Interview with Robert Halmi, Sr.

By A. Jaye Williams

He has a fantastic vision that has captured the imagination of children and adults all over the world. He has brought to life many astonishing worlds full of wonder and amazement. Robert Halmi, Sr. is the Executive Producer of such grandiose mini-series' as "Merlin," "The 10th Kingdom," "The Magical Legend of the Leprachauns," "Moby Dick," "20 000 Leagues Under the Sea," and many, many others! He has almost two hundred television films, movies, mini-series, and feature films under his belt! And more are on the way, such as adaptations of "Dinotopia," "Snow White," and "Prince Charming" to name just a few!

Robert Halmi, Sr. has seen and experienced much in his 77 years of life. He was born in Budapest, Hungary, just a few years before what would be the most turbulent times of the 20th century: World War II. During the war, Mr. Halmi participated in the anti-Nazi underground, only to be arrested by the Communists once they established a foothold in Hungary. But it was in 1950, when he moved to the United States, that he first began to work professionally as a photographer for "Life" magazine. Mr. Halmi admits that his upbringing greatly influenced his career choices. "My father was an extremely famous photographer and I grew up in the studios, so to speak, and the darkroom and watched him work in the visual." The work of photography, being such a visual medium, cemented a particular way of thinking and approaching work for him "When I read, I read visually. When I think, I think visually. So, that . . . whatever I did, whether I was as a photographer or movie maker, that's the main thing I see before I see the words."

Mr. Halmi's first venture into television was a documentary series called "Outdoors" for NBC, in which he did virtually everything. "I was a one man band. I was filming it, writing it, directing it. All those shows, I did all alone." But he adds, with a warm chuckle, "Because the camera got heavier and heavier, I gave it up and became a producer!"

Today, Robert Halmi, Sr. serves as Chairman of the Board for Hallmark Entertainment, and along with his son, Robert Halmi, Jr--who deals more with the business end of the Executive Producer team that they are--has brought to television many classic fairytales and myths, such as "The Odyssey," "Gulliver's Travels," "Alice in Wonderland," "Arabian Nights," "Jason and the Argonauts," and "The Lost Empire," as well as original works based on the classics. One of the best was "The 10th Kingdom," starring John Larroquette, Kimberly Williams, Diane Wiest, and Scott Cohen. This NBC mini-series ran for five parts and touched on several classic fairy tales, such as Snow White, Cinderella, Little Bo Peep, Rumpelstiltskin, and others. This mini-series brilliantly tied together many childhood stories into an updated adventure set both in present day New York--which is the 10th Kingdom--and in the land of fairytales several years after the time the original tales took place. Mr Halmi explains that "The 10th Kingdom ran all the fairytales . . . and really had lots of adult messages in it, and some of these stories never were intended for kids. Matter of fact some are very dark, like Snow Queen . . . All these are really, really dark and scary, and were written by adults so that . . . it was all directed to adults. So, I just wanted to show the flip side of fairytales that talks to adults and not to children."

Quality and family viewing are the foundations of what Mr. Halmi produces. The choice of stories and how they are made are strictly dependent on it appealing to all ages--not just adults and not just children. In his view, he says, "You cannot be selfish, I think. . . . Your taste eventually is the one that will determine what you do. Like, I would never do anything exploitive. I would never do anything that my children and my grandchildren cannot watch. So you have a principle (to follow) . . . As a producer, your main talent is to pick talent and once you have an idea and there's a book that you want to make a movie of, then the most important thing are the words; the writer is the number one. After the writer is the director, after the director it's the cast. It's a mosaic of many, many talents that eventually makes a good product or a bad product."

Mr. Halmi is very clear and concise in what kinds of movies and mini-series' he likes to make and why he likes to make them. What makes a Robert Halmi, Sr. project uniquely original and different from anyone else's is his passion for the classics. Whether it's doing a re-telling of a well known story, like "The Odyssey" and "Jason and the Argonauts,"or updating and tweaking it a bit, like "The 10th Kingdom" and "The Lost Empire." Mr. Halmi always makes something very special that the viewers can hopefully relate to from their childhood. "Number one: literature. Almost everything we do is based on a book, preferably classics, preferably old books. And then it's fantasy; it's your imagination; it's your dreams. Reality is pretty bad nowadays; that's all around you. The challenge is to show something that is in your mind, that's not readily . . . seen. The same goes for literature. In (the)old days, cartoons were done when people couldn't do it live-action . . . . Now that I can do anything live-action, no matter what the challenge, no matter what the fantasy element, from dragons to new worlds, it's much more believable and so it's much more entertaining."

With a creative and dynamic approach to his projects, Mr. Halmi has succeeded in bringing to life many worlds full of fantastic creatures that once could only live in the imagination or story books of old. In "Merlin," which starred Sam Neill, Isabella Rossellini, Miranda Richardson, and Martin Short, the audience is shown another facet and perspective of history and the Arthurian legend. For Mr. Halmi the appeal of magic is simple: "Magic is fantasy! To create magic is wonderful! When you go to magic shows, magicians are so popular because (they) create an illusion. And once I can create an illusion on the screen, and a bigger illusion than you could do on the stage, then that affects the audience. . . . And again, we are telling history. We are telling literature with the aid of showbiz." Literature and books are very important to Mr. Halmi, aside from professional reasons alone. "The biggest crime television did was to take books out of the hands of children." He quickly adds, however, that television can also help remedy that crime as well. "So now we try to give literature back to those kids and to do so you have to sugarcoat it. And you sugarcoat with (special) effects and all this stuff!"

Mr. Halmi has taken the approach of reintroducing great literature back into the world of 'T. V. kids and adults' with the stunning usage of modern day special effects and high production quality. The aesthetic attraction of movies is clearly not lost on Mr. Halmi, and if that's what it takes to reel the kids in to take an interest in great literature, then so be it. He's proven he's more than up to that challenge! Another excellent example of Mr. Halmi's television successes was the Emmy nominated mini-series "Arabian Nights." With a very talented cast that starred Dougray Scott, Rufus Sewell, Jason Scott Lee, John Leguizamo, and Mili Avital (and an incredible supporting cast), Mr. Halmi retold the classic Arabian tales of Ali Baba and the 40 thieves, Aladdin and the Lamp, the tale of Bac Bac (which was hilarious), and others. In the movie, these stories were told through the eyes and words of the beautiful wife of a mad Sultan. In order to stave off her execution she had to relate these stories to her husband every night. In the end, she not only lives, but brings love and sanity back to the Sultan. The visual look of the mini-series was exquisitely detailed, providing a moody atmosphere which set a strong airy tone for the tales. With all this going for it, it was still the excellent writing that stood out the most. For him, Mr. Halmi simply says, "Arabian Nights, like many stories . . . were never intended for children . . . and if one were to read the original version Richard Burton wrote, we would see why. So I tried to capture an Arabian Nights that people had never read, and show what really it was about, and what morality and philosophy (was) behind the title. And I think I succeeded. It was a great success all around the world!"

The seriousness with which Mr. Halmi approaches these stories and his adaptations of them comes across in his work ethic as well. "The stories have morality in it; very serious minded. You have to tell these stories with fun and with magic and then people are going to think about it." The quality of the projects that Robert Halmi, Sr. (and Jr.) have amassed over the years is also reflective in the talent that has performed in front of the cameras for them. Aside from the great actors I've already listed, people like Armand Assante, Vanessa Williams, Derek Jacobi, Patrick Stewart, John Lithgow, Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, Ben Kingsley, Jon Voight, Bob Hoskins, Dennis Hopper, and countless others have lent their skills and abilities to portraying their respective characters of classic literature and fairytales.

With regards to casting, Mr. Halmi is very content and happy with that part of the production process. "Fortunately, that's really easy because the product speaks for itself. And actors love and . . . live by the last thing they've done, and my pieces are very challenging and high-profile pieces and they're very well written. So they love to do that." But he adds, he won't simply higher an actor because of his name. He or she must physically fit the part that is being cast, as well as be talented and capable enough to carry it off. Detail to the looks and believability of the performances are the key elements to casting. Some of his favourite actors, however, have appeared in a number of his productions. Though he has worked with many accomplished and gifted actors, some of his favourites that come readily to mind are Patrick Stewart, John Lithgow, and Martin Short. "I like Patrick Stewart a lot! Because he's probably the most versatile . . . and he has classical background, he has the stage, and that always helps an actor, to have some experience on the stage. Patrick is an enormous talent. . . . I (also) like John Lithgow. Anybody who is really talented, and most people who work for me are talented. . . . I love Martin, he's one of my favourite guys!" He quickly adds with a rye chuckle, about Martin Short's latest work in "Prince Charming." "And he's fabulous as a frog!"

Scheduled in 2001 was "The Lost Empire," "Snow White," "The Prince and the Pauper," "Voyage of the Unicorn," "Stranded," "The Infinite Worlds of H. G. Wells," and "The Hidden City."

In 2002 was "King of Texas," starring Patrick Stewart, Roy Schneider, and Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden, "Prince Charming," starring Christina Applegate, Bernadette Peters, and Martin Short.

But most impressive had to be Mr. Halmi's biggest undertaking ever: "Dinotopia!" About this extravaganza, Mr. Halmi says, "(It) is going to be mind-boggling. . . . That will be something nobody has ever (seen) before. . . . To bring those pictures into live-action--it's a remarkable thing. A great challenge. . . . It'll be remembered for a long time." "Dinotopia" is an 80 million dollar, six hour mini-series, based on the delightfully told and beautifully illustrated books by James Gurney. This television production of Mr. Halmi's has been at least two years in the making, and will air on the ABC network in May 2002. (see interviews with Katie Carr, Wentworth Miller, and Alice Krige, the stars of "Dinotopia," the mini-series, as well as special effects supervisor Mike McGee).

Mr. Halmi is without a doubt one of the busiest men in the motion picture industry today. Amazingly, at 77 years of age he's still going strong and at full stream ahead. He works on more than one project at a time, continually challenging himself and the audience he makes his movies for. He is a consummate professional who loves fantasy and classical literature with a passion, appreciates the talents of those around him, and respects the genre that we viewers love and adore so much. In my humble opinion, there is no better or more responsible set of hands to rely on when it comes to making high quality fantasy movies than one Mr. Robert Halmi, Sr.