Oscar-winning producer Mark Johnson joins me this week for a new edition of my Deadline video series, Behind the Lens. He has received his latest Oscar nomination as producer of the Alexander Payne film, The Holdovers.
Johnson is unique among producers of the 10 nominated Best Picture contenders this year. He is the only producer listed for the film. Every other movie nominated for Best Picture has multiple producers credited. In fact he has been doing it this way for a long time: His Oscar win came as the sole credited producer for 1988’s Best Picture winner, Rain Man.
It’s a long career. His credits also include several movies he made in partnership with Barry Levinson which include Rain Man, Diner, The Natural, Young Sherlock Holmes, Tin Men, Good Morning Vietnam, Avalon and Bugsy. The latter two also bringing him Oscar nods. Other films he produced include A Perfect World, Donnie Brasco, The Rookie, The Notebook, The Chronicles Of Narnia franchise and my favorite dog movie of all time, My Dog Skip.
In television, Johnson is a producer on Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Interview With A Vampire and many more including several on a global scale in Argentina and other countries. This weekend he heads to London where he is also a nominee for Best Film at BAFTA.
Outside of producing, Johnson ran the AMPAS Foreign Language Film Committee for a dozen years and has served for many years as an Academy governor.
Join our conversation where we talk about all of it, how he started as an actor in Spanish (!) films while living as a teen in Spain (he was even in 1965’s Doctor Zhivago), why The Holdovers has connected and become an Oscar player, his many past films, the state of the industry and so much more.
To watch just click on the link above.
Join me every week during Oscar season for another edition of Behind The Lens.