Phyllis Carlyle dies: ‘Seven’ and ‘Accidental Tourist’ producer who also worked as manager, casting director turns 80

Phyllis Carlyle, a decisive director and manager who has worked with big names such as Willem Dafoe, Jude Law and Geena Davis, who later produced the hit films. seven and The random tourist, deceased. She turned 80.

She died of lymphoma on September 14 in Encino, California, according to her family and the Neptune Society.

Born in Cleveland on August 22, 1942, Carlyle attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts before landing a job at a talent agency in Chicago. A friend who had moved to Los Angeles arranged for Carlyle to get a job as a commercial casting director, and she ran with it. “I probably became the casting director for best commercials,” Carlyle said in a recent interview with Luke Ford.

“Naivety can be a wonderful quality because you think anything is possible,” she told Ford. “Even though I wouldn’t have done anything if I had listened to the advice that was given to me. Everyone warns you about everything. I didn’t know any better. I decided to start a management company. I have seen a lot of young talent from my work as a casting director. And I started getting people from that pool to discuss management. I thought I was building her career. They would become stars. And I would learn the film industry.”

In addition to Dafoe, Law and Davis, these “future stars” included Pierce Brosnan, Salma Hayek, Joseph Fiennes, Andy Garcia, Melanie Griffith, Ewan MacGregor, Jon Stewart, Lou Diamond Phillips, David Caruso and John Malkovich.

It was Malkovich who helped Carlyle launch her producing career in the mid-1980s. Malkovich was hot property in town at the time and landed a production deal with Warner Bros. She said the actor didn’t want it, but asked if Carlyle would do it. Her answer was yes.

“So we have a two-year contract with Warner Bros. closed,” she told Ford. “I think John showed up twice in two years. That was the beginning of my relationship with a studio.”

Carlyle later served as executive producer on Lawrence Kasdan The random tourist (1988) with William Hurt, Kathleen Turner and Davis. It became an Oscar nominee for Best Picture, but lost rain man Davis won as supporting actress.

A few years later, a client of Carlyle received the script seven – a project she said the studios turned down. She would work hard to make the film, first at Columbia Pictures, then Paramount, but eventually decided “the studio life wasn’t for me.”

She hired David Fincher to direct Seven, The spooky thriller starred Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kevin Spacey. Released by New Line Cinema in 1995, the film topped the domestic box office for four weeks, earning $227 million – a top 10 gross for the year.

Carlyle’s executive production credits also include features labyrinth (2000) and pathology (2008) and the 1999 TV movie Average streak.