RIP ‘Mummy’ and ‘Raising Arizona’ Producer James Jacks
He was not on the list.
“The Mummy” series producer James Jacks died January 20 of a heart attack. He was 66. He started his producing career with Richard Linklater’s “Dazed and Confused” and three early films by the Coen brothers, and introduced Hollywood to John Woo, backing his first Hollywood production “Hard Target.” I first met Jacks on the set of “Raising Arizona” and we became fast friends. He was one of those rare people who navigated this risky business with cheer and grace. He deeply loved movies and creative people and worked hard to come through for his filmmakers.
Since he left Alphaville Productions in 2004, which had an exclusive overall deal at Paramount Pictures, where he was partnered with former Universal Pictures president Sean Daniel and produced such films as Billy Bob Thornton’s “The Gift” and William Friedkin’s “The Hunted,” Jacks had been developing five mid-budget projects under his Frelaine banner that were ramping up to start filming over the next two years. He wrote three of them himself.
Jacks was in the midst of a long negotiation to start a new company with Asian financing. He had been trying to put together a group of investors that at one time included Shaman Bakshi, an auditor-turned-banker who worked in media financing at GE Capital, and financial consultant Ugo Amobi, with financing from Hong Kong’s Triad Capital Partners Fund. But it didn’t come together, and the last time I saw Jacks at the Independent Spirit Nominations brunch (where I took this photo), he was discouraged. The plan was to raise hundreds of millions to back production and P & A on a slate of five films, hang on to world rights to the projects and sell the completed pictures to the highest bidder.
Jacks’ had seven projects in various stages of development that were geared toward today’s global marketplace. If he had raised the financing, he wanted to shoot some five pictures over five years. Jacks was eager to produce a movie with his old friends the Coen brothers, for whom he produced “Raising Arizona,” “Barton Fink” and “Miller’s Crossing,” Billy Bob Thornton (“The Gift,” HBO’s “Don’t Look Back”), Richard Linklater (“Dazed and Confused”) and Sam Raimi (“Dark Man” and “A Simple Plan”).
Jacks saw an opening for movies in the mid-budget range between $15 and $50 million. “The studios don’t make many of them,” he told me a few months ago. “They want to make expensive tentpoles. There seem to be opportunities for co-productions there.”
I wanted to see what Jacks would come up with if he was freed from studio constraints. “It’s the first time in my career I’ll be able to dictate what gets made,” Jacks said.
Well, that didn’t happen.
He was prepping to shoot in Germany, Belelux and Spain his own adaptation of Sir Walter Scott’s classic action adventure “Ivanhoe,” which had attached director Ian Softley (“Backbeat,” “Wings of the Dove”) and the “The Last Station” producers Jens Meurer and Stuart Pollack of German production company Egoli Tossel and Indomitable Entertainment, respectively.
In the works since 2004 was “The True History of the World,” a mainstream PG-13 time travel adventure comedy in the “Back to the Future” mold from writer-director and green-screen tech whiz Kerry Conran (“Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow”) with whom Jacks had wanted to make “The Princess of Mars” adaptation that Paramount eventually put in turnaround. Also in development was Jacks-scripted Afghanistan actioner “Hindu Kush,” based on true stories by Navy SEALS, with partner Lakeshore Entertainment. He was hoping that Peter Berg’s “Lone Survivor” hit would help to push this one forward.
Jacks also had in his copious trunk two more screenplays: “Tuhon,” an edge weapons action thriller about the world of special operatives who fight with knives, machetes and swords, and “The Hundred Fires,” a pre-Civil War western based on Homer’s “The Iliad.” He was a wonderful action writer.
In 1992, Jacks formed Alphaville Productions with Daniel. They produced western “Tombstone,” starring Kurt Russell and Bill Paxton, which I wrote up for Entertainment Weekly; the global blockbuster series “The Mummy” and “The Scorpion King” (the four films grossed a total $1.5 billion worldwide), the Coen Brothers’ comedy, “Intolerable Cruelty,” starring George Clooney; John Woo’s first American film, “Hard Target,” starring Jean-Claude Van Damme; “The Jackal,” starring Bruce Willis and Richard Gere; Sam Raimi and Billy Bob Thornton’s “The Gift,” starring Cate Blanchett and Hilary Swank; Kevin Smith’s “Mallrats,” and Ron Shelton and James Ellroy’s “Dark Blue,” starring Russell.
Trained as an engineer, Jacks took a film class at Georgetown, where he met Washington Post film critic Gary Arnold, who encouraged him to write screenplays. After Jacks won a scriptwriting contest, he attended USC film school, but went back to Washington as an entertainment analyst at Paine Webber. He took on a job at Circle Theaters with the Pedas brothers booking theaters, and was so good at it that they not only released “Blood Simple” but bankrolled three films by the Coen brothers: When they turned down the sequel to Sam Raimi’s “Evil Dead,” he moved on to a job at Universal as VP of acquisitions.
Jacks’ Alphaville partner Daniel wrote in a Facebook post:
“Nobody loved movies more. Passionate, loyal, generous,
accomplished, noble, caring, heavily armed, creative, dare I say obsessive on
occasion. A good man, a good friend, a wonderful partner, a loving son to his
family.”
Correct. We have lost a dear friend.
Producer
The Scorpion King: Book of Souls (2018)
The Scorpion King: Book of Souls
4.6
Video
executive producer
2018
Victor Webster, Ellen Hollman, Eve Torres, and Roy Nelson in
The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power (2015)
The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power
4.1
Video
executive producer
2015
The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption (2012)
The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption
3.7
Video
executive producer
2012
Michael Copon, Karen David, Randy Couture, and Natalie
Becker in The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior (2008)
The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior
3.8
Video
producer (produced by)
2008
Brendan Fraser and Jet Li in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon
Emperor (2008)
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
5.2
producer
2008
George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones in Intolerable
Cruelty (2003)
Intolerable Cruelty
6.3
executive producer
2003
Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro in The Hunted (2003)
The Hunted
6.1
producer
2003
Ving Rhames and Kurt Russell in Dark Blue (2002)
Dark Blue
6.6
producer
2002
Michael Clarke Duncan, Kelly Hu, Steven Brand, and Dwayne
Johnson in The Scorpion King (2002)
The Scorpion King
5.5
producer
2002
John Cleese, Rowan Atkinson, Whoopi Goldberg, Cuba Gooding
Jr., Seth Green, Jon Lovitz, Breckin Meyer, and Amy Smart in Rat Race (2001)
Rat Race
6.5
executive producer
2001
Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, Oded Fehr, Dwayne Johnson,
Patricia Velasquez, and Arnold Vosloo in The Mummy Returns (2001)
The Mummy Returns
6.4
producer
2001
Down to Earth (2001)
Down to Earth
5.4
producer
2001
Tim Curry, Powers Boothe, and Gerard Butler in Attila (2001)
Attila
6.6
TV Mini Series
executive producer
2001
2 episodes
Cate Blanchett in The Gift (2000)
The Gift
6.7
producer
2000
The Mummy (1999)
The Mummy
7.1
producer
1999
Bill Paxton, Bridget Fonda, and Billy Bob Thornton in A
Simple Plan (1998)
A Simple Plan
7.5
producer
1998
The Jackal (1997)
The Jackal
6.4
producer
1997
John Travolta in Michael (1996)
Michael
5.7
producer
1996
Don't Look Back (1996)
Don't Look Back
5.9
TV Movie
executive producer
1996
Shannen Doherty, Claire Forlani, Kevin Smith, Jason Lee,
Priscilla Barnes, Stan Lee, Jeremy London, Jason Mewes, Michael Rooker, and
Sven-Ole Thorsen in Mallrats (1995)
Mallrats
7.0
producer (produced by)
1995
Village of the Damned (1995)
Village of the Damned
5.6
co-executive producer
1995
Val Kilmer, Bill Paxton, Sam Elliott, and Kurt Russell in
Tombstone (1993)
Tombstone
7.8
producer
1993
Jean-Claude Van Damme in Hard Target (1993)
Hard Target
6.2
producer
1993
Robert Downey Jr., Charles Grodin, Kyra Sedgwick, Tom
Sizemore, and Alfre Woodard in Heart and Souls (1993)
Heart and Souls
7.0
executive producer
1993
Milla Jovovich, Rory Cochrane, Sasha Jenson, and Jason
London in Dazed and Confused (1993)
Dazed and Confused
7.6
producer
1993
Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter in Raising Arizona (1987)
Raising Arizona
7.3
executive producer
1987
Thanks
Tyler Hoechlin, Wyatt Russell, Glen Powell, Zoey Deutch,
Austin Amelio, Blake Jenner, Will Brittain, Ryan Guzman, Juston Street, Forrest
Vickery, Temple Baker, and J. Quinton Johnson in Everybody Wants Some!! (2016)
Everybody Wants Some!!
6.9
in remembrance: a guy who loved movies (as Jim Jacks)
2016
Making Dazed (2005)
Making Dazed
7.8
special thanks
2005
Brendan Fraser, John Hannah, Rachel Weisz, and Freddie Boath
in Spotlight on Location: The Mummy Returns (2001)
Spotlight on Location: The Mummy Returns
6.6
Video
special thanks
2001
Luke Perry, Kathy Najimy, Nestor Carbonell, and Martin Mull
in Attention Shoppers (2000)
Attention Shoppers
4.8
special thanks
2000
View Askew's Look Back at 'Mallrats'
6.2
Video
special thanks (as Jim Jacks)
1999
Building a Better Mummy (1999)
Building a Better Mummy
7.1
Video
special thanks (as Jim Jacks)
1999
Shannen Doherty, Claire Forlani, Kevin Smith, Jason Lee,
Priscilla Barnes, Stan Lee, Jeremy London, Jason Mewes, Michael Rooker, and
Sven-Ole Thorsen in Mallrats (1995)
Mallrats
7.0
the director would like to thank: for treating us like the
Coens as opposed to the twenty-something know-nothings we really are (as Jim)
1995
Self
Unraveling the Legacy of 'The Mummy'
6.4
Video
Self
2008
50 Films to See Before You Die (2006)
50 Films to See Before You Die
6.2
TV Movie
Self
2006
Kevin Smith, Jason Lee, and Ethan Suplee in Mallrats: The
Erection of an Epic - The Making of Mallrats (2005)
Mallrats: The Erection of an Epic - The Making of Mallrats
5.7
Video
Self (as James R. Jacks)
2005
Making Dazed (2005)
Making Dazed
7.8
Self
2005
'The Scorpion King': A Warrior's Journey
5.8
Video
Self
2002
Dwayne Johnson in The Rock: Just Bring It (2002)
The Rock: Just Bring It
6.7
Video
Self (as Jim Jacks)
2002
Brendan Fraser, John Hannah, Rachel Weisz, and Freddie Boath
in Spotlight on Location: The Mummy Returns (2001)
Spotlight on Location: The Mummy Returns
6.6
Video
Self
2001
Rey Mysterio, Walter Hahn, CM Punk, Gionna Daddio, and Demi
Bennett in WWE Raw (1993)
WWE Raw
7.7
TV Series
Self
2001
1 episode
View Askew's Look Back at 'Mallrats'
6.2
Video
Self - Producer
1999
Building a Better Mummy (1999)
Building a Better Mummy
7.1
Video
Self
1999
The Making of 'the Jackal'
4.8
Video
Self
1998
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