ASPEN, COLORADO — Academy Award-winning producer Brian Grazer opened up Wednesday about his artistic philosophy when it comes to making films and TV shows."None of my stories are left or right.I'm not political in any of my movies.
'Frost/Nixon' was just an account of an event.But I'm never political," Grazer said.
"I'm only about working on universal themes to create unity with other people, so we demystify other people, other people's problems."Grazer, who has nearly 270 producing credits, including for "Apollo 13," "A Beautiful Mind," "Arrested Development" and "24," appeared alongside "Yellowstone" director and cinematographer Christina Voros and Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Joshua Seftel at the Aspen Institute's Ideas Festival in a discussion titled "Building Bridges at the Box Office."DWAYNE 'THE ROCK' JOHNSON REJECTS HOLLYWOOD’S POLITICAL OBSESSION, BLASTS CELEBRITY ATTACK CULTUREHollywood producer Brian Grazer speaks at the Aspen Institute's Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colorado on Wednesday, July 1, 2026.(Daniel Bayer)Grazer was asked by panel moderator Steven Olikara of Bridge Entertainment Labs whether Hollywood was still "curious" as many in the industry have rejected viewpoint diversity."Sure," Grazer responded with a grin after a long pause, sparking laughs from the audience.
"I mean, some people are.""The mechanics of the business of Hollywood has changed so significantly in the last four years, it could cause artists to be disincentivized," he said."The compensation structure is predominantly based on a socialistic system — that was political — but in that everybody gets paid, you know, you get a streaming price.
So you're not incentivized to work your ass off, feel the risk of that, own that, and fail, lose money, or make 90 million dollars or something.That's what artists can do.""And so curiosity really always, to me, was, at the very minimum, just being polite to human beings," he continued.
"If you're interested in other people....