Long gone are the days when Jerry Weintraub had to hustle to attract A-list talent to a project.
“I don’t have to,” says the Hollywood legend, whose credits include producing “The Karate Kid” and the updated “Ocean’s” franchise, as well as managing John Denver and promoting tours for Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley. “They come to me now.”
Of course that wasn’t always the case for the 73-year-old. An anecdote he shares on finally convincing Elvis to tour under his watch — after calling the singer’s manager, Col. Tom Parker, every day for a year — is just one of the intriguing behind-the-scenes stories in the documentary “His Way,” detailing Weintraub’s rise from an enterprising kid in the Bronx to one of the most powerful men in show business.
Managing talent “was a natural thing,”?he says. “I just did it for the bigger stars in the world. It worked out.”
But it’s not just an acute sense of the entertainment biz that has led to Weintraub’s success. “My way,” he says, “is to find something that I love. Then when everyone tells me that it’s no good, I tell them that it is good.”
For news on the world of television and entertainment, follow Amber Ray on Twitter at @AmberatMetro.
