“It’s an out-of-body experience that I wouldn’t mind enjoying again,” said Irwin Winkler (left, with 1980 best-pic winner for Kramer vs. Kramer Stanley R. Jaffe) of his 1977 win for Rocky. “I remember we took all the kids to the show in a big white limousine and went to Fatburger afterwards.”
Arnold Kopelson (Winner, Platoon, 1987; nominee, The Fugitive, 1994) and Walter Mirisch (Winner, In the Heat of the Night, 1968).
From left: Diana Ossana (nominee, Brokeback Mountain, 2006), Bill Pohlad (nominee, The Tree of Life, 2012), Ron Yerxa (nominee, Nebraska, 2014), Stacey Sher (Nominee, Erin Brockovich, 2001; Django Unchained, 2013), Albert Berger (nominee, Nebraska, 2014) and Emma Tillinger Koskoff (nominee, The Wolf of Wall Street, 2014).
From left: Mel Gibson, Alan Ladd Jr., Jon Landau, Lawrence Bender, Brian Grazer, Donna Gigliotti and Dan Jinks.
From left: Ivan Reitman, Reginald Hudlin, Mike Medavoy, Robbie Brenner, Richard Suckle, Jason Reitman, Rachel Winter and Nicolas Chartier were photographed by Joe Pugliese.
From left: Robert Evans, Fred Roos, Irwin Winkler, Walter Mirisch, Stanley Jaffe, Michael Phillips and Albert Ruddy.
From left: Sherry Lansing, Frank Marshall, Arnold Kopelson, Quincy Jones and Mark Johnson were among the 34 producers THR gathered together.
"You have to be so lucky to even get a movie made, and then for it to be nominated and win? All the stars have to align," says Michael Phillips (left, with five-time nominee Frank Marshall) of his 1974 best picture win for The Sting.
“Have you seen all the people who were here today? I mean, they made Taxi Driver and The Godfather!” says a starstruck Nicolas Chartier (left, with Sherry Lansing and Stanley R. Jaffe), whose war-themed indie The Hurt Locker scored a best picture win in 2010. “In 30 years, I want to be one of these guys, sitting with a cane, in [the] front of the photo.”
“I remember the first time I gave my dad the script for Up in the Air,” says Jason Reitman (right, with his father, Ivan Reitman) of their 2010 nominated film. “He said, ‘Jason, this is a plotless screenplay!’ ”
From left: American Beauty winner Dan Jinks, Nebraska nominee Ron Yerxa and Rain Man winner Mark Johnson.
“You know the cliche, ‘I’m just happy to be here?’ Well, I was just happy to be there,” says Django Unchained’s Reginald Hudlin (left, with Mike Medavoy, producer of 2011 nominee Black Swan) of his 2013 best picture nomination. “It was a great satisfaction knowing we made the exact movie we set out to make.”
From left: Braveheart winner Mel Gibson, Chinatown nominee — and gracious host of the day’s event — Robert Evans and Platoon winner Arnold Kopelson.
With The Color Purple in 1986, Quincy Jones became the first black producer to earn a best picture nomination.
“It’s been overwhelming and exhilarating,” says first-time nominee Emma Tillinger Koskoff, producer of The Wolf of Wall Street (far left, with Donna Gigliotti, Stacey Sher, Diana Ossana and Sherry Lansing). “It’s a true privilege. But I’m not going to lie: I’m exhausted!”
Alan Ladd Jr. and Mel Gibson, both winners for Braveheart in 1996.
From left: Michael Phillips, Arnold Kopelson, Walter Mirisch, Irwin Winkler, Stanley Jaffe and Sherry Lansing spent some time together at Robert Evans' estate.
Grazer tells THR that Mel Gibson — on the set of their 1996 thriller Ransom — was the one to inform the producer of his nomination for Apollo 13. At the ceremony, Grazer admits he put the cart before the horse. "I actually stood to accept the award, and instead they said Braveheart," Grazer recalls with a laugh.
Sherry Lansing took the hand of her host for the day, Robert Evans.
Stanley Jaffe (winner, Kramer vs. Kramer (1980); nominee, Fatal Attraction (1988)) and Robert Evans (nominee, Chinatown (1975)).
“They read all the other names of the nominees and you feel like they’re plotting for any other one to win! Then they read yours and it takes a minute to sink in,” says Titanic’s Oscar-winning producer Jon Landau (standing, far left) of receiving the award. “It’s a euphoric sensation.”