Giancarlo Parretti, who was central to one of Hollywood’s greatest scandals, will reflect on his tumultuous days running MGM for the first time in a new feature doc from the BBC, Fifth Season and Wonderhood Studios.
In The Man Who Definitely Didn’t Steal Hollywood from BAFTA-winning Lockerbie director John Dower, Parretti will give his own account of what happened all those years ago when the unknown waiter became one of the most powerful studio bosses in Hollywood, but soon faced an FBI investigation.
Parretti bought the iconic James Bond studio MGM/UA in 1990 for $1.3B with high hopes but within weeks, the 17th James Bond movie was put on ice, pay cheques to Dustin Hoffman and Sylvester Stallone had bounced, and hundreds of MGM/UA staff were fired. Parretti soon faced an FBI investigation for alleged financial irregularities and his ownership of Hollywood’s most famous studio spiraled out of control.
Filmed in LA, Rome, Melbourne, London and New York, the doc will speak to Hollywood directors, actors and writers involved, along with the man himself. A separate project, The Lion of Orvieto from comedy writer Michael O’Rourke and producer Niels Juul, was being shopped at the Venice Film Festival.
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Dower said: ”In 25 years of making documentaries Giancarlo Parretti is one of the most fabulous storytellers I’ve come across – he and Hollywood were made for each other. It’s an utterly bonkers tale.”
Wonderhood Chief Creative Officer Samantha Anstiss added: “John Dower’s entertaining and intelligent feature documentary tells the story of an enigmatic former waiter who both beguiled and bewildered Hollywood. The film is playfully and profoundly peppered with cinematic references and is a provocative and mischievous love letter to the crazy world of entertainment we inhabit. It’s also a story about the fame machine and money with dire consequences as the story ends with collapse of the French national bank.”
Dower writes, produces and directs. Anstiss is EPing with Tom Anstiss. Commissioning editors for the BBC are Alistair Pegg and Suzy Klein. Silvia Sacco is senior producer and the doc was developed by Tom Garton.
Fifth Season is handling global distribution and is producing in association. David Abraham’s Wonderhood has been behind the likes of Channel 4’s Evacuation and Paramount+’s Last Days of Playboy.
The post ‘The Man Who Definitely Didn’t Steal Hollywood’: Giancarlo Parretti To Speak About Tumultuous Days Running MGM In BBC & Fifth Season Feature Doc appeared first on Deadline.
