Channing Tatum's Movie Battle in Seattle: Interview from the "Money Man" Who is Making the Film

A new interview of movie-maker Kirk Shaw of Candian-based Insight Film Studios was posted today and we get to learn a little more about how Channing Tatum's upcoming film Battle in Seattle is being made.

You may not know who Kirk Shaw is, but without his ability to put the complicated pieces of the financial puzzle together to make a movie, we would not have the pleasure of seeing Channing Tatum in the major film Battle in Seattle.

Here is a snippet from the article:

...About a year ago, he [Kirk Shaw] decided to move his company into the risky venture of big feature films, the type you see on a Saturday night at the cinema complex. Out of that has come a film, Battle in Seattle, starring Charlize Theron.

When Shaw signed up for the film, he was committed to spending $6 million. That figure soon climbed to $7.3 million, a big chunk of change for Insight but not a huge amount for the making of such a major film, which usually runs between $8 million and $15 million. Shaw is pleased with the result. He said Battle in Seattle has the look and feel of a $10-million film. Focusing on riots at the World Trade Organization meeting in 1999, trailers of the soon-to-be-released film are potent, visceral and speak to the need to address timely issues. The disenfranchised and outcast protesters become highly enfranchised on screen, an odd turn of events given Shaw's conservative nature. He acknowledges this. "I would have preferred to be more balanced," he says.

The movie is the brainchild of Theron's beau, Stuart Townsend, who wrote the script and directed. Townsend watched the riots on television in Ireland, and the images became embedded in his psyche. He rewrote the script several times, says Shaw.

Shaw seems to be able to turn creative control over to those he has placed in the driver's seat, praising and promoting them, while scrambling behind the scenes to keep them afloat financially. Despite his reservations, Shaw says Battle in Seattle is his proudest accomplishment to date.

Although self-effacing, he occasionally indulges in a few moments of pride. One of those moments came when Robson and Hastings streets in Vancouver shut down so the tanks and army could be brought in to shoot the movie. That didn't happen for his smaller productions. Although his eyes are trained on the balance sheet, he is also capable of looking up for a glimpse at the larger world. He believes in Battle in Seattle largely because of what he sees.

"Since 9/11, all that protest voice has been shut down, but the issues haven't gone away," he said. "It's important that it is being released in the year of an election in the U.S. We are fortunate in the timing of that."

Source: Victoria Times (Canada)

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