LOS ANGELES — "Paramount Pictures and Mutual Film Company present . . . a Lawrence Gordon production . . . in association with Eidos Interactive Limited . . . a Simon West film . . . Angelina Jolie . . . 'Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.' "
Whew! We've only reached the title of this summer action flick and already we're breathless.
Then there's the recent science fiction sendup where you have to trek through eight names of companies or people before arriving at the title:
"Dreamworks Pictures and Columbia Pictures present . . . a Montecito Picture Company production . . . an Ivan Reitman film . . . David Duchovny . . . Orlando Jones . . . Seann William Scott . . . and Julianne Moore . . . (stay with us, folks, here it comes) 'Evolution.' "
If only they had put as much effort into the script.
And there was this message at the end of several minutes of closing credits for last year's spoof "State and Main":
"A complete list of this film's associate producers is available upon written request."
Writer-director David Mamet was just kidding, of course. But even though the Hollywood name game may at times seem excessive to the point of absurdity, it's a serious, high-stakes business in this ego-driven industry.
When stars and their agents negotiate for movie roles, there's only one major concern after the money: Billing. Or maybe it should be BILLING.
Yes, it gets that fussy, right down to the size of the letters.
Billing — how the names of actors, directors, writers, producers, even companies, appear in ads and on the screen— has a long history in the movie business. Careers can be enhanced or hindered by the mere presentation of names.
And when disputes erupt (billing vs. BILLING, for instance), longtime relationships can be dashed, multimillion-dollar contracts broken, careers ruined and . . . let's just say things can get really ugly.
During the recent contract negotiations between Hollywood writers and producers, the Writers Guild continued its decades-long battle against the "possessory credit" for directors.
That's the industry's term for such billings as "George Stevens' 'Shane' " or "A film by Steven Spielberg," all designed to emphasize the director's contribution to the film.
Although the possessory credit was very much on the table during the protracted Writers Guild talks, it was not a part of the May settlement. Negotiators decided to handle the thorny issue the way they deal with such matters in Washington: form a blue ribbon committee for further study.
So is billing really that important?
"I definitely think it means something," observes a lawyer at one of the big talent agencies who — indicative of how sensitive the issue can be — spoke only on the condition that his name wasn't used (oh, the irony).
"It connotes an actor's stature. If an actor's name is above the title, it denotes marquee value. . . . It's the whole concept of 'Can he open a picture?' " the lawyer says.
In other words: Does the actor have enough prestige and likability to draw crowds in the crucial first weekend of release?
Observes veteran publicist Jerry Pam: "If an actor's price is $10 million and his last three pictures have bombed, he might agree to $8 million in his next picture — provided he gets top billing. That's how important it is."
Stars like Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Tom Cruise automatically get billing above the title. Agents for lesser stars often have to bargain for billing, and deals sometimes fail if the placement is deemed unsatisfactory.
Whether out of loyalty to the director or the prospect of big money, established stars sometimes accept roles that are more than cameos but less than starring.
Alec Baldwin portrayed Col. Jimmy Doolittle in "Pearl Harbor," appearing in only the early and later parts of the film. The billing solution: the names of six actors are listed above the title followed by "and Alec Baldwin." That small conjunction is considered vital to an actor's reputation.
"Sometimes two leads are of almost equal stature," says the agency lawyer. "Then you might see staggered billing: the name on the right is a little bit higher than the one on the left. Sometimes you will see situations where Actor A is in first position on the screen, and Actor B is in first position on the paid ads and posters.
"When you're representing the talent, you want to, at the very least, maintain the (billing) precedent. If you can, you want to improve the billing, assuming that it can be improved. Eddie Murphy and Jack Nicholson you don't have to do anything for.
"Sometimes you have a truly ensemble picture with a number of stars. In that case, you might have the actors listed alphabetically below the title, with everybody assured of having their names appearing in the same size and for the same duration on the screen."
Woody Allen, who manages to attract big-name stars for his films, has employed the alphabetical technique on such films as "Hannah and Her Sisters" and "Husbands and Wives." Of course, it doesn't hurt that his last name starts with A.
Besides actors and directors, above-the-title billing can also be cluttered with companies and producers.
In the case of "Tomb Raider," Paramount, in the first position, was the primary backer of the movie and released it domestically. Mutual Film Co. partially financed the picture and will release it in several countries. Lawrence Gordon was the producer. Eidos owns the "Tomb Raider" video game.
As crucial as it is now, billing wasn't always so in Hollywood. In fact, in the early days, there wasn't any.
Producers worried that if actors became famous they would demand higher salaries, so they didn't list cast names on the screen or in ads. Biograph's popular star, Florence Lawrence, was known to her fans only as "the Biograph girl."
In 1910, the star system was born.
Names like Pickford, Chaplin and Fairbanks became world famous, and their appearance in ads and on marquees assured big business.
When nearly all actors were under contract to the studios, billing was dictated by the bosses. When the big studios were dropping their contract players and the old-time moguls were losing their power in the 1950s, actors and agents entered the billing arena.
In 1955, Spencer Tracy and Humphrey Bogart were cast in "The Desperate Hours," and both insisted on top billing. The impasse was solved when Tracy withdrew, and Fredric March took his role.