you started as an intern and then receptionist atjersey films, the production company that made pulp fiction. you went on to be assistant to the co—founder and actor and director danny devito. what was that like? and what were your first impressions of the movie business back then? well, the movie business back then was pretty exciting. it was 1995 when i moved here and i went to emerson college and they had this wonderful programme, this internship programme. so that's how i obtained the internship through them. it was fantastic. it was exciting. i mean, like driving onto the... they were, at the time, on the sony lot. so driving on the sony lot, which is the old mgm lot, like, feeling the history of film, and being this kid from newjersey, i couldn't even believe this was happening. and it was so cool because it wasjersey films, too. and i knew... i hadn't met danny right away as an intern, he was off making a film, but he would call the office every day and i would answer the phone. and i think i had a pretty heavy accent back then, like jersey accent, it'll slip in, you'll catch it a couple of times here. but he would call and we would talk and he would ask me questions, and that's how we formed a relationship. and he was filming the movie matilda at the time, which he was directing, and it was the final day of shooting, and he ended up asking his assistant to no longer be his assistant. and he was like, "i'll take the kid at the front desk," you know, "with the accent." and that's how i started working for him. and it was thrilling, it was terrifying, it was everything i could imagine. and honestly, it was like going to the best film school in the world because you really, i really learned how to make movies, nuts and bolts, make movies from the ground up, working at that company. fantastic. and you've spent, of course now, decades, several decades in the business at paramount pictures and mgm before warner brothers. i mean, i was struck by something i heard or read about casablanca, that back in 1942, when that movie was being made here, it was one of 50 films being made on this lot at that time, and nobody really thought it was particularly special. i know. and then, of course, it became this incredible hit that's sustained over all these all these decades. do you ever know when a movie is going to be a big hit? i don't think there's a, like a set thing knowing what's going to work and what's not going to work. i think for myself, i always go at it with the best hopes and the best intentions of finding the best film—maker, finding a great story that i think the audience wants to see and then trying to make it the best you can do. you know, it's really hard. you know, the first thing, it's always funny to me, i always used to say this when i was a producer, it's like the best day and the worst day of your career, your moment in making a film is the day the director signs on. because you can sit in a room as a producer and develop the script and work with the writer and come up with the wonderful, most wonderful story and you're there, and then all of a sudden you get your dream director, and they come on and they're like, "ok, this is what it's going to be." and it's the best day and the worst day because you have to put to rest what your own vision of it was and then go into the hands of the director. for me, that's one of the greatest moments in time, is when you get to collaborate with, like, a great storyteller and a great film—maker. so i don't know, there's movies that i thought that i said, "oh, this is going to be the one," and it wasn't. like what? well, well, 47 ronin was one of them. you know, it had a great script and it was super ambitious and itjust didn't pan out to be what we wanted it to be. it was not what audiences wanted to see. and that's ok, and that happens, and you're not going to pick the right ones all the time. and then, conversely, there's a little movie that i made that changed my career, which was called garden state. you know, i read that script twice in one night, and it spoke to me because i was from newjersey and i was a kid who left the comforts of home and moved out west to try and chase my dreams. and that's what the character was. so i related to it, but i didn't know that anyone else was going to want to see it. and you know, zach was a first time director. he had been on a show for one season, on scrubs, and everyone in town passed on us. every single person. we went to so many companies and they were like, "no, he's a first time director. "how is he going to do it?" and, frankly, i had a budget at the time of $4 million and i met this individual who said he would finance the film and he said, "i'll co—fi it." so he was going to give us half the budget. and we went to one studio and they said, "we'll give you the other half of the budget." but the deal they were making with us was pretty subpar. it wasn't good and we would never see anything, we didn't even know if anybody would ever see the movie after that. and to gary gilbert's credit, he said, "if you cut the budget in half, i'll finance the whole thing." and i did. and i cut the budget down to 2.5. i moved into my parents�* house in newjersey, because we had no money for me to live, and we went and made this movie. and for zach and myself and natalie portman and peter sarsgaard, i mean, we just we were all young, you know, and we didn't know what we were doing. and it was magical. it was truly one of the most magical experiences ever. i used everyone i knew from growing up for favours, for locations. my mom would cook and bring food for craft service. it was just one of those special things, but i had no idea if anybody was going to see the movie. so when it sold at sundance in a bidding war, it was super gratifying. i bet. yeah. and are there any rules? are there any rules that you could tell budding film—makers or are there any rules that you live by in terms of, "i'm going to do this with a movie?" or, "this movie is the kind of movie that is going to do well?" i think now more than ever, because there is such an expansion of where people are receiving and getting their content, i think for us, who believes wholeheartedly into the theatrical experience, and when you're putting movies out in the theatre and you're engaging the audience to say, go buy a ticket, drive out of your house, get a baby—sitter, go see this movie, i think you have to have intention and i think you have to know who the audience is you're going for. and if you're a movie for not at least one audience, you're a movie for no—one. so the whole goal is always, "who is this movie going to speak to? who are you trying to engage? how can we expand that audience?" and that's the exciting part. for me, it always starts with the script. everything is about what's on the page, the story and the film—maker. what is that film—maker's vision? what is their passion? what is the story they're going to tell? that, i live and die by. well, let's talk about barbie. that is a big warner brothers hit right now, the biggest movie of last year, $1.1; billion and counting. were you surprised by that or did you feel it in your bones that it was going to work? you started to feel it in your bones it was going to work. but you knew because greta and noah's script was so special. and, you know, we were privileged, when we came in, they had been in the middle of shooting, so we got to be here for halfway through the shoot. and i went to visit the set the first time and i sawjust this magic and greta's command of the story as a film—maker. and i think she is truly one of the most... she is a visionary and she is one of the best film—makers working today. and at the time, did you see it as a feminist movie? did you think it was tapping into the zeitgeist? i thought it was a movie that had feminist principles to it and a movie that talked about what it is to be a woman. but the reason why i think the movie connects is because the movie is about what it is to be human and what it is to feel and what it is to see people. and i think what's so special about barbie is that it speaks to everybody around the world. i mean, i remember opening weekend, i went to the theatre on sunday morning because my daughter wanted to see it again for the fifth time. and we were sitting there and the lights went down and the music comes up, and it's that first image of barbie, you know, of margot, when she's tall barbie. and i saw her settle in and this grin on herface. and i looked at my husband and i go, "oh, this is her star wars. this is et for her." this is what it felt like when i was her age and went to the theatre and the lights went down, and something that i felt was made and speaking to me spoke to her. it was... that was magical. and despite it being, you know, clearly a huge commercial hit and the most talked about movie of last year, you know, why the snubs? you know, no bafta awards, margot robbie, greta gerwig not nominated at the oscars. how did that feel? well, i mean, listen, we're super grateful for all the recognition that the movie has received. and we're super grateful for the support. and we're really grateful that it ignited audiences around the world. and it's made $1.1; billion and has smashed so many records, just, you know, greta's records, box office records, warner brothers�* history records. so we're super grateful for all of that. but it's got to hurt? yeah, of course it does, you know. of course i want to see all of them get recognised. they deserve it, you know. and i think... listen, i think the industry has, we're making a lot of strides, we have a long way to go. well, you and your co—chair, michael deluca, you took over the studio nearly two years ago. your appointment came after warner brothers appeared to have lost its way. you know, it had spent, you know, perhaps $90 million on batgirl and then axed it. it lost christopher nolan, who'd made movies for the studio, you know, with the studio for decades, most of his career, steven spielberg had made his last two movies at other studios. your co—chair, michael deluca, said your "vision from day one has been to rebuild this iconic studio to the heights of its glory days". yes. what went wrong, do you think? i think it's challenging. you know, i think it's a challenging business. it's a ever—moving marketplace. and i can't speak to what happened really here before because i wasn't here. so i can't really answer what went wrong. you were looking in from outside. i'm looking in from outside, you know, and it's hard to judge other people's houses unless you're inside that house. so i think that from the very first meeting that david zaslav had with us, we sat down with david, and mike and i talked about our film—maker approach, an eclectic slate and what we believe in. and david was so supportive and on board from the beginning. and what david said to us, "i want to bring the glory back to warner brothers. i want to bring the best and brightest storytellers here. we have the best ip in the world. we have so many different businesses that we can have storytellers tell any kind of story they want to tell, whether it's at hbo, whether it's at cnn, whether it's on the discovery networks, on warner studios, with warner television." it's an incredible group of creative leadership here. and david, he said, "get the best talent. i want them here." and one of them was tom cruise. you know, we said tom had made amazing films at warner brothers, and he's been working at paramount for a long time. and we wanted to figure out a way, how do we do that? and we did. how did you do it? how do you woo someone like tom cruise? what do you do? is it a lot of phone calls? is it meetings? is it lunches? what is it? it's meetings. it's really thoughtful and intentional discussions about where we see the business and where we see the audience and what kind of stories that a global audience want to see. and that's what tom cares about. i mean, he is an incredible human being, an incredible storyteller and producer. it is the lucky timing of everything where we, as a studio, are leaning into the theatrical experience. we believe in theatrical, we believe in putting movies everywhere, making sure they're showing around the world everywhere, and then showing up on hbo later and making sure that we're maximising all these stories in every single window possible. and i think we just are like— minded with tom in that way. so what's he going to make with you? i mean, we know he's going into space with universal, potentially. he's done mission impossible elsewhere. what's he going to do with you? the first film is with alejandro gonzalez inarritu, who i've had the privilege of working with three times before. so for me, this is like a dream come true. one of my favourite actors of all time and my favourite directors of all time collaborating on a story. and there's more to come. we have a few things that i'm not ready to talk about yet. can you tell us anything about that movie they're making? no! 0h! i'm not going to find this out, am i? no, not today. ok, fairenough. fair enough. but it's exciting. ok, great. sounds brilliant. you have a track record for winning oscars — birdman, the big short, the revenant. what's your recipe for oscar glory? directors. always the director. picking the best director. so that's what your usp here is at warner? yeah. to take them back into the academy? and even on any kind of movie, i think it's important, i think you should have the best director directing comedy, the best director directing sci fi, the best director... i mean, i think it's all about, you're in the hands of that storyteller and they are the ones that are capturing the images. they are the ones getting the performances, they are the ones creating the narrative and the story alongside the writers. but it's really in the hands of the film—makers. so i think the recipe is, is film—makers. and of course, one of those key film—makers, greta gerwig. are we going to get a barbie 2? i mean, we'd love to. can you see what the plot would be? i was trying to work it out. barbie works out in the real world, but the rat race isn't for her and tries to go back to barbie land. i don't know what it would be. i think there's a lot of people speculating about what it can be. 0k. well, let's talk about christopher nolan, the man of the moment. he spent most of his career at warner, then he walked away in 2020, before your time, after the studio decided to premiere a year's worth of films on its streaming service. he's since praised you for what you're doing. he says it's encouraging. do you want christopher nolan back at warner brothers? of course. so what are you doing to try and persuade him back? it's up to christopher nolan and emma. i think they are tremendous artists and film—makers and we've had a wonderful dialogue with them since we came to the studio. i'm so excited for him and emma with oppenheimer. i think it's a brilliant film. what does the success of it say to you? it's interesting, isn't it? because, you know, in a way people are talking about how it's reshaping what constitutes blockbuster entertainment, and a film about a theoretical physicist, on paper, doesn't necessarily make you think it's going to do as well as it did. but i think the audience knows it's a christopher nolan film, you know, and i think they have a relationship with his storytelling and they know that he's going to tell a wonderful story and a complex story. and i think they show up when they feel like it's going to feel like an event. and i think oppenheimer absolutely felt like an event. and, clearly, we all know why he left. he left at the time because of this anger that lots of directors felt around this business of the theatrical window and, you know, they make the films for the big screen. what he told me was, when i interviewed christopher nolan, he told me, "the amount of time between a film cinema release and it being put on a streamer should absolutely be longer." he said, "it's not good for the health of cinemas otherwise." do you agree with him? i do. i do think that not every movie needs to stay in the cinema, perhaps as long. i don't think it's like one size fits all. i definitely don't feel that. but i do feel like, absolutely, a movie seen in a theatre, creating that cultural experience, the communal experience, you cannot experience that kind of storytelling anywhere else. you're in a room, it's dark, you're with an audience, you're laughing, you're crying, you're getting scared together, you're experiencing something together. you then leave, you go have a coffee or dinner and you talk about that film and you talk about how it made you feel. and ijust think it shows up in all the other downstream windows with a different kind of feeling. so do you think warner got that wrong when it came to christopher nolan? ithink... i can'tjudge what they were doing. i think they were trying to adapt to whatever was going on. we were in the middle of a global pandemic. you know, i can only speak... but they lost their biggest star. yes. and that's super unfortunate. but i think that, you know, i can only speak to what my experience was running, you know, being president of a studio during a global pandemic that didn't have a streaming service as a backstop. we you know, mike and i were at mgm at the time. and as you know, you know, it was very out there. we moved james bond four times. and that was a considered and very intentional effort by all of our leadership in concert with barbara broccoli and michael wilson. that's what we did and that's what we chose to do. but i think each company at the time was doing what they thought was what they had to do. and, you know, it's hard to speak orjudge what someone else did. sure. and right now you've got this, yourfirst major hit of 2024, dune: part two. huge opening weekend in america. and dune: part one, ithink, was released on streaming on the same day as in cinema. has warner learned its lesson? when will dune two start being streamed? we don't set the window... we don't talk about that from the beginning. we open the movies and we let them play and we see what's best. we iterate all the time. i used the term "big guns" earlier — it feels like quite a male term anyway. but you know, in the movie world, the big guns are often male. you're a significant player here. donna langley, who i've interviewed before, is running universal. are things changing? because, you know, ijust saw today, a ucla diversity report came out, you know, their annual diversity in hollywood. and it's still the case, you know, hardly any women directors making big—budget movies. i think out of the $100 million budget movies, only three women directors, including greta, 25 men. and women of colour, you know, continually left out. are things changing in hollywood? i ask people this all the time and they say they are, but then the numbers come out again and they haven't. i know. it's hard. it's frustrating, right? because all these reports come out and it feels like, when you feel like you're doing the work, which i feel that we are here at warners, you think that it's going to be different and it hasn't quite grown to the level. but i think a lot of this has to start with education and it has to start with the younger education. and that goes for every aspect of the business where we are lacking diversity and women in certainjob roles, whether that's directing, whether that's cinematography, whether that is visual effects or sound. you know, there's these kids, they are in high schooljust outside of los angeles, like very close, just in the little suburbs around, and they can see the hollywood sign but the idea of getting into a job is so far—fetched for them, they don't even know that that's a possibility for them. and these kinds of programmes that allow these young high school students to say, "hey, i can be part of a storytelling experience. i don't have to be greta to do it." ijust think education is the most important thing and that's how we're going to change the numbers. so when you see every year the oscar list comes out, no woman's ever won best cinematography oscar. only one woman on the directing list this year, same as previous years. what do you think when you see that? i think we have a lot of work to do and i think... i have a lot of hope, though, for the future. like when i was starting to try to come into the business, there weren't a lot of women directors. i didn't know that that was maybe a path for me. there was writers, but there were a lot of executives, there were a lot of female executives and a lot of female producers. one of danny's partners is stacey sher, who produced pulp fiction and hateful eight, and she's an extraordinary producer. and i learned from her and she mentored me. so i was really lucky to have a mentor like that. then when i went to paramount, i was really lucky to get to work for sherry lansing for a year. and they were always supportive to me and i was able to go to them and ask for advice. i try to be that way for the next generation. that's important to me — i want to give back. i feel very lucky and blessed for my career and for the both the male and female mentors i had. and ijust think it's my responsibility and it's imperative. and, you know, eventually maybe i'll retire, but probably not. you're probably going to have to wheel me off of a set. you just keep on going. absolutely. so you're expanding your studios in the uk at leavesden. the british chancellor, jeremy hunt, said the uk will be second only to hollywood for studio space next year. what makes the uk a good place for you to make movies in? well, you have amazing crews. i think the craftsmanship is extraordinary and there's great, great incentives to go there. visual effects, sound studios, colour studios, the big stages we have at leavesden. ijust think everything's there. it's state of the art and it's just a wonderful place to work. are we cheaper, too? i don't know that you're cheaper. i just think you have a different tax incentive than a lot of the states do here. and i'm interested in what you make of the argument, you were talking earlier about that kind of collective experience of going to see movies. and yet there is also an argument that cinema just no longer plays such a key role in pop culture. you know, barbenheimeraside, you know, video games, tiktok, are arguably more important for multiple generations. tv viewing for the oscars has gone down, you know, for several years. is it... are you picking up? is it a sign that people are less interested in cinema? i don't think they're less interested. i think cinema has struggled over the last several years because we've had quite a few things happen. we had a global pandemic and last year we unfortunately had the strike. and i think that the consistency of the movie—going experience got delayed because of these two very big events. i think the more we create stories that people want to go to the theatre and see, they're going to go. and where are you on duration? because casablanca, made here, was only one hour, a2. barbie, 12 minutes longer than that. but we've got killers of the flower moon over three, you know, three hours. oppenheimer, three hours. i spoke to sir ridley scott about this and he said, he talked about squeaky—bum time. he thinks after about two hours people just start moving and... yeah. you know, arejust films getting a bit too long? some of them are long, yes. too long? yes, some of them are too long. but you can't say every movie needs to be 90 minutes or every movie should be three hours, you know? but do you say that to your directors or...? we work with the film—makers and say, like, i work closely with the film—makers when i feel like something's too long and we say, this feels like, the pace here, or this isn't working in this section. and, you know, we have wonderful tools with audiences to see where they get a little uncomfortable at times. but at the end of the day it's what is the film—maker's vision and how do we communicate the story they're trying to tell in the right amount of time? and is that, i'm interested in how you balance, because clearly you're in a very creative industry as a very creative person, but equally you're in charge of the money and the economics. and how do you balance that with film—makers who want to go really long, who want to spend hundreds of millions? well, ithink, i can't speakfor everyone else, i think what mike and i, our unique perspective on being chairman of the studio is we've also been producers. so a lot of the film—makers that we work with, they know that we come from a place with best intentions about the movie, and we try to very early on in the process with film—makers, we work really closely with them determining what that budget of the film needs to be and being disciplined about the budget. and we're not trying to cut them just to cut them. we're not trying to give them too much just to overindulge. we give the right amount of money for that particular film. and are those difficult conversations to have? of course they are. sometimes they're really difficult conversations. but, like i said, if you're transparent and you say up front, "this is what we think the budget should be," and we work together to get there... you know, we approach everything as producers. that's just the way mike and i do it. and we're never going to change. we're never going to be any different. so i think the conversations sometimes go down a bit easier because the film—makers know we've been on the ground in the trenches, sweating it out as producers, and we understand the challenges that they face every day. just sum up what you're doing to make sure that in the future you're sitting in that dolby theatre next year, the year after or the year after that, with your film winning best picture? what am i doing? trying to find the best scripts possible and really trying to build an eclectic slate. mike and i are building an eclectic slate here where we try to make different kinds of movies, different budget levels, with world—class storytellers. and i think that's the best you can do, is try to find the best stories possible that are commercial, that are artistic, where commerce and art meet each other. pam abdy, thank you very much. thank you for having me. thanks. hello. we've had some sunshine. not a bad day overall, just a few showers here and there. i think easter sunday is going to be a little more overcast, particularly across england and closer to the north sea coast. quite a chilly breeze off the north sea with some drizzle at times. now, the satellite picture shows that gap in the weather that's over us right now. so things set fair for the moment. but this thicker cloud towards the east will shroud the uk during the course of sunday, particularly eastern areas of the uk. now, through the course of tonight, yes, there's a bit of rain in the forecast for some southwestern areas, perhapsjust around the irish sea, and into northern ireland. but the bulk of the uk should have predominantly clear and dry weather. chilly in the north of scotland, a touch of frost and some mist and fog forming, particularly across central parts of england. so the morning is looking bright for many of us, particularly across the north and the west of the uk. a few showers there in northern ireland, but then this thick cloud invades off the north sea, a chilly breeze, fleeting rain possible from parts of the southeast through east anglia, lincolnshire and really all along that north sea coast. the best of the sunshine will be out towards the west tomorrow around the irish sea, southwestern scotland, northern ireland, the western isles. and then sunday night into monday, a weather front moves in from the south. this is going to be more substantial rain, a more prolonged spell of rain to come for many of us on easter monday. really not looking particularly pretty across england and wales. your best bet for fine weather is the north of northern ireland, also northern and western scotland away from that weather front, temperatures around nine degrees in aberdeen, but in the south, despite the cloud and the rain, still getting up to 1a, though, i don't think it's particularly going to feel like it. and then the outlook for the week ahead will see a series of low pressures aligning themselves up in the atlantic. heading our way, one weather front after the other, after the other. and that basically spells rain. so whether you're checking the website or looking at the app, an indication here with these rain symbols that the weather is going to be predominantly unsettled. rain at times, certainly possible almost anywhere in the uk. and before i go, there'sjust a quick message that british summer time begins tonight. bye— bye. live from london, this is bbc news. king charles willjoin members of the royal family at an easter sunday service at windsor castle — his most significant public appearance since being diagnosed with cancer. voting is taking place in municipal elections across turkey, with president erdogan�*s party hoping to regain control of cities it lost five years ago. and the white house correspondents�* association tells journalists to stop stealing souvenirs from the us president's official aircraft, air force one. hello. king charles is to make his first formal public appearance since being diagnosed with cancer. he's due to attend the easter sunday service at st george's chapel in windsor, along with other royals. but prince william and his wife, the princess of wales — who's also receiving treatment for cancer — will not be there. here's our royal correspondent, jonny dymond. to the family church — and that of many monarchs — the king is expected to walk today in what will be his