BoxOfficeGuru.com examines this year's major contenders with the new Oscar Spotlight column. Each Friday, editor Gitesh Pandya talks one-on-one with the producers behind some of the most acclaimed films up for recognition this season.

This week, Oscar Spotlight talks to Jon Kilik, producer of Babel which won the Golden Globe for Best Picture - Drama and has now earned seven Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and Best Director for Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. The Paramount Vantage release also won Best Director at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and is enjoying a second life at the box office thanks to the kudos attention.

Box Office Guru: How did you first get involved with this project?

Jon Kilik: I met Alejandro in 2000 when he was doing Amores Perros and I was in Mexico doing Before Night Falls. We ended up crossing paths because both films came out at the same time and were on the Academy circuit back then, and we just stayed in touch. I had just tremendous respect for Amores Perros and actually I then brought Rodrigo Prieto, Alejandro's D.P., into a film project I did with Spike Lee. So I just stayed in touch with Alejandro and he brought the idea for Babel to me two and a half years ago. Then there was the script, then Steve Golin and I partnered with him to start to develop it, scout, cast and try to get it financed ultimately and made.

BOG: What challenges were there in raising the financing given the complex nature of the film which must have looked risky on paper?

JK: Absolutely. You know you have a movie that is primarily not in English. The majority of the film is in Arabic, Spanish, Japanese, and sign language so it's definitely a challenge to finance. Also the nature of the cast being an ensemble and not a real star vehicle, and the subject matter. So it all added up to, like you say, on paper something that was going to be difficult and we weren't exactly sure just what sort of financial limitations we'd be faced with. We were just trying to come up with a plan that could allow us to make the movie the right way, but really minimize the amount of people we were gonna take with us around the world. The philosophy became one where we would embrace the local crews and casts in each of those different countries. Paramount came in as the real cornerstone by taking 50% of the worldwide rights by purchasing Spanish-speaking and English-speaking territories. Then the other 50% of the world went to individual distributors in the other territories. We sold it before the shoot started in territories like France, Italy, Germany, Japan, and the rest.

BOG: Was it difficult to get Brad Pitt given how many projects get pitched to him?

JK: Well I don't know how many he gets pitched all the time, but he, like everybody who got involved with this movie, got involved because of the enormous talent and vision of Alejandro. He like all the rest of us just wanted to support that and participate in that. He had heard that Alejandro was preparing something new and was just interested and not afraid of it being too small a part or an ensemble. Brad is more than just an actor and a superstar. He really is a filmmaker, a collaborator, he's a producer on other projects, and he just really cares about quality films.

BOG: How important was the Cannes Film Festival in getting the world to notice this film?

JK: Well that was the premiere. We had not shown it to an audience until that screening. It was a great start for us to have Alejandro win the prize and for the film to start to get the support of the press with the kind of reviews we started to receive there. That was a tremendous lift for us after the long haul of making it!

BOG: The last two films to win the Golden Globe for Best Picture - Drama, did not win the Oscar for best picture. Do you think Babel's Globe win helps its chances at the Oscars or will prompt Academy voters to look elsewhere for their big prize in order to be different?

JK: I think it absolutely helps. I think we came into the Globes as kind of an underdog and a movie that had just not been seen as much as the others. The Globe win put us right there in the limelight. It's all about trying to get people to see the movie. We can't predict or guess how people are going to vote, but we just want to be able to have the movie be seen by everybody. I think they decide based on the quality of each film. I don't think the Academy looks at anything else other than the quality of each of the five films.

BOG: Given the Japanese element in the film, and Brad Pitt's immense box office pull there, how do you see the picture playing in Japan and how important of a market is it to this film?

JK: Well probably after the Paramount territories along with maybe France, it's one of the biggest and most important markets for us. We have very high hopes for it there. We have a great Japanese story and cast. I think they'll also be interested in Brad and Cate and Gael and everybody in the other stories too. I think it's a movie that really pushes the envelope, especially that story. It's a very, very emotional story and I'm really excited to see how it goes over there. We open in April. We're all gonna go over there and push it. Alejandro will go and all the talent will be there.

BOG: Babel grossed just under $22M in North America before it re-expanded on January 19. How satisfied were you with the domestic performance and is the film now finding new audiences that were maybe not as interested before?

JK: I think certain movies take some time. They aren't gonna get all of the potential within the first two weeks of release. Then if they don't it becomes a very competitive marketplace and you do find yourself getting pushed around a bit. Paramount's done an amazing job at keeping the film in the theaters and believing in it and believing that these nominations would come and that the Golden Globes and the Acadmy would embrace the film. Paramount was very optimistic about that and had a plan that was timed with those events and it's just been a great second life for the movie because we're doing better now than we did in the second and third weeks of the release. It's just tremendous that Paramount had that kind of faith in the film and they were able to position it this way.

BOG: You've produced most of your films in New York including several of Spike Lee's projects. Did you enjoy the global nature of the shooting schedule for Babel?

JK: For me, I want to learn something and challenge myself. I've been doing this for over 20 years and this was absolutely the ultimate challenge as a producer to do something that was happening simultaneously in three continents and in four languages with local crews and discovering new actors in different countries. It was the greatest challenge of my career. So I asked for it, and I got it! I'm just proud of the movie. It's certainly more enjoyable when it succeeds because of how hard you had to work to get there.

Be sure to check back next Friday for a new installment of Oscar Spotlight.

2007 Academy Award nominations and grosses

Last Updated : February 2, 2007

Previous columns:

Jan 26 - Laurence Mark, Dreamgirls