Saul Zaentz

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Saul Zaentz (born February 28, 1921 in Passaic , New Jersey , † January 3, 2014 in San Francisco , California ) was an American film producer . He has produced films such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Amadeus (1984) and The English Patient (1996), for each of which he received an Oscar .

Life

Zaentz's family comes from Russian-Polish Judaism. In the mid-1950s, he joined the American record label Fantasy Records , which he bought from the original founders in 1967. In 2004 the record label was sold again. During this time, Zaentz was fighting for years with John Fogerty , the songwriter of the commercially very successful band Creedence Clearwater Revival , which was under contract with Fantasy. Thanks to a toggle contract, the label owned the rights to Fogerty's hits. When Fogerty left his band and started a solo career, Zaentz sued him for plagiarism. Fogerty later retaliated with clearly ambiguous songs such as Mr. Greed and Zanz Can't Danz , which was finally renamed Vanz Can't Danz after further legal battles .

In the 1970s, Zaentz founded The Saul Zaentz Company and bought the filming rights to JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings books from the US film studio United Artists ; they are marketed under the name Tolkien Enterprises . He produced the cartoon The Lord of the Rings (1978) and granted the license for the three film adaptations by Peter Jackson . Zaentz was not directly involved in the production of The Companions , The Two Towers and The Return of the King , but rather participated in the worldwide revenues of the film series and the merchandising products due to the license agreement.

The rights for the theatrical version and a film adaptation of Ken Kesey's 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest originally belonged to Kirk Douglas . A theatrical version written by Dale Wasserman was performed on Broadway in New York as early as 1963. Kirk Douglas played the lead role. Gene Wilder played Billy Bibbit at the premiere.

Kirk Douglas did not succeed in getting a film studio to film the novel. He eventually left the film rights to his son Michael Douglas . Michael Douglas produced this film with Saul Zaentz. The production was carried out with Fantasy Films , which had a distribution agreement with United Artists . The film received a number of awards, including no less than five Academy Awards : Best Picture, Best Director ( Miloš Forman ), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor ( Jack Nicholson ), Best Actress ( Louise Fletcher ). After It Happened in One Night (1935) by Frank Capra, the film was the second film to win an Oscar in the five most important categories - the so-called Big Five . One flew over the cuckoo's nest not only cemented Jack Nicholson's reputation as a character actor, but also helped several actors to breakthrough: Christopher Lloyd ( Back to the Future I – III), Brad Dourif and Danny DeVito made their debut in this film.

Zaentz died of complications from Alzheimer's disease. He leaves four children.

Filmography (selection)

Awards (selection)

literature

  • Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 8: T - Z. David Tomlinson - Theo Zwierski. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Obituary for Saul Zaentz In: Die Welt.
  2. ↑ Self-plagiarism by John Fogerty ( Memento of May 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), accessed July 15, 2008.
personal data
SURNAME Zaentz, Saul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American entrepreneur and film producer
DATE OF BIRTH February 28, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Passaic , New Jersey, United States
DATE OF DEATH January 3, 2014
Place of death San Francisco , California