Dan Pritzker is back!
GNot satisfied with flushing hundreds of millions of dollars down the tubes with his last movie project, the Hyatt hotel empire heir has returned for more.
Pritzker lost at least $200 million shooting, and then reshooting with a whole different cast, his jazz movie called “Bolden.”
A period piece, “Bolden” took about 10 years to make, and remake, before it was ultimately released to a few theaters and bombed.
The whole thing was a vanity project, travesty that came to include many actors and casts.
In the end, “Bolden” — about little known coronet king Buddy Bolden — made around $300,000 during its limited run. The whole thing was gigantic write off, and maybe caused Hyatt Hotel rates to increase out of the blue.
I really thought that was it for Pritzker, whose brother Tom is chairman of Hyatt Hotels, as far as the movie business. Until today.
It turns out Pritzker has been shooting another megamovie, in Australia. It’s about the building of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge which, as we all know is NOT Down Under, but right here in the good ol’ USA.
Deadline.com, failing to mention the “Bolden” disaster, says the cast of “Fog City” includes Cooper Koch, Angus Imrie, Sarah Bolger, Miranda Otto, and Carla Gugino. At least, that’s the cast of this version because if Pritzker doesn’t like the finished product, he may start all over again!
Executive producers of this extravaganza is Richard Arlook, a former talent manager whose previous credits don’t indicate anything of this enormity. Producers are Jon Cornick, and Michele Tayler. The latter must be a glutton for punishment since she worked on “Bolden.”
Is this a bridge too far? A compelling subject? Not really. Watching a bridge being built by miscellaneous people you’ve never heard of doesn’t sound like a movie. Also, we know the ending — the bridge is there and there are cars on it all day. Drama? In the bridge’s OG story, it was closed from 1951 to 1954 because it was unstable. (I won’t make the obvious joke.)
There doesn’t seem to be that much drama about building the Golden Gate Bridge. But maybe there’s secret backstory we will learn about.
“Bolden” seems to be on YouTube, for free, with just 2,600 views.
