Larry Ellison's Son Keeps Trying to Buy His Way Into Movie-Making
This is David Ellison. He'd like to be in the movie business. Unfortunately, he's not very good at picking projects. But his dad is the sixth-richest person in the world. So now David Ellison is co-funding movies with Paramount Pictures.
You probably remember David Ellison from Flyboys, the 2005 WWII drama that he both financed and starred in. Oh, you don't? You must not be one of the six people that saw it, then. Here he is enthusiastically describing German fighter planes:
He's probably better known as the son of Oracle CEO and multibillionaire Larry Ellison, who is the sixth-wealthiest person in the world, according to Forbes. Pretty soon, he might be best-known as the guy whose dad wrote him a check so he could go play in Hollywood.
David, who went to USC film school, has partnered with Paramount for a $350 million co-financing deal that will allow his film company, Skydance productions, to start making movies. (The younger Ellison is now on the hook for Mission Impossible 4 and the Coen brothers' new movie, True Grit.) David had been trying to raise money since last Fall, according to the Los Angeles Times, but was provided with "an undisclosed portion of the equity" for this deal by his father, who probably spends $350 million a year on gold-plated caviar, or whatever rich people do with their money.
Ellison told the Times he's not going to try acting in any of his company's movies, which is probably a smart move—especially given that Twilight actor Taylor Lautner dropped out of the Ellison-financed Northern Lights after learning that Ellison planned on costarring, effectively killing the project. Who knows—maybe he'll find the talent he was missing as an actor in a career as a producer and backer. As long as he keeps signing the checks for their movies, Paramount doesn't care very much.
