Last August it was reported that director Gavin Hood (Rendition) and 20th Century Fox’s CEO Tom Rothman were having creative differences regarding the dark tone of X-Men Origins: Wolverine and of a specific set. Rothman, against director Gavin Hood’s wishes had the whole set repainted. Now Gavin Hood has come out to defend Tom Rothman.
Here is the full excerpt of what Gavin Hood said to Risky Business Blog:
“I am very fond of Tom [Rothman]. When he and I are in a room together and debating, he’s a very forceful personality, I’m a fairly forceful personality, and I hope he and I, through our debates, which we didn’t always agree… We certainly never yelled at each other. Some of these fan sites have really been upsetting in that way. I have never had a stand-up argument with Tom Rothman. Never, ever, and nor has Tom with me, ever, and that is a fact. And it’s quite upsetting to see how these things sort of spiral into…”
“Did we discuss and debate, what stylistically I was going to bring to the movie, and his expectations, and my [expectations]? Of course, of course you do that, and I hope it makes the movie better. Nobody’s trying to screw up the movie. I mean, there’s this stupid notion out there that Tom Rothman wants to ruin the franchise. What? That’s stupid… This is a huge thing for the studio. Of course he doesn’t want to ruin the franchise. Is he going to put a gun to his own head? He has a huge amount riding on this movie, as do I. There were disagreements, but they were handled with dignity and sincerity…”
I find it a little weird that now, after all this time, that Gavin Hood is finally jumping to the defense of Tom Rothman. Why come out to defend now after all this time? Its simple; damage control. We are a month away from Wolverine, and FOX is going to do all they can to get the buzz up for Wolverine considering it can’t get much lower. This may just be Hood protecting his reputation though, would Gavin Hood really want to trash his reputation by confirming these rumors? No. But maybe they actually didn’t have major clashes like some speculate, maybe people just blew things out of proportion which wouldn’t surprise me at all.
Do you think Rothman and Hood really fought? Or is this just something blown out of proportion?