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Amy Heckerling's DVD Premiere
February 19, 2008

Writer/director Amy Heckerling’s I Could Never Be Your Woman was released on DVD last week by The Weinstein Company. Starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Paul Rudd, the comedy from the woman who made Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982) and Clueless (1995), I Could Never Be Your Woman has already picked up some notoriety due to it's not receiving a Stateside theatrical release but rather a premiere on DVD, which does seem kind of odd for a film with a well-known director and cast, not to mention a budget of $25 million. I spoke with Ms. Heckerling last week about the film and some of the factors that led to its current status. Though Heckerling was polite and agreeable during our discussion, it was quite obvious that the years-long, back-and-forth story regarding the 2005 film has taken its toll on her.

 

VIDEO BUSINESS: The journey of I Could Never Be Your Woman from its production in 2005 through its release on DVD last week has been an aggravating one for you.                

AMY HECKERLING: Yes. [Bauer Martinez], the company that we made the film with, has gone through many, oh,  I don’t know what  to call it---
VB: Many changes? Turnarounds? Tricky financial situations…?
AH: Yes, I guess that’s what you would call it.
VB: You probably know more about it than I do.
AH: No, I really don’t.
VB: I guess it’s true about Hollywood when they say ‘Nobody knows anything!’
AH: It’s true. People are just now saying to me, ’Ha ha, you really got screwed on Fast Times.’ And I’m saying, “What? Where was I when that happened?’
VB: Meanwhile, I Could Never Be Your Woman has been playing theatrically around Europe and in South America and even in Israel over the past six months. How do you feel about one of your films making some noise in the international market but not getting a theatrical release in the U.S.?
AH: It’s been very frustrating and I’m kind of burnt on the whole thing by now. There was so much back and forth about possibilities for the movie’s distribution, but it couldn’t move forward because of the deals [producer Philippe Martinez] had set up and the way he had given away the DVD rights and the foreign rights. If you make a movie and want to advertise it to go out in theaters, that’s very expensive. When somebody invests in distributing a movie, they’re thinking about the amount they’ll put in for prints and advertising and that they’ll be getting the revenues back from the theatrical and DVD sales--maybe you’ve sold off the foreign rights or whatever. You considers the big expense of advertising a movie is because you think you’re going to be getting the profits from those two things. So now you’re asking people to pay the big expense of distribution and not get the profits from DVD and foreign. So it was very stupid of him to essentially give that stuff away and then expect somebody would come forward with money without the chance of making any profit.
VB: And The Weinstein Company is distributing the film domestically on DVD. Have you had any dealings with them regarding the release?
AH: I was not told when the deal was made--I was not in the loop of any of that. Once it was already happening, some very lovely people from The Weinstein Company contacted me to do a commentary and to pick out the music for the menus and to do other things that would have to do with the packaging of the DVD. But I haven’t met the Weinsteins or anything.
VB: In a weird sort of end-around way, your film is getting more press than the majority of DVD Premieres out there! The idea of ‘straight-to-DVD’ doesn’t just mean Steven Seagal anymore.
AH: Yes, I think it is a changing market, so we’ll see. Personally, I see at least a movie a day, and there are a lot of movies out there.

Check back later in the week for the second part of my interview with Amy Heckerling. 

Posted by Laurence Lerman on February 19, 2008 | Comments (0)