After a 17-year hiatus, Bob Shaye — the cofounder, cochair, and co-CEO of New Line Cinema — is jumping into the director's chair for his fourth film. The Last Mimzy is a Close Encounters-meets-ET fantasy-thriller based on Lewis Padgett's story of two children and a time-traveling stuffed rabbit. Wired chatted with Shaye about how he transformed the adult-themed fable into a family flick and why his longtime relationship with director Peter Jackson — who's suing New Line for a larger cut of The Lord of the Rings trilogy's massive profits — is so very precious.
— Scott Thill
WIRED: Why did you want to direct Mimzy?
Shaye: I've been a sci-fi geek for a long time. I liked Padgett's premise that human brains don't coalesce until we're 8 or 9 — and his exploration of the potential for brains that haven't been programmed by our reality or Euclidean geometry — as the story describes.
Sounds like you're staying true to Padgett.
We took liberties. But we also had Brian Greene, the Columbia physics professor and proponent of string theory, as our time-travel consultant.
You recently said Peter Jackson would never touch The Hobbit while you were at New Line.
You know, we're being sued right now, so I can't comment on ongoing litigation. But I said some things publicly, and I'm sorry that I've lost a colleague and a friend.
Is The Hobbit still a viable project?
I can only say we're going to do the best we can with it. I respect the fans a lot.
credit: Barry Blitt
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Hobbit Producer's Hare-Raising Tale
