As promised, here is Part Two of our interviews with the new owners of Amicus. What better way to find out the future plans of the company than to go straight to the source? Julie G. Moldo would probably be considered the ultimate resource and most knowledgeable person when it comes to Amicus history. She has spent the last 30 plus years working for Amicus and it's first co-owner, Max Rosenberg. She even worked for him when he was no longer doing films under the Amicus name brand. She has now stepped up from her duties as production manager and secretary to being an actual co-producer of the new wave of Amicus films. We had the extremely wonderful opportunity to interview her about the history of the iconic studio and where she feels like it's heading from here.
Amicus Productions (AP): I just want to take this time to say thanks for doing this interview and I really appreciate your willingness to share with us your experiences working at Amicus.
AP: How long have you been involved with Amicus?
Julie Moldo (JM): Since 1977
AP: How did you become involved with Amicus?
JM: Max Rosenberg held certain rights to the Amicus catalog when the company was dormant. He opened his own office in Los Angeles in 1977. I was the production secretary on his first picture here; I intended to work for three weeks, and I stayed for more than twenty years.
AP: What was the first project you worked on for the company?
JM: “The Incredible Melting Man,” which was not an Amicus production. The first production under the banner of the “new” Amicus was Stuart Gordon’s “Stuck” (2007).
AP: From what I understand, you have basically been the overseer of the company in between owners and in its downtime? Is that an accurate description?
JM: Well, there wasn’t much downtime. Max passed away in June 2004, and Bob Katz and I began running (and owning) the company in March 2005.
AP: How did you become the caretaker (so to speak) for the Amicus legacy?
JM: I have a lot of information because I was involved with Max and Amicus for so many years —and I have a good memory. I was also a corporate director.
AP: What was happening behind the scenes of Amicus during the period of downtime?
JM: Max produced several films without using the Amicus name. I was usually credited as his associate producer. We ran a small independent production company: developing screenplays, optioning and purchasing stories and books, meeting with filmmakers and production companies, etc.
AP: From looking at a lot of the films you were involved in, it seems that you wanted to keep working on projects with Max Rosenberg. Was that the case and what led to that?
JM: I had a full time job working with Max. Besides, I had a lot of fun and responsibility with him.
AP: Over the years, several of the Amicus films have been released on DVD, but always through different studios and distributors. Has there been any interest from anyone to distribute the whole catalog and put them all out as some type of collection or set?
JM: I only know that Anchor Bay in the UK put out a coffin-shaped box set of five pictures.
AP: Does Amicus still own all the rights to the classic films?
JM: Our company, Amicus Entertainment Ltd. is going to use some of the classic titles to produce new pictures in the same style but with new stories.
AP: How did Robert Katz come into the picture?
JM: Max and I had known Bob for years. Bob is a huge fan of the Amicus pictures. When Max died, Bob and I decided to run the company together.
AP: How do you feel about the relaunch of Amicus? Do you want the new films that Amicus puts out to reflect its past legacy of horror and thrillers, or would you like to see it become more diverse? I know that there were films that originally came out through Amicus (It’s Trad, Dad!, Danger Route, A Touch Of Love) that weren’t horror or sci-fi oriented. Or is the plan already in place to keep the Amicus brand focused on horror and such?
JM: Horror was our original mandate, but Bob and I are also interested in many other genres. We have a diverse slate of pictures coming up, but our intention is to continue to produce interesting and unusual horror films in the Amicus tradition, too.
AP: Why have you continued working with Amicus all these years? What has kept you dedicated to the company?
JM: I enjoyed working with Max (as I said before), and the same goes for Bob. We’ve even made good pictures.
Interview with Amicus Co-owner Julie G. Moldo
