. You've made many dreams come true - that COMPANY in a movie theater? Sheer heaven.

DD: Oh, and it's just a great show. Talk about collaboration - our colleagues over at Screen Vision did a great job in collaborating with us on making that happen so that we could get it out to as many theaters as possible. I think that's what's so great when it comes to these type of performances: everyone is trying to do the best programming that can be done and we are making sure that people across the country get the chance to see it.

PC: This was awesome. I can't wait for what's next! All my best, Dan.

DD: This was really great, Pat. Thank you. Take care. Bye bye.

 



Videos