It counts all right, now more than ever. Henson has just been named president of Columbia Pictures, a studio in the market for a miracle. Columbia did manage a couple of coups last year, namely “The Age of Innocence” and “In the Line of Fire.” But misery loves this company. The studio may lose as much as $40 million each on “Last Action Hero,” “Geronimo” and “I’ll Do Anything.” The last had such a short shelf life that one rival studio executive says, “It didn’t just bomb. It’s Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the Bikini atoll all in one.”
Henson, 33, steps into the fray as the youngest studio head in Hollywood and one of only two women (Lansing now runs Paramount Pictures). Many believe she’s just the miracle Columbia needs. Henson is widely regarded as smart, honest and forthright. Friends say she’s every bit the workaholic that her father was, but that she doesn’t have what one calls his “soft, cushy exterior.” “No one has ever accused Lisa of being a soft touch, like her father was,” the friend continues. “She’s incredibly decent and good, but there is a steeliness to her.”
Henson’s greatest show of strength came in 1990, when her father suddenly died of a strep infection, and she and her younger siblings fought to preserve his company. After all, the Henson kids (Lisa, Brian, Cheryl, John and Heather’) had been raised alongside Jim Henson Productions. While growing up in a farmhouse in Greenwich, Conn., and later in Armonk. N.Y., they played in the puppeteer’s workshop while their father ruminated on cultural juggernauts like “Sesame Street” and “The Muppet Show.” Lisa was close to her dad: as a 22-year-old Harvard student. she explained to a reporter why Kermit was her favorite Moppet: “My father works him.”
At Harvard, Henson became the first woman president of the Harvard Lampoon (where she edited a parody of NEWSWEEK) and studied folklore and mythology. Her friend Maura Moynihan remembers, ‘At Harvard, she was terrifically cute and cool and had incredible style and threw great parties. Everyone had a crush on her." Before Henson graduated, she told The Boston Globe that she didn’t care about making money but that she was ambitious: “I do not intend to travel through Europe with a backpack.”
She didn’t. Henson went to work for Warner Bros., where she darted up the corporate ladder. She helped bring Tim Burton to the studio and transform him from an eccentric animator to a mainstream director; she played a key role in developing the enormously successful “Lethal Weapon” series; and she championed low-budget movies, like “New Jack City” and “Free Willy,” that became bona fide hits. In 1990 Henson and her siblings were blindsided by the death of their father, who’d been negotiating a merger with Disney. The Henson children rushed into the breach (Brian is now the company’s president) and did a masterful job of stewarding Henson Productions. It soon became clear that the merger didn’t make financial sense for either side, and a lawsuit was brought over Disney’s use of the Muppet characters. The Hensons held their own against Disney, and Lisa emerged from the battle a tougher businesswoman.
By 1992 Henson was an executive vice president at Warners and had climbed every rung she could. When her contract ran out, she declined to renew it. Instead, she bought and renovated a Beverly Hills house that once belonged to Jimmy Cagney and spent several months visiting Buddhist temples in India and Tibet. (Friends say Henson is serious about Buddhism but, as one put it, not in a “mushyheaded Hollywood way.”) Last August Henson was brought to Columbia by chairman Mark Canton, who’d been a close friend and mentor during her tenure at Warners. In January, Canton became chairman of both of Sony Entertainment’s studios, Columbia and TriStar; this month Henson became Columbia’s president. Many are baffled by Canton’s promotion wasn’t this the man who led Columbia through a demoralizing slump? But one source at the studio says that Canton will be kept in check by his fellow top executive, the tough, finance-minded Jonathan Dolgen.
Henson is now one of four women holding key positions on the Columbia and TriStar lots. Her tastes, as she demonstrated at Warners, run to comedies and male action adventures. At Columbia, Henson has already helped land “The Juror,” a John Grisham type of thriller, and “A Tale of Two Brides,” an edgy comedy about two sisters. one of whom is a lesbian. Henson is also said to be negotiating for “The Larry Flynt Story,” based on the life of the Hustler publisher, which will be directed by Oliver Stone. Studio sources say she’s dealing with filmmakers more openly and generally impressing the company’s executives. “When she’s in a fight, it’s a full-body fight,” says one source. “But what makes her different is that her opinions are well informed and argued decisively and without ego. You can’t say, ‘Wow, what a bitch,’ when you leave the room.”
Even some of Henson’s rivals seem to be pulling for her as she tries to put an end to Columbia’s comedy of errors. Bruce Berman, head of production at Warners, says, “Lisa has a total lack of fear, and you know you’re never getting bullsh–ed.” Sherry Lansing, who remembers that pitch meeting way back when, says, “I am crazy about her. Lisa comes from the best father in the world and from a great family. She has a good gene pool.” Genes, it seems, are only the half of it.
ON THE RUN: At Warners, Henson oversaw ‘Leathal Weapon,’ with Danny Glover and Mel Gibson. Director Dick Donner has credited her with lobbying for the characters’ funny, combative rapport. DOMESTIC GROSS: $65.1 million.
ON THE ROAD: She urged Warners to take a chance on TimBurton, though the animator had never made a feature film. Burton’s debut caught Pee-Wee Herman in all his glory. DOMESTIC GROSS: $40.9 million.
ON THE PROWL: The executive’s diverse Warners resume also included ‘New Jack City,’ a low-budget movie that turned a hefty profit. Above, Wesley Snipes (sporting a red blazer and a knife) runs a board meeting. DOMESTIC GROSS: $47.6 million.
