Is Martin Brest making movies again?
Editor’s Note: This is a column from one of the many incredible, insightful and obsessive members of the growing One Heat Minute crew - the man I know as C.K. In the OHM community, C.K. is the resident historian and online chronicler of Michael Mann productions. After sharing this work on the exclusive OHM Discord channel, I insisted that C.K. allow me to publish his investigations here.
-Blake Howard
After the very public failure of his 2003 film Gigli, Martin Brest disappeared from the public eye.
An exhaustive 2014 Playboy article by Matt Patches attempted to track him down with limited results. Then, several years later, Brest miraculously and unexpectedly appeared for an in-person Q&A with Paul Thomas Anderson to discuss Beverly Hills Cop and Midnight Run in July 2021. Their friendly, banter conversation didn’t touch on Brest’s disappearance, save a throwaway joke by Anderson about how long people have to wait for a new Martin Brest film (akin to the wait people had to endure for a new Stanley Kubrick movie). However, that may now actually be a possibility.
Over the last few years, there have been a few indications of Brest re-emerging. In a March 2019 conversation, Amy Heckerling cagily mentioned that Brest was working on an “amazing” new project that she hoped would see the light of day. She refused to divulge details and said she needed “clearance” to speak about the highly private and Salinger-like Brest. Later that year, Brest’s IMDb photo was changed from one of him in the 1990s to a recent one.
In June 2021, his regular editor and close friend Billy Weber mentioned an excellent, timely script Brest had written, hoping it would be made. However, he cautioned that no one was answering Brest’s calls or reading the screenplay due to the massive critical and commercial failures of both Meet Joe Black and Gigli.
As it turns out, Brest now has a new film on IMDb Pro titled The Gospel of Jack. The logline reads: “The charismatic scion of the nation's most prominent political family is about to become the front-running candidate for the presidency if his inner circle can keep secret their discovery that he believes he's God.” The script is based on the play and feature film adaptation of The Ruling Class by Peter Barnes. Other details are scant on IMDb - but Brest’s production company and legal representation are listed as producers on the film, and January 18, 2023, is listed as a script date.
Brest is beloved for his classic films Beverly Hills Cop and Midnight Run and later earned an Oscar nomination and Al Pacino’s first (and only) win for Scent of a Woman in 1992. While Meet Joe Black was met with critical and commercial derision on its release, the film has grown in stature. Ben Affleck said the failure of Gigli turned to him directing and that he learned the most about the craft from working with Brest. Affleck even thanked Brest in his acceptance speech when winning the Best Picture Academy Award for Argo. It would be a real coup to see Brest come out with a new film; one can hope this sees the light of day.
