#Red Notice Producer Hiram Garcia On Giving Notes, Intentionality, And The Future Of Dwayne Johnson’s Career [Interview]

Yeah, it really depends. A lot of times, I’ll read it first and get my hands on it. We’ve all worked together so much — obviously DJ and Dany are extremely busy, so whatever I can do to a lot of times where I can address a lot of notes that I just know from having worked with them and made so many movies with them, that I can get ahead of before he even has to give that note. So a lot of times, I’ll jump in there first and then after doing a bit of work on it, then we’ll get it to him. I’m able to address some things that I know will be right at the top of his mind.

What about changes or tweaks to the script? How involved are you guys in that? When a filmmaker presents you with a script and you have some tweaks that you want to make, what does that look like?

Obviously as producers of the movie, we’re extremely involved in every aspect of the movie. It’s our movie. We take great pride in being very hands-on, and it’s in that hands-on process where you really start to get that DNA that fans really want from a Dwayne Johnson Seven Bucks movie. Dwayne’s always been extremely hands-on. Me and Dany as well. So from the moment we hear the pitch, we’re giving notes. [laughs] You hear the pitch, you have thoughts. Then you get the script, you have notes. It’s why some projects can take so long, because sometimes it just takes a bit of time and a bit of work to get projects in the right place, but we’re always very involved. And especially with it being a Seven Bucks movie, it’s one of those things where, right from the beginning, we’re in there – and we’re in all the way through.

Are there any specific tweaks you can remember on “Red Notice” that came from you and the Seven Bucks team in terms of capturing that fan engagement element you guys are so fond of?

The entire building process is collaborative, so it’s almost hard to just call out one thing. Because right from the beginning, you’re presented with an idea, and as producers of the film, you start working hand in hand with the writer/director/producer as well in Rawson to hone it. So you’re analyzing every scene in the movie and making tweaks to all of the characters. It’s like, ‘OK, for Gal’s character, where would we love to see her that right now, we’re not feeling her? [How do we] enhance it?’ You’re constantly modulating. Same thing with Ryan’s character. So it’s an ongoing process when you’re doing these films. It’s not just something that’s cooked and you go put a little bit of seasoning on it. We’re in there for the whole process. And then obviously when you’re dealing with something like a pandemic that comes, it requires everybody to put their heads together to say, “All right, how do we reconfigure some of these scenes to be able to properly pull them off in this new environment that we’re shooting in where we don’t have as many luxuries as we did before and as much flexibility as you did before in a pre-pandemic situation?”