30 Hollywood Secrets That Celebs And Execs Would Like To Be Swept Under The Rug

When comedian Ricky Gervais took to the stage to host the 2020 Golden Globe awards, the audience wasn’t quite prepared for what would come out of his mouth. Gervais didn’t hold back as he held Hollywood over the coals during an epic roasting session. “You’ll be pleased to know this is the last time I’m hosting these awards, so I don’t care anymore. I’m joking. I never did,” began Gervais. “NBC clearly don’t care either—fifth time. I mean, Kevin Hart was fired from the Oscars for some offensive tweets—hello?”

Gervais took a jab at actors, producers, industry racism, and Leonardo DiCaprio’s penchant for much younger women. Nothing was off-limits as the Brit shamelessly shone a spotlight on the elephants in the room. “If ISIS started a streaming service you’d call your agent, wouldn’t you?” he said to the audience.

“Tonight isn’t just about the people in front of the camera. In this room are some of the most important TV and film executives in the world. People from every background,” said Gervais. “They all have one thing in common: They’re all terrified of Ronan Farrow. He’s coming for ya.”

The comedian was referring to Woody Allen and Mia Farrow’s son, Satchel Ronan Farrow. He’s the investigative journalist who helped expose producer Harvey Weinstein. Farrow’s reporting earned him a Pulitzer Prize for public service and propelled the #MeToo movement.

Matthew Salleh and Rose Tucker run the Brooklyn-based film production company Urtext Films. They specialize in documentaries and have traveled the world chasing interesting stories. Their latest film Slice of Life: The American Dream. In Former Pizza Huts has just premiered in Sydney, Australia. More on that later. First, we wanted to know their thoughts on Hollywood. And it turns out they have mixed reactions when it comes to Tinseltown...

"Hollywood isn’t a place, it’s a concept. A film industry where, if you’re connected, things get easier," says Salleh during our chat. "I’m not convinced Hollywood really exists in the way we used to imagine it. I’m not sure any of the big companies really know how to handle the current media landscape."

The Director and Cinematographer adds that this doesn't mean he'd turn down an offer from Tinseltown. "They still have money – and I’d happily take that money if they offered it – but a lot of ‘Hollywood’ doesn’t know how to reach audiences anymore," he told Bored Panda. "That’s why we’ve stayed so independent. So no matter what, we can continue to make films our way, without waiting for Hollywood to come calling."

Tucker agrees. "I think we have very realistic expectations about ‘making it’ in Hollywood," said the Producer and Sound Recordist. "If Hollywood was to come calling, we would take the call, but it’s not something we have false hope over, particularly in documentary world!"

We asked Salleh what he's heard about Hollywood that left him a bit shook. "I always think about the crazy lengths some filmmakers go to get the perfect shot," he replied. "I remember hearing the story of Chris Nolan planting entire crops of corn for Interstellar, so he could get his perfect corn field shot. I also recall when Antonioni made his first film in color (Il Deserto Rosso), he had whole fields painted to get the color just right."

The duo says they've encountered some pretty crazy things while working in the film industry. "I was never a fan of low-budget film productions that expected the crew to work ridiculously long hours," said Tucker. "Crew would often wear their lack of sleep as a badge of honor. But in reality, it leads to a decrease in quality of the work, and can be very dangerous."

"One of cinema’s greatest cinematographers, Sven Nykvist believed that working when tired made the work useless," added Salleh. "He even had a bed sitting next to film sets, so he could sleep between shots. And he advocated for shorter filming days."

We were curious to know how and why Tucker and Salleh got into the film industry. "I was always obsessed with film," explained Salleh. "In college, in Australia, I worked as a video store clerk, in a very fancy video store that rented foreign and arthouse films. I watched thousands of films during that time. That was my only film education; I never attended a day of film school."

He tells us that he eventually dropped out of college to start his own film company. "The first four or five years, I experimented with other filmmakers, producing small low budget films that didn’t really go anywhere. Eventually my partner, Rose and I switched to producing commercials and freelancing to actually earn a living."

"I also did not attend film school," adds Tucker, revealing that she actually has a degree in biology. "When I met Matthew, I thought it would be a laugh to come out as an extra on one of his short films. Before you know it, I was working my way up through the various roles on set: continuity, first assistant director, and then producing."

Tucker says they started taking the business side of things seriously, a few years later. "We started doing a lot of commercial work to make things sustainable. We always continued working on creative film projects on the side, and discovered where our true passion and skills lie: documentary."

Salleh says the duo made a few short documentaries on the side of their commercial work. Some did well at film festivals, they told Bored Panda. They got the opportunity to make their first feature documentary Barbecue in 2017. It gave viewers a glimpse into the barbecue culture around the world.

"Upon completing this film, we decided to move from Australia to the U.S. Shortly after moving here, 'Barbecue' was selected to premiere at SXSW, a prestigious film festival in Austin, Texas," he told Bored Panda. "The day after our world premiere, we sold the film to Netflix–our 'American Dream' was underway!"

Tucker tells us that since moving to America, they've completed two more feature documentaries: We Don’t Deserve Dogs (2020) explores the relationship between humans and dogs around the world. "And we recently premiered our third feature ‘Slice of Life: The American Dream. In Former Pizza Huts.' The film explores the current-day uses of former Pizza Hut buildings across the U.S. and will be released on streaming in 2025."