Mr. Puttnam Goes to Hollywood

By Barbara Rudolph

Musical chairs is a time-honored executive pastime in Hollywood, where top- level job switches are frequent but outsiders are usually unwelcome. Thus it was a major surprise when Columbia Pictures announced in June that British Filmmaker David Puttnam would replace Guy McElwaine as chairman. Puttman, 45, who takes over this week, is the producer of such widely praised hits as Chariots of Fire and The Killing Fields but has never worked for a U.S. movie company. Indeed, he has been one of the American industry's most outspoken critics. Columbia is gambling that a talented iconoclast can provide something the studio sorely needs: handsome, intelligent films that also make money.

Columbia, a Coca-Cola subsidiary, needs that kind of help. The studio's last - major hit was Ghostbusters, released two summers ago. It cost an estimated $35 million to make and has since earned more than $200 million. Columbia's major summer release, The Karate Kid Part II, has done well since it opened two months ago, pulling in gross revenues of about $94 million. But the film can not compensate for a two-year string of flops that included Perfect and The Bride.

To be fair, Columbia is not alone in its problems. U.S. box-office attendance for the first six months of 1986 hit a seven-year low of 488.6 million, compared with a mid-1983 high of 599 million. Even with a strong summer, year-end box-office sales are expected to fall below 1985's $3.75 billion, which was nearly 7% lower than in 1984.

Puttnam's name was first broached for his new job at a lunch on June 10 between Fay Vincent, Columbia Pictures Industries' chairman, and Thomas Lewyn, Puttnam's lawyer. Vincent had known the British producer since Puttnam made the Turkish jail saga Midnight Express for Columbia in 1978. Ten days later, Vincent traveled to London to meet with the producer. After wavering a bit, Puttnam accepted Columbia's offer.

The son of a London news photographer, Puttnam never attended college or film school. He worked as a talent agent for photographers and directors between 1966 and 1968. Then, joining with Agent Sandy Lieberson, he produced his first feature film, Melody. Since then, Puttnam has made 28 pictures, including documentaries (Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?), fast-paced sagas (Midnight Express and The Killing Fields) and lyrical features (Local Hero and Cal).

As his career flourished modestly, Puttnam became known as an industry gadfly. He was particularly scornful of what he calls the "me-too attitude" of traditional Hollywood studio bosses who slavishly copy the formulas of their competitors' hits. Says Puttnam: "You can't do creative work in an environment like that."

Puttnam's toughest goal in his new job is to make movies that tough critics like himself will applaud. Says the new chairman: "I would be shattered if I could not look with pride at Columbia's pictures. That would not be true of 75% of films made in Hollywood today." But he coyly refuses to offer specifics about his plans. "All I bring with me is a philosophy," Puttnam says. "I have a lot to learn."

In five years, Puttnam intends to return to the role of producer. If he fails as a member of the Establishment, he jokes, he "still has a day job to go back to." Columbia, though, is betting big that the outspoken outsider has what it takes to turn the studio back into a long-running box-office attraction.

With reporting by William Hackman/Los Angeles