Producer Of The Year: Charles Roven

He reveals what really happened between George Clooney and David O. Russell, witnessed Richard Pryor behave (very) badly in church and fired an actor for repeatedly shouting ‘cut’ on a set. All in a day’s work for a Hollywood slugger with $2B in 2016 box office

- Stephen Galloway

Charles Roven still was in his teens when he landed work as a stunt extra on Hawaii Five-0 and fell in love with the entertainment business. After studying economics and political science at UCLA, then switching to USC’s film school, his brother Fred persuaded the Los Angeles native to go into finance. He used that money to develop film projects and build a management company, then produced his first movie, 1983’s car-racing drama Heart Like a Wheel.

Thirty-three years later, Roven, 67, is one of the industry’s pre-eminent producers, responsible for such major feature films as 12 Monkeys (1995), City of Angels (1998), Man of Steel (2013), the Dark Knight trilogy and the upcoming Wonder Woman and Justice League. Once overshadowed by his (late) wife, Dawn Steel — the famously combative studio chief — he also is moving into television, with 12 Monkeys now in its third season on Syfy, and has a management company, Atlas Artists.

This year alone, Roven has produced three pictures that together have earned more than $2 billion at the box office: Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Warcraft: The Beginning and Suicide Squad — and in February, he’ll also have the $150 million-plus Matt Damon starrer The Great Wall (which opens Dec. 16 in China).

The prolific filmmaker, an Oscar nominee for 2013’s American Hustle and whose movies have grossed a combined $7 billion-plus, is THR’s producer of the year.

What do you need to be a good producer?