The Greatest Showman, a musical that celebrates the birth of show, is arguably the first film to attempt to capitalise on the huge success of La La Land. For such a big film, it was perhaps a surprise to see a first time director, Michael Gracey, helming the project. But word has now come out that he got a little bit of help from a pal of star Hugh Jackman‘s.
According to Variety, Logan director James Mangold was called in by 20th Century Fox to oversee a week of reshoots after the studio became concerned that Gracey had become overwhelmed by the project.
Gracey had previously only directed commercials – including a 2010 one in which he met Jackman – so Fox felt they needed to bring in a seasoned director with a deeper working relationship to Jackman.
Mangold’s involvement seems to be that week of reshoots and pitching in on the editing process during post-production, for which he received an executive producer credit and a seven-figure salary for his contribution. Not bad work if you can get it.
However, a source close to the studio reports that Gracey never lost control of the film and that Mangold’s involvement was nothing more than to be an advisory. Considering the extensive fallout from reshoots on films such as Justice League and Solo: A Star Wars Story that have occurred this year, this seems to have been well-handled and not much cause for concern.
The Greatest Showman arrives in UK cinemas Boxing Day.
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