The Film That Lit My Fuse is a Deadline video series that aims to provide an antidote to headlines about industry uncertainty by swinging the conversation back to the creative ambitions, formative influences, and inspirations of some of today’s great screen artists.
Each installment asks the same five basic questions. Today’s subject is Tom Rothman, chairman of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group. He becomes the first studio chief to join the roster of stars, directors and screenwriters who’ve done The Film That Lit My Fuse. A lifelong cinephile, Rothman moved from entertainment law to producing, and then entered the studio ranks at Fox in 1994, where he founded Fox Searchlight and eventually became chairman/CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment with Jim Gianopulos. They ran a tight, successful ship for a long time, garnering $30 billion in grosses, three Best Picture winners and 150 Oscar nominations for the studio. Rothman also hosted Fox Legacy, a show about films from the storied studio heyday. He left Fox in 2013, and rejoined the studio ranks as the head of Sony-based TriStar Pictures, before taking the top Sony job in 2015 and oversaw a renaissance fueled by the third iteration of Spider-Man, the Jumanji reboot, the Quentin Tarantino-directed Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood and more. Be sure to catch his final response, in which he gives an impassioned and animated vote of confidence for the future of theatrical moviegoing, despite the gains streamers made during the pandemic.