Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies
The most common cultural language of the last hundred years, the film industry has changed in accordance with the evolving technology, tastes and expectations of global audiences, not just in the product that is offered but in the way films are made and distributed, independent filmmakers able to create and stream to an international market and studios governed by committees answerable to corporations and their shareholders, demanding revenue in return for investment.
Gone are the days where a single individual could make a decision whether or not a project would be greenlit for production, yet the films of that era remain, iconic and influential milestones of cinema, and associated with a share larger than might be considered reasonable is Alan Ladd, Jr, his career now celebrated by his daughter Amanda Ladd in her documentary Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies.
The son of a movie star who made his name in Westerns and crime thrillers through the forties and fifties before his early death and whose name he shares, Laddie worked as an actor’s agent, establishing good relations with the names he represented, among them Judy Garland, Natalie Wood and Robert Redford, before taking the step into production, eventually moving up the ranks to become vice president in charge of creative affairs at 20th Century Fox.
His name only hesitantly familiar to the costumed Star Wars fans interviewed at a convention, to writer and director George Lucas he is of more significance as “the man who said yes” and then continued to protect the film through its production when others in the company, even to the day of release, did not believe it could succeed and wished to cut their losses and save embarrassment.
With no shortage of interview subjects eager to share memories, there is a unifying theme of the trust Laddie placed in those he worked with, understanding that if the right people are hired and that the talent is in place, there is no need to micromanage, allowing a portfolio of projects as diverse as Young Frankenstein, The Omen, Alien and Kagemusha to flourish, Laddie suggesting the key role of Ripley be cast as a woman and aware the latter was unlikely to be profitable but looking on the investment in Akira Kurosawa’s floundering historical epic “as payback into the industry.”
Apparently a man universally liked by his peers and associates, a rarity in any industry, there are no axes to grind nor skeletons in the closet though there are disappointments such as the ambitious futuristic film noir which brought together his former collaborators Harrison Ford and Ridley Scott, the Ladd Company’s box office failure Blade Runner, but soft-spoken as he sits among framed movie posters and Oscars, Laddie presents a man whose achievements have left him unchanged, his attitude towards his creatives reflecting his own: “I was just doing my job.”
Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies will be available on digital download from Monday 26th April
