Arthur M. Sarkissian – Silver Skies
Arthur M. Sarkissian is known for producing big films with big stars that make big money.
Consider his Rush Hour trilogy starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, as well as While You Were Sleeping with Sandra Bullock, and Last Man Standing with Bruce Willis and Christopher Walken.
Those five films accounted for a worldwide box-office total in excess of $1 billion, and they only begin to represent his body of work over the past 30 years.
Yet Sarkissian sounds most excited talking about the just-completed Silver Skies, a relatively small film made on a budget that would be dwarfed by the value of his much-admired wine collection, let alone another Rush Hour.
“To me, it’s not about whether it’s a million dollar budget or $100 million,” Sarkissian said. “I love movies. I love stories. That’s how I approach it. It doesn’t have to be a huge Hollywood studio movie as long as I feel it’s a great story to tell.”
Sarkissian was charmed by the story of Silver Skies: an apartment complex is sold, turning the lives of its senior-age residents topsy-turvy. They’re forced to rely on their wits, and each other, while facing an uncertain future.
“You see people from different walks of life looking back at where they were,” Sarkissian said. “It says something about how we look at life as we get older.”
The idea crossed Sarkissian’s path when writer-director Rosemary Rodriguez was directing an episode of Vegas, the recent TV series starring Dennis Quaid and Michael Chiklis. Sarkissian was an executive producer of the series.
“She showed me the script for Silver Skies and I loved it,” he said. “Rosemary asked me if I would step in and executive produce with Fred Roos. I committed and I’m very happy. I’m very proud of this movie.”
The premise of Silver Skies allows for a cast of veteran performers that includes George Hamilton, Barbara Bain, Mariette Hartley, Howard Hesseman, Dick Van Patten, Alex Rocco and Valerie Perrine.
“It’s great to see them all, especially if you know their history and make the connection,” Sarkissian said.
At 65, he understood the characters’ perspective.
“There comes a time when you feel mortality and think about where you are and how you look at your life,” Sarkissian said. “The message is very subtle but you walk away and you feel good.”
Sarkissian first experienced the emotional power of film as a boy when he saw Man Without a Star, the 1955 Kirk Douglas western. “I was so taken by the drama of it that I couldn’t get movies out of my head. I’ve loved them ever since.”
That was the first American film he’d seen. Sarkissian was born to Armenian parents in Iran, a generation before Western culture became anathema there. “I saw all sorts of movies when I was a kid: French, Italian, American, British,” he said. “We had movies from all over the world.”
His appetite for movies continued to grow when he left home to attend boarding school in Beirut, Lebanon. “When I could skip school, I ended up at the local theater either watching a movie or trying to talk the ushers into selling me a poster,” he said.
After graduation, Sarkissian wanted to study directing in America but compromised when his parents objected to the distance. He went to London instead and pursued another passion, opening a men’s clothing boutique called Vincci in the early 1970s. It became a glittering success at a time when London was synonymous with men’s fashion.
“When I started designing, I followed my own taste,” he said. “I made a name without trying. Princes and actors would come and spent $50,000 or $100,000 at any given time. It was unheard of then. I could have built an empire before Armani, but film was all I could think of. It’s what I lived for.”
So Sarkissian sold his business, moved to Los Angeles and began edging his way into film production. As he had in fashion, he found his own taste to be a reliable guide. “I bought the rights to one of my favorite old television shows, Wanted: Dead or Alive,” he said. He brought an updated version starring Rutger Hauer to theaters in 1987.
He still expresses fondness for films and television dramas of that earlier time.
“I have nothing against Iron Man or Transformers, but today it’s about special effects and video games,” he said. “Audiences want instant gratification. Nobody has the attention span to watch a movie.”
He’s convinced audiences could re-engaged by old-fashioned story telling but it’s difficult to sell such ideas to industry executives.
“There are too many people making decisions who don’t know movies,” he said. “Today, I don’t think Lawrence of Arabia could get made. Once Upon a Time In The West wouldn’t get made. I look back at movies I was raised on, movies that had fantastic characters. Can you imagine if they had never been made?”
Sarkissian’s ambitious agenda includes several nods to past cinematic glories, including a planned remake of the 1970 French heist film Le Cercle Rouge, and a “retelling” of Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 classic Seven Samurai.
He’s also developing a television adaptation of Rush Hour, and CBS has given the go-ahead for production of a pilot.
Whether audiences can expect another big-screen visit from Rush Hour’s odd-fellow buddy team of Lee and Carter remains a tantalizing question. Sarkissian said Chan and Tucker are “on board,” along with director Brett Ratner.
“It comes down to finding the right story that justifies a third sequel. That is a huge challenge. People love the characters, but we have to find a reason to tell another chapter in their lives.”
The prospect of another big box-office score alone isn’t enough.
“I won’t bastardize this series,” Sarkissian said. “People love these guys. When they come on screen, the audience has to feel it.”