Mega-influential Hollywood player Tom Rosenberg boasts a production resumé that outstrips those of the most accomplished Tinseltown suits. With a multitude of A-list features to his credit, untold profit margins under his belt, and ten or 20 projects in the works at any one time, Rosenberg offers no indication of slowing down.
The curtain rose on Rosenberg's showbiz career when he founded the Beverly Hills-based Beacon Entertainment in 1989 and became its chairman. At Beacon, Rosenberg developed and produced such efforts as The Commitments (1991) A Midnight Clear (1992), The Road to Wellville (1994), and Princess Caraboo (1994). In 1994, Comsat Corporation bought Beacon; Rosenberg left and founded Lakeshore Entertainment, serving as its chairman as well.
Rosenberg and former Paramount head Gary Lucchesi joined forces at Lakeshore, to oversee the output of several dozen first-run blockbusters including The Real Blonde (1997), Polish Wedding (1998), Runaway Bride (1999), Arlington Road (1999), Passion of Mind (2000), The Mothman Prophecies (2002), Underworld (2003), and Aeon Flux (2005). During this period, Rosenberg devoted much of his attention to nurturing unestablished talent and masterminding multi-picture contracts with the new directors, as evidenced by his succession of projects with such "previous unknowns" as Mark Pellington (Arlington, Mothman), Tom DiCillo (The Real Blonde, Box of Moonlight), and others. Of this, Rosenberg commented, "One of the things we at Lakeshore are most proud of is that we've given a number of first-time feature directors a chance. We had a very successful relationship with...Pellington...and have gone on to make three films with him; we have also recently worked with Paul McGuigan on Obsessed, so [Len Wiseman] was a perfect fit (for Underworld)."
The crown jewel of Rosenberg's career arrived at the tail end of his first Lakeshore decade; though it received little prerelease publicity, Clint Eastwood's boxing picture Million Dollar Baby (starring Eastwood, Hilary Swank, and Morgan Freeman) walked away as the sleeper hit of 2004, grossed many times its budget, drew critical raves, and swept the coveted Best Picture Oscar for Rosenberg and Lucchesi. In 2006, Rosenberg produced Underworld: Evolution -- a sequel to the goth sci-fi thriller Underworld (which, like its predecessor, also stars siren Kate Beckinsale), and Crank, a testosterone-infused thriller co-directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, with Jason Statham as a poison victim who will die if he lets his pulse drop to normal levels. Tony Goldwyn's The Last Kiss reworks an Italian romantic comedy by Gabriele Muccino, with Zach Braff as an eminently successful 30-year-old torn between a permanent commitment to a woman who loves him and a risk-filled turn with a much younger (and sexier) co-ed. That same year, Rosenberg also announced a myriad of plans for forthcoming projects throughout 2007, including the Philip Noyce-directed American Pastoral, an adaptation of the Philip Roth novel about Seymour Levov and his attempts to grapple with the turbulence of the '60s, and Midnight Train, a thriller adapted from a Clive Barker story about a photographer who attempts to track down the notorious "Subway Butcher."
