Geffen's Goodbye

After Swan Song 'Dreamgirls,' He's 'Finished' With Movies; Why He Wants L.A. Times

By MERISSA MARR
December 8, 2006; Page W1

David Geffen began his long climb to Hollywood moguldom as an usher for CBS television shows in the early 1960s, dreaming of becoming the next Louis B. Mayer. But even as he amassed power and wealth in the entertainment business over the next four decades, one goal eluded him.

This month, Mr. Geffen will finally realize a 25-year-old dream when the movie version of "Dreamgirls" reaches the screen. It arrives with a deafening Oscar buzz that has quickly made it the early frontrunner for Best Picture at the 2007 Academy Awards.

And with that, Mr. Geffen says he is done with Hollywood. "This closes a chapter for me," he said recently at his sprawling Beverly Hills mansion, which once was owned by Hollywood kingpin Jack Warner. "I'm finished with the movie business."

Beyonce Knowles, Anika Noni Rose and Jennifer Hudson (left to right) in 'Dreamgirls.' Right, David Geffen.

The 63-year-old Mr. Geffen became a billionaire through the music industry, with record labels that backed acts ranging from the Eagles to Guns N' Roses. He helped found -- and later sold -- DreamWorks SKG, the multimedia enterprise launched with partners Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg. And he made a fortune in stocks, property and art, becoming one of the world's pre-eminent collectors with works valued at an estimated $2 billion before his recent sales of a stunning $425 million worth of paintings.

But Mr. Geffen says he has had enough of Hollywood. Dressed in his trademark casual attire -- a white track suit and black sneakers -- he sat recently for a rare interview, overlooking his lush, rolling lawns. (He paid $47.5 million for the mansion in 1990 and spent $45 million renovating it, including $20 million on landscaping.) "I don't want to keep solving the same problems," he says. "I'm not interested in buying things simply to make money. I'm interested in doing something that's going to be valuable for the community, where I can make a difference."

If Mr. Geffen has his way, his next move will be to acquire a different kind of media asset: the Los Angeles Times, which he hopes to purchase from Tribune Co. "Los Angeles needs a better newspaper," he says. "I would devote my resources to building a first-class national newspaper."

For now, however, his focus is on "Dreamgirls," a movie based on the 1980s Broadway musical of the same name that was Mr. Geffen's first venture in theater. Loosely modeled after the rise of Diana Ross, the Supremes and Motown records, it's a tale of conflicting ambitions within a 1960s girl group in which an overweight but talented singer named Effie is shunted out of the spotlight to make way for the less vocally talented, but more commercially appealing, Deena.

The Broadway show debuted in 1981 under the guidance of choreographer and director Michael Bennett, with Mr. Geffen as one of the original backers. Mr. Geffen went on to back 12 more shows including "Cats" before abandoning Broadway after Mr. Bennett's death from AIDS-related causes in 1987.

Grabbing Movie Rights

"Dreamgirls" was an instant hit on Broadway and went on to earn six Tony awards. Mr. Geffen swooped in to buy the movie rights to the show for $1 million. Although his fortune was mostly made in the music business, Mr. Geffen had flirted with Hollywood over the years. By the early 1980s, he had a production company called Geffen Pictures, a sideline of his Geffen Records label that was set up at Warner Bros. Its highlights included such films as "Risky Business" and "Beetlejuice."

The original stage version of 'Dreamgirls,' on Broadway from 1981 to 1985, starred (left to right) Jennifer Holliday, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Loretta Devine.

The musical's Broadway success immediately stirred interest among filmmakers. After Mr. Bennett's death, though, Mr. Geffen says he felt pressure to preserve the musical director's reputation, and he turned down several proposals that he felt didn't do justice to Mr. Bennett or the show. He got serious about one in the late 1980s with Howard Ashman, the lyricist and producer of "The Little Mermaid." At the time, a young Whitney Houston was making a splash with her debut as a singer, and they discussed casting her in the role of Deena. By 1991, however, Mr. Ashman had died, also from AIDS.

A decade later, there still was no movie. In 1994, Mr. Geffen co-founded DreamWorks SKG, and he abandoned his movie production deal at Warner, leaving behind the movie rights to "Dreamgirls." He spent increasing time on other passions: politics, art and his stock portfolio.

For awhile, Warner kept trying to get "Dreamgirls" off the ground. The most serious attempt was a proposal in the late 1990s from "Batman Forever" director Joel Schumacher. He wanted to cast Lauryn Hill -- the lead singer of hip-hop group the Fugees -- in the role of Deena, with R&B singer Kelly Price playing Effie. But after Warner's "Why Do Fools Fall in Love," about R&B singer Frankie Lymon, flopped, the studio got cold feet and backed out.

In 2002, a film version of the Broadway musical "Chicago" became a surprisingly big hit. Movie producer Laurence Mark called Mr. Geffen and said "Chicago" writer Bill Condon was dying to make a movie of "Dreamgirls." Mr. Geffen was skeptical but invited them for lunch at his Beverly Hills home. "By the time Larry called, I'd given up on making the movie," says Mr. Geffen. "I thought 'A Chorus Line' was a terrible movie and I didn't want that to happen to 'Dreamgirls.'"

Seated in the small dining room where he likes to entertain guests, Mr. Geffen warmed to Mr. Condon's passion for the project. They discussed ways to broaden the story by setting it against the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement. Mr. Geffen suggested they get closer to the real story; for the stage, the tale had been tweaked due to fears of upsetting Ms. Ross or Motown founder Berry Gordy.

"It was always an homage to Motown and the Supremes," Mr. Geffen says. They went back to the original story: three young singers starting out in Detroit.

Mr. Condon went off to write a draft script, and Mr. Geffen got Warner on board with the idea. Mr. Condon came back just over a year later, and they started talking about casting. They discussed Beyoncé Knowles or Alicia Keys for the character of Deena and Jamie Foxx for the part of the manager. Mr. Condon suggested Eddie Murphy to play the fictional James "Thunder" Early, who gave the girl group in the show its start by hiring them as backup singers.

Messrs. Geffen, Condon and Mark watched the screen test for Beyoncé in the screening room of Mr. Geffen's mansion and were immediately bowled over. They called her agent that night to make a deal.

Mr. Foxx was harder to pin down. He wanted the role but he didn't want to compromise on salary. The filmmakers didn't have the money to pay the full fees of A-list actors. They considered Denzel Washington, who it turns out can't sing; Will Smith, who was busy on other projects; and Terence Howard, the star of "Hustle & Flow." Mr. Foxx ultimately agreed to work at a reduced fee.

Persuading Eddie Murphy

Mr. Murphy needed persuading. He could sing -- he had a hit single with "Party All the Time" in the 1980s -- but it was an ambitious role. At one point, Mr. Katzenberg, who made the "Shrek" animated movies that feature Mr. Murphy's voice, was tapped to woo Mr. Murphy, a move that worked.

The most challenging role to fill was probably Effie, the heart and soul of the movie. Having decided a relatively unknown performer was needed, Messrs. Condon and Mark came up with Fantasia Barrino, a soul singer who won the third season of TV's "American Idol." Mr. Geffen wasn't sold on the idea, though, and they continued the search. They settled on Jennifer Hudson, another "American Idol" contestant who lost out to Ms. Barrino on the show.

With the cast in place and filming set to start, Mr. Geffen went to update Warner. Concerned about the picture's $73 million budget, Warner ultimately opted out of a co-production. Instead, Mr. Geffen did a deal with Paramount Pictures, the studio to which he later sold DreamWorks SKG.

Mr. Geffen declined to take a producer credit on the movie. As he sees it, he was just a facilitator for Messrs. Condon and Mark. "I see my role as a baby doctor helping people deliver their babies," he says. "I felt the same way in the music industry."

While Mr. Geffen still has a role as co-chairman of DreamWorks SKG, he says he remains in the background. "My job from now on is simply to support [co-chairman] Stacey Snider and Steven [Spielberg]," he says.

He concedes that DreamWorks didn't turn out as he and his partners had hoped. By the time the movie and multimedia company was launched, his interest in the music business was on the wane and launching a movie studio was tough even with some of the biggest names in Hollywood involved.

"It's difficult starting a business from scratch," he says. "The next thing I do, I want to buy rather than start from scratch."

That could be the Los Angeles Times. It's no secret Mr. Geffen is eager to buy the newspaper if Tribune, which has put itself up for sale, decides to sell its assets piecemeal. "I would do whatever it takes" to build a pre-eminent newspaper, he says. Mr. Geffen is considered a strong contender to buy the paper, and says he has the means to make a cash bid himself.

"As a guy who is committed to, certainly by the time I die, giving everything I have away, that gives me an awful lot of latitude about what I can and can't do," he says. Mr. Geffen already has a medical school at UCLA named after him, after donating $200 million, as well as a theater in Los Angeles's Westwood district and a museum downtown. He has donated more than $300 million to his David Geffen Foundation.

Record Sale of a Painting

Mr. Geffen denies his recent art sales were made to raise money to buy the paper. He recently set a record for the highest sum known to have been paid for a painting when he sold "Woman III" by Willem de Kooning for $142.5 million to hedge-fund billionaire Steven A. Cohen. He also set the record before that with the sale of a classic drip painting by Jackson Pollock for $140 million. That followed the sale of Jasper Johns's "False Start" for $80 million and de Kooning's "Police Gazette" for $63.5 million.

"When I bought all these paintings, they weren't worth anywhere near what they're worth today, and I don't know that I want so much valuable art hanging on my walls," explains Mr. Geffen. In the entertainment room alone of his mansion he has Jasper Johns and Jackson Pollocks on the walls. Asked whether he plans to sell more art, he says, half jokingly: "Anybody who wants to pay $150 million for a painting of mine can have it."