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Gibson Signs Nayar To Produce A Low-Budget, Off-Beat Film

Arthur J Pais

For several years, some of the more respected independent film-makers in Europe and America including Wim Wenders, David Lynch and Michelangelo Antonioni have trusted one man in Hollywood to produce their films in America. And a few months ago, Mel Gibson, among Hollywood's top stars and film-makers, too asked Deepak Nayar to produce a low budget, offbeat film for his Icon Entertainment.

There are two Nayar-produced films at Cannes international film festival this month, both directed by Wenders. Buena Vista Social Club is a $ 3 million international documentary production, chronicling a legendary group of musicians led by Ry Cooder in their concerts in Amsterdam and New York.

The Million Dollar Hotel is the second film; Gibson plays a small but significant role in it. It is the fourth time Wenders and Nayar have collaborated. Made for $ 8 million, Hotel tells the story of a federal agent who turns upside down the lives of misfits at a skid row hotel when a billionaire's son is found dead there. The film features Jeremy Davies and Milla Jovovich.

Nayar is also associated with Lynch's Straight Story, a $ 10 million project for Walt Disney, which is in competition at Cannes.

The film, starring Harry Dean Stanton and Richard Farnsworth, retells the real life story of a 73-year-old man who covers 350 miles on a riding mower, to mend his relationships with his ailing older brother.

The typical budget for a Nayar film is $ 5 million. Lynch says Nayar is a detail-oriented and well-organized film executive who can also improvise on his feet. If the budget is halved suddenly, Nayar will still complete the film, and only the producer and he will know the secret, Lynch often tells his associates.

For Lynch, Nayar has not only produced theater-bound films including The Lost Highway in 1997 but also several television works.

Nayar, who assisted film-maker Bhim Sain for Gharonda nearly 24 years ago, says he left India because he could not stand the "crazy star system and chaotic shooting schedules." After working for film-maker Ismail Merchant, Nayar headed for the West Coast.

"I have been lucky to have been associated with film-makers who love cinema in the old fashioned and true sense," he says. "Their films have limited audiences but those audiences go back to these films with a sense of reverence and wonder."

"It is very satisfying to work with the likes of Lynch," he says. "Surely, there is more money to be made elsewhere but can one get this kind of satisfaction?"

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