By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com
The Texas DNA of SPC, Michael Barker and Lee Harvey Oswald: deep in the heart
Chris Vognar of Dallas Morning News plucks at the Texas roots of Sony Pictures Classics, and it’s an unusually good read: “Michael Barker… used to catch weekend matinees at the Texas Theater, best known as the place Lee Harvey Oswald decided to catch a [film] on that fateful November afternoon in 1963. “They used to put a rope over the seat where Oswald sat,” says Mr. Barker. “When we showed up for the matinees, they’d take the rope off and we’d all take turns sitting in the seat.” [But Tom] Bernard and Mr. Barker didn’t know each other in their formative Dallas days… they attended different colleges… 2006 will mark their 15-year anniversary as co-presidents of Sony Pictures Classics, one of the most successful and influential specialty distributors…”
“The Texas terrors,” says Eamonn Bowles, president of Magnolia Pictures, who has known the SPC duo for 20 years. “They’re the one unchanging constant. They do their thing, and they haven’t varied much since they’ve started. They’ve stayed with their core audience of sophisticated art fans, and they really do business outside of the modern technologies available to them.” Which technologies would those be? “Oh, fax machines?” quips Mr. Bowles… On this day in the middle of the Toronto International Film Festival, the bulky Mr. Bernard, a high school offensive lineman, and the smaller Mr. Barker are both busy with their Blackberries. (“This thing right here makes it all happen,” says Mr. Bernard.)” [More anecdoting at the link.]