Australia’s Roadshow Grabs the Early Spotlight at Cannes

CANNES, France â€”  Village Roadshow Pictures, a large Australian entertainment conglomerate, took the early lead in the race to bring a big star to Cannes with the announcement Friday that it would finance half a dozen small-budget films produced by American actor Dustin Hoffman.

Hoffman playfully started off the well-attended press conference at the Hotel Majestic by pulling out a camera and taking pictures of the throng of journalists photographing him.

Hoffman said that under the joint venture, Village Roadshow would finance six films, each with a maximum budget of $10 million. He said the venture would allow him to make the kinds of movies that he admires but that the major Hollywood studios were reluctant to finance.

He said that it was easier to get approval from the major studios for films that cost $50 million to $60 million with established stars and directors than to get approval for smaller projects.

“But the films I like the most in the last few years . . . are films that are made for relatively little money,� Hoffman said, mentioning “The Postman (Il Postino)� and “Cinema Paradiso.� “The most interesting films of the last few years have been made outside the studio system.�

He said that his company, Punch Productions, which was formed in 1980 to develop projects for him to act in, has shelves of scripts for smaller-budget movies that haven’t found financing. Punch developed or produced such films as “Tootsie,� “Rain Man� and “Outbreak.�

Hoffman is not required to act in any of the films, but said he would consider acting if any of the parts were good for him.

The first film under the venture will be “The Golden Rule,� a comedy about a young con man who gets into a top college and then uses cons to keep from flunking out. An American distribution deal has not yet been worked out.

Hoffman seemed amused by the business announcement, noting that the deal came about because of a friendship struck up by Lee Gottsegen, a Punch executive, in a softball league.

It was only his second visit to Cannes, he said, and it struck him that the film gathering had become more commercial than his last visit in the mid-’70s.

He also took the opportunity to criticize the violence in American studio films.

Village Roadshow is Australia’s largest entertainment corporation. The company is active in exhibition and distribution, primarily in Australia and Asian markets, as well as having interests in video, television, theme parks and film studios.

The company will handle distribution in Australia and other Pacific Rim countries in which it operates, in addition to making deals for U.S. and European distribution.