Your Highness

EXCLUSIVE: Sony has finally found its replacement for Gary Martin, who stepped down in January from his longtime dual posts as President, Production Administration, Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group and President, Sony Pictures Studios Operations. (Sony even renamed the studio’s Stage 15 as “The Gary Martin Sound Stage”.) Veteran producer Andrew Z. Davis has been tapped as President of Production Administration for Columbia Pictures, where he will supervise all aspects of physical production including postproduction and visual effects for all Columbia films as well as live-action portions of films from Sony Pictures Animation. He will work with President of Worldwide Business Affairs and Operations Andrew Gumpert, President of Production Hannah Minghella and Sony Pictures Digital Productions President Bob Osher and report to Columbia president Doug Belgrad. Davis oversaw physical production at MGM from 2003-2005, then returned to producing. His recent credits include the Justin Timberlake-starrer In Time and the comedies Your Highness and Role Models. “We are thrilled to welcome Andy to our Team”, Belgrad said. “As both an executive and a producer, he has extraordinary skill and enormous experience and he brings with him a disciplined and cost conscious approach to production management”.

“Prince Avalanche” director David Gordon Green is considered a “genre jumper”; or at least that’s how moderator Chris Hardwick describes him during an interview with the director during Tribeca’s Future of Film series. Then again, the moniker is apropos if you take a look at Green’s oeuvre, which includes comedy (“Pineapple Express“), medieval fantasy (“Your Highness“), and serious drama (“Snow Angels“).  In the fifty-five minute interview below Green discusses his work, up to and including “Prince Avalanche,” how the film business shapes what he does, and the various ways in which he tries to transcend genre. The most interesting discussion details why Green jumps from both the big and small screen (which he also explained here); it’s a method, he explains, that “takes the pressure off” and allows you to tell the studios where to shove it. It’s a serious juggling act that has paid off for Green, as he defies expectations and just does what he wants to do.  Green has a...