Cinderella men

Brian Grazer (that's him on the left, pre-big hair) and his younger brother Gavin, who has nepotistic roles in several of Brian's movies, have a complicated relationship. Complicated enough that Portfolio magazine's Hollywood Deal blogs about it, now that the relationship is featured in Anthony Hopkins' new film Slipstream.

Some sixteen years ago, when Gavin was nearing his 30th birthday as the family ne'er-do-well, and Brian had already scored hits with Night Shift, Splash and Parenthood, the elder Grazer had seen enough. "Before I got sober, Brian did say, 'I would never associate with someone like you. You're a loser. You're nothing.' And I'm sure he was pretty frustrated with me. He wasn't so nice, I wasn't so nice on my end. But we had a relationship."

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You've probably seen him on film, however briefly--as a `Yodeler' in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, as Trapper in Friday Night Lights, as an FBI agent in Flightplan or in Cinderella Man--like the others above, produced by his brother's Imagine Films--as a reporter tossing a question to Russell Crowe. He's had an array of day jobs that includes surfing instructor, union Teamster driver on features and TV shows ("Terrified I was going to kill Ted Danson," he recalls), and most unfortunately, as a tram driver outfitted with a orange jumpsuit on the Universal lot. Before he lost that job for grabbing the mike from a tour guide and narrating the studio tour in German ("My boss said, `That's funny, but I'm firing you"), he achieved his personal emotional nadir on the tram job.

In an account that's been polished over years of self-flagellation, he describes his feelings when the tram stopped by the set of The Burbs--produced by Brian, en route to big-shot status--and he was forced to listen to the tour guide rhapsodizing about his infinitely more successful sibling.

Reviews for Slipstream have been—let's just say, you probably won't be seeing it and I won't be either.

Photo: Portfolio