Jerry Weintraub

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HBO Documentary Films has acquired worldwide rights to "His Way," a chronicle of the colorful life and times of producer and talent rep Jerry Weintraub.
Docu was helmed by Douglas McGrath and produced by Graydon Carter, Alan Polsky and Gabe Polsky. Steven Soderbergh and Audrey Rosenberg are exec producers.

The docu comes on the heels of last year's publication of Weintraub's autobiography "When I Stop Talking, You'll Know I'm Dead." "His Way" was financed and produced by Polsky Films in association with Consolidated Documentaries. It will have an Oscar-qualifying theatrical run before bowing on HBO later this year.

The docu features interviews with Weintraub's array of friends and colleagues spanning the worlds of politics, music and Hollywood. George H.W. Bush, Barbara Bush, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, Bruce Willis, Ellen Barkin, James Caan, Elliott Gould, Andy Garcia and Ralph Macchio are among the interviewees.

Weintraub's career took off when he was in his 20s, arranging tours for Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra. He later helped steer the careers of Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, John Denver and Led Zeppelin.

As a movie producer Weintraub's productions have ranged from critical faves like "Diner" and "Nashville" to blockbusters including "The Karate Kid" and, most recently, the "Ocean's Eleven" series of star ensemblers.

"Jerry's success as a producer is legendary, and his prolific career is one that we have admired for years," said Michael Lombardo, prexy of HBO Programming. "He is also one heck of a storyteller, and it was this ability to narrate his life in the most compelling and entertaining way that drew us to 'His Way.' "

The docu project came together last summer when Vanity Fair boss Carter and Soderbergh, helmer of the "Ocean's Eleven" series, approached him with the idea. Soderbergh in particular emphasized that the docu would be enriched if Weintraub was willing to be candid about his unusual domestic life. Weintraub is married but lives with another woman -- and his wife and girlfriend are best friends.

"Steven told me, 'That's the meat of the story. If you have the guts to go there in a documentary, then you've really got something,'" Weintraub said. "For me, it's in the book, I'm not hiding it. So I told him I'd go there."

Weintraub said his favorite moments in the pic are when Clooney, Pitt and others imitate his streetwise Brooklyn drawl. And he's been very touched by the affection for him that his many friends express onscreen.

"This is probably the most important time of my life right now," Weintraub said. "It's not everybody that gets to look back at what they've accomplished and see it on film. And like the book, it's going to be there forever."

This should be interesting!

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Jerry Weintraub Has a Wife AND a Girlfriend -- Jimmy Kimmel, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and Matt Damon are Impressed (VIDEO)
by Oliver Miller, posted Mar 24th 2011 5:05AM

"I am in love with my wife. And I've been married to her for 50 years," said Jerry Weintraub, as the audience began to applaud. But Jimmy Kimmel held up his hand, warning the crowd to hold off on their kudos. "Give it a minute," Kimmel said.

Yes, Jerry Weintraub -- producer of such films as Nashville, Diner, The Karate Kid, and Ocean's 11 -- has indeed been married to his wife Jane Morgan for five decades now. But he's also been living with Susie Ekins, his girlfriend, for two decades.

According to Jerry, the two women get along fine -- they go out together, they cook together. But Jimmy Kimmel seemed skeptical. "Are you sure they're not planning to kill you?" he asked.

Jerry discussed his unusual arrangement on the latest 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' (weeknights, 12AM ET on ABC). He also aired excerpts from the new documentary about his life, where various celebrity friends such as Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and George Clooney expressed shock and awe at the success of his two-woman relationship.

But it fell to the one woman featured in the documentary excerpt to express disappointment with the wife/girlfriend combo. Former First Lady Barbara Bush did not seem pleased. "I'd kill George Bush if he did that," she said.

Got his book on my wishlist for my kindle. Can't wait to get it when it's released in my region.

Has anyone read it?

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Bizarre Hollywood Story: 'Ocean's 11' Producer Jerry Weintraub Destroyed George Clooney's Office With a Golf Club


Legendary producer Jerry Weintraub is the subject of the documentary His Way (airing this Monday, April 4 on HBO) and it only takes a minute to figure out why -- the guy is incorrigibly charming. If you've ever listened to the commentary track on one of his Ocean's movies, you know two things:

1. George Clooney, Matt Damon and Brad Pitt all do uncanny Jerry Weintraub impressions, Damon's being the best.

2. George, Matt and Brad mercilessly prank Jerry -- lavish room service wake-up calls at 5am, a suit crammed with melted M&M's... basically, the works.

Well, I had the good fortune of speaking with Jerry yesterday, and I couldn't help asking him if he ever got Clooney and Co. back. Did he ever.

I had a gold silk shirt and George never liked it. George dresses in Armani suits all the time, whereas I wear different kinds of outfits. It was a very expensive shirt and he hated it. Whenever I wore it, he would say, "It's so loud." I would say, "Don't bother me. You dress you and I'll dress me and everyone will be happy." Well, he stole it out of my room at the Bellagio and painted a penis on the back. And then he had everybody sign it, every actor, every big star. Matt, Brad, Wayne Gretzky, Andy Garcia, their names are all over the shirt. He sent it to me for my birthday in a big box with a ribbon on it. The shirt was totally destroyed, even though it's worth a fortune now. Anyway, I got in my golf cart. He was down the street from me at Warner Bros. at the time, so I drove over and totally destroyed his office with a golf club. I broke every lamp, burned every script, threw his bicycle out the window. People were shaking and he was lying on the floor on the phone with Steven Soderbergh screaming, "He's gonna kill me! He's crazy!" I was never gonna kill him, but the head of the golf club did fly off, so I guess I could have. So, I got him back.

You gotta hand it to the guy; what he lacks in creativity, he makes up for in unbridled passion. Good show, Jer, as per usual.

I can't help but think that nothing really funny is ever going to start with "so I got in my golf buggy . . . "

I would have hit George with the golf club if he did that to something belonging to me!

Gosh he knew Fred Astaire, Gregory Peck, Rita Hayworth, Gary Grant and on and on and on !

and Elvis and John Denver and Frank Sinatra.......he's The Man!

Well he has been around.

hollywood news

Jerry Weintraub Doc: Matt Damon’s and George Clooney’s imitations

31 March 2011

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HollywoodNews.com: Lately, George and Barbara Bush are everywhere. But they’re also in Doug McGrath‘s wonderful HBO documentary about Hollywood mogul, mover and shaker Jerry Weintraub. An A list crowd came to the Time Warner Center screening room last night to watch the film, called “His Way,” based on Weintraub’s memoir. And just like the Bushes are so friendly with Bill Clinton, they also have a connection to Weintraub through his wife, singer Jane Morgan.

Like the witnesses in “Reds,” the Bushes give a hilarious on camera testimonial to Weintraub that has to be seen the film airs this coming week. (Barbara Bush has impeccable coming timing.) They rattle off a list of celebrities to whom the gregarious Weintraub has introduced them over the years. Barbara pauses, then remembers, suddenly: “John Travolta!” Her eyes light up.

There’s a long history between the Bushes and the Weintraubs not mentioned in the film, but it’s in Weinraub’s book. McGrath recalled the story for me last night. Apparently, Weintraub was denied admission into the Bushes’ country club in Kennebunkport because he was Jewish. Bush was so upset he arranged for Weintraub to play in a foursome with him (this was many years ago). McGrath said, “Now Jerry is a member.”

“His Way” is the second documentary produced by Graydon Carter recently for HBO, following Martin Scorsese’s “Public Speaking,” about Fran Lebowitz. Carter, editor in cheif of Vanity Fair, presided over the dinner following the screening at The Porter House steak restaurant in the Time Warner Center. Who wasn’t there? Nobody. Candice Bergen, Barry and Diana Levinson, Joan Juliet Buck, Liz Smith (looking snazzy in a red leather jacket), HBO doc chief Sheila Nevins, Hearst magazines chief Ellen Levine, People mag editor Larry Hackett, and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

“His Way” is not to be missed, especially for Matt Damon’s and George Clooney’s imitations of Weintraub, rare footage of Frank Sinatra and Elvis performing together, early clips of John Denver, and Julia Roberts squirming on camera when asked to comment about Weintraub’s unusual domestic arrangements.

Exclusive Interview with Producer Jerry Weintraub
Source: Edward Douglas April 1, 2011

With over 35 years experience in the movie business and a number of years managing legendary artists like Frank Sinatra and Elvis, Jerry Weintraub shows no signs of slowing down at 73.

A few years back, Jerry Weintraub's autobiography, "When I Stop Talking, You'll Know I'm Dead," was published, and that too was a huge success and HBO follows that up with a new documentary called "His Way," directed by Douglas McGrath (Emma) and featuring many of Weintraub's Hollywood acquaintances, including George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and more.

Weintraub first broke into the film business producing Robert Altman's Nashville, followed later by hits like the comedy Oh, God! with George Burns and John Denver. In the '80s, Weintraub produced Barry Levinson's Diner and the original The Karate Kid, an enormous success which spawned a number of sequels and a TV series, before being remade in conjunction with Will Smith's Overbrook Entertainment, this time pairing Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan. In 2001, the producer had a spectacular comeback when he and director Steven Soderbergh brought together George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and Matt Damon to remake Ocean's 11, another enormous success that led to two equally big sequels.

ComingSoon.net got on the phone with one of Hollywood's A-list producers early this week to talk about the HBO doc as well as some of the other projects he's developing including remakes of Oh, God! and a sequel to The Karate Kid.

ComingSoon.net: So I loved the movie. I've started reading the book and I really like it so far, though I'm only a couple of chapters in. What was the connection between the two things?
Jerry Weintraub: Between the book and the movie? The connection was that I had done the book and it was a huge success and continues to be. When they came to me about the movie, I wasn't sure I wanted to do it. I said, "If it's going to be the same as the book, I really don't want to do the movie." They said, "No, no, no we're going a different way." They told me what they wanted to do and in between Soderbergh and Graydon Carter and Douglas McGrath, they all had some great creative ideas. I said, "The hell with it. Let me go for it. I'm 73 years old." My great, great grandchildren will have this film to look at.

CS: Who brought Douglas McGrath on board? Was he one of the people who instigated the movie?
Weintraub: Yeah, well it was instigated originally by Graydon Carter. It was financed by two kids from Chicago, young men who produced this film, the Polsky brothers, Gabe and Alan Polsky. Then they hired McGrath to do it after I met with Doug McGrath and he was the creative force.

CS: I assume you were very involved in getting George and Brad and Matt on board?
Weintraub: I called them all and asked them to do it. They all said "yes."

CS: I was actually impressed by how many of them do impressions of you. Had you ever seen any of these impressions before?
Weintraub: (Laughs) Yeah, I have. They do them all the time. I don't know that I sound like that, so to me, it's just a lot of fun that they do it because the fact that they would take the time to learn how to do an impression of me, it's really fascinating to me. But a lot of people do impressions of me all over the place. They do them when I'm around, they do them when I'm not around, they do them on TV, off TV, they just do them.

CS: How involved were you with what ended up in the movie, did you see it early and let Doug know if there was anything you didn't want included?
Weintraub: I wasn't involved at all. I was involved strictly as a subject. I didn't realize what he was doing because I wasn't there for the (other) interviews. What he did was he asked everybody the same questions and then he went into the editing room and he started the story, somebody edited the next part of the story, the next part of the story. So everything just tied together. He tied it all together. It was quite fascinating for what he did.

CS: Is it hard watching a movie like this with all these people talking about you? It's very flattering.
Weintraub: No, I liked it. It's pretty extraordinary. How many people get a movie made about them and a book in their lifetime? it's pretty extraordinary.

CS: It feels like almost there might be another book in there, there might be another story in there. I haven't read the whole book yet obviously.
Weintraub: There is another book. I'm negotiating now to do it.

CS: I'm obviously more familiar with your work in the movie business and I hadn't known about you managing Frank and Elvis. Your transition from music business to movie business was interesting because it's something you don't see that often.
Weintraub: Everybody in those days, in the late '60s, early '70s, wanted me to make films. They all thought I'd be a great film producer and I was hesitant until I met Altman and Altman gave me "Nashville" and then I decided to do it.

CS: Do you think one business is harder than the other?
Weintraub: No, no, I don't. Everything's about this content. If you find the right content when you're in my business, in my world, then you can have success. If you don't find the right content, you can't have success.

CS: Obviously the story about the studio not wanting to release "Diner" is quite unbelievable in hindsight considering what a classic film it became.
Weintraub: I know. That was ridiculous.

CS: Is there anything in your years as a producer that you wanted to do that never quite took off or you still feel could take off if the time was right?
Weintraub: I had one movie that I felt was great that didn't work called "9-30-55" that I made with Debbie Bridges about the day James Dean died. But I discovered an awful lot of people between "Diner" and "The Karate Kid" and "Nashville" and all the other films I did. I just keep going and I find actors that I think are interesting and exciting and I work with them.

CS: Obviously Jaden Smith is an example of a young actor that is taking off. Are there any other actors today that you feel have big futures?
Weintraub: It's amazing stuff. DiCaprio, I think is incredible. Will Smith is fantastic. Hanks is great. There's a lot of great actors around.

CS: Most of them have been around 15 or 20 years now. Do you still go to the movies and see new things to keep on top of the new actors out there?
Weintraub: I do if I see kids that I like that I want to work with. I like Scott Caan. I think he's a great young kid. I think he's gonna have a really huge career. Emile Hirsch. There's a number of kids around that I see that I think are exciting.

CS: You've had a lot of success with remakes. Some people love them, some people hate them, but "Ocean's 11" was one most people liked, and I absolutely loved "The Karate Kid," which I saw here in Vegas at ShoWest, which is now CinemaCon. What do you think makes a good remake?
Weintraub: Well, "The Karate Kid" remake was all about Jaden Smith. He's fantastic and Jackie Chan. I didn't want to make it. Will Smith convinced me to do it.

CS: Are you involved with the sequel they want to make as well?
Weintraub: Oh yeah, yeah, for sure, "The Karate Kid" is me.

CS: How's it going? Do they have a script yet?
Weintraub: We're waiting for a script. We should have it any minute now.

CS: I'm pretty excited to see them together again.
Weintraub: Yeah, he's great. He's a superstar, that kid.

CS: What about some of these other things? I'm just old enough to have seen the original "Oh God!" in theaters. What about that one made you think of remaking it? Is there anyone today who could fill George Burns's shoes?
Weintraub: The "Oh God!" you mean? I'm working on that now. It's going to be a female god this time.

CS: Are there any original ideas or anything you see coming up? Do you still get scripts?
Weintraub: I'm going to make "Liberace" with Matt Damon and Michael Douglas directed by Soderbergh. I'm going to do that. I'm going to remake "Matt Helm" at Paramount.

CS: People want westerns again, which is great.
Weintraub: Yeah, I might do a western.

CS: Your relationship with Soderbergh is great, taking him from what he did with "Traffic" and "Erin Brockovich" and doing mainstream movies like "Ocean's Eleven." Where does "Liberace" fall in with those movies?
Weintraub: "Liberace's" a great film. It's a great piece of material. I have a great script and it's a great score.

CS: Are we going to see a younger Liberace as well? Are you going to have to find a young Michael Douglas to play Liberace?
Weintraub: Michael Douglas is playing Liberace.

CS: The young version as well?
Weintraub: Yeah, the whole thing.

CS: That's impressive. Are you have to use CG or anything like that?
Weintraub: You'll see, you'll see, yeah.

CS: Do you think Steven is really going to retire after doing that?
Weintraub: Do I think he's going to retire? I don't think he is.

CS: Yeah, I don't think so either. I was kind of surprised by that.
Weintraub: Well, he's been talking about it for a long time.

CS: It's funny because you got Harald Zwart to do "The Karate Kid." I'm curious what you see in directors as far as a good director to work with for a producer?
Weintraub: It has to be somebody who can communicate with actors and understand story, understands how to tell a story. I've had great luck with directors. I've worked with all the great ones.

CS: Do you still regularly meet new directors? Do you see any up and coming directors you'd want to work with?
Weintraub: I meet with directors all the time because I have pictures that I want to do and I'm not going to direct them myself, so I have to have directors.

CS: Have you ever directed?
Weintraub: No, I don't want to direct.

CS: Seeing this movie and seeing George and Brad and Matt and Julia talking about you, people might be interested in another Danny Ocean movie. Is that completely contingent on Steven wanting to do another one? Would you ever do another one?
Weintraub: I don't know. I really don't know. I'd never say no, but I don't know.

CS: Have you had any idea for another one and would you do it if George and Brad and Matt expressed interest in doing another movie together?
Weintraub: We don't have an idea.

"His Way" airs on HBO starting Monday, April 4.


Read more: Exclusive Interview with Producer Jerry Weintraub - ComingSoon.net [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Thanks Merlin!

Not "His Way" on HBO, "The True Elvis Presley Story: The World's First $1,000,000 Concert Tour by Concerts West, Tom Hulett and Jerry Weintraub. In his own words the true story of how Weintraub got his start in the entertainment business. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I wonder how many "people" (I use the term generally!!) have had their behinds slapped by the lovely Gee?? He must have very soft hands then! Do you think he man/pedicures regularly? He does have nice hands which usually means nice feet too.