Brett Ratner: ‘Oh my God, I’m going to be responsible for killing Steve Wynn!’
I, like many other Las Vegas residents, marveled at the TV commercials that hotel mogul Steve Wynn appeared in for the launch of his Wynn and Encore properties seemingly unfazed about balancing atop the 600-foot-high roofline as a helicopter filmed his pitch.
Here’s the first spot on YouTube announcing the arrival of Wynn Las Vegas:
And the second when he opened Encore:
Both were created and directed by hotshot Hollywood director and producer Brett Ratner (“X-Men: The Last Stand,” “Rush Hour,” “The Revenant”). I always assumed that fearless Steve was safely restrained somehow so that he wouldn’t fall off the roof as helicopter cameras filmed him delivering the lines in one take.
I also assumed that Steve’s courage for the stunt came about from his eyesight problems that may not have let him see how dangerously he was perched. I never guessed that Brett actually feared the chopper’s blades would cut the billionaire in two as it got closer to him!
“Steve asked me to come up with a campaign, but the roof idea was his idea. Today, we could do it with a drone, but back then a helicopter was the only choice,” Brett told me. “It had to be a day where there was no wind.
“The helicopter was 67 stories up, 12 feet away from him, because of the focus of the lens. It had to be stable at eye level because if it was half a foot above Steve, his hair would blow. It had to be completely at eye level.
“I had to get the best helicopter pilot in the world. I had a panic attack for the first time in my life because I had visions of a gust of wind coming and the blade cutting Steve in half. Chopped in half. I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to be responsible for killing Steve Wynn!’
“I was the scaredy cat, and Steve was fearless. Because of his poor eyesight, he didn’t see how scary it was visually to have the blades 12 feet — a very uncomfortable 12 feet — in front of his eyeballs. It was the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced, but the shot turned out to be spectacular. I’m very proud of it; it’s one of the most memorable commercials of all time.”
That was in 2005 for the opening of Wynn, December 2008 for Encore, but what does that have to do with today? It turns out that Brett, who always wanted to be a film director, was paid in Wynn stock.
“I realized that he said, ‘How will I pay you?’ And I said, ‘Why don’t you just give me stock in the company?’ If the commercial works and the stock goes up, that would be beneficial for me, and it went up 50 percent. I sold at 70, and ultimately it went up to 200 or whatever — stupid me. But it made me think that I should do the same for myself with my own brand.
“I bought Ingrid Bergman’s estate in Beverly Hills, and it was built in 1927 before she ever owned it. It was a part of a much larger estate, Hilhaven, and this was Hilhaven Lodge, which was solely used for when they entertained.
“Back in those days, they wouldn’t let people in the main house. They built a separate house just for parties. That tradition continued through various owners for decades. Kim Novak was one, then in the 1970s, Allan Carr bought it. When he passed in 1999, I bought the house and kept the tradition of it.
“I restored the whole house, and it became the house that everybody wanted to come over to: A great party house, it was built for parties and bars with its own disco. Maybe nine or 10 years ago, ‘Mad Men’ was the hottest show, and the ’50s and ’60s were in full swing again. I wanted to do a spirit of the house, a whiskey. It was what they drank back then.
“Frank Sinatra drank whiskey, and everybody cool I know drinks whiskey. It took two years just when Japanese whiskey started making real progress around the world that we were able to start planning it properly.
“It became very popular with the bottle designers, whiskey makers, smelling the scents and the oaks and the fruit and the stuff that’s all around the property. Even the words, the bay window drawing and the bottle is really a living, breathing embodiment of the home, which is what I love. So it’s not Brett Ratner’s whiskey at Hilhaven Lodge; it’s Hilhaven Lodge’s.
“The house has its own spirit, and like most of these great, amazing houses, which, by the way, I was dreaming of owning your ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous’ … it was one of my inspirations. I wanted a house with a history, with a story behind it. I loved these Old Hollywood houses. I’m just the keeper as the owner for this generation.”
I’ve known Brett for years going back to when he was making student films. He used a mutual friend as a character — renamed — in one film after seeing him on my old “Lifestyles” show. Brett asked me to voice over the narration again as the name was changed.
I filmed Hilhaven Lodge for another episode of the show with movie producer Allan Carr (“Grease,” “Saturday Night Fever”). Since Brett is a whiskey drinker, I asked him what he loves about having his own drink.
“Whiskey has a stigma for being a very strong drink, for being a man’s drink or something that is hard to swallow and burns on the way down. I wanted a whiskey that is smooth, so we set out to create the smoothest whiskey in the world. We succeeded with a whiskey that you can sip that you don’t have to mix.
“It has three different kinds of American whiskey. It’s rye, Tennessee whiskey and bourbon, and that’s the key. It’s a blend, almost like a new category. There hasn’t been a blended American whiskey, a North American whiskey like this before, in the ultra-premium category. Call it the status category costing $50 a bottle.”
Brett launched it in Florida for sentimental reasons because he was born and raised in Miami Beach. He followed with Los Angeles because it’s now his home and, because Aspen is part of the rich-and-famous triangle for jetsetters, the Colorado city became the third outlet. But with his love for Las Vegas and Steve Wynn, he decided that our city had to be next.
Steve hosted and toasted a launch party at Sinatra in Encore for Brett’s new whiskey Hilhaven Lodge, which is distributed by Larry Ruvo’s Southern Glazer Wine and Spirits, and Brett will be helping Larry’s annual Keep Memory Alive gala here Thursday, April 27.
But before our VIPs taste the elixir, Brett will keep the Hilhaven legend alive starring during the Oscars and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Governors Ball after-party next Sunday as the perfect drink to toast their success while celebrating Hollywood’s biggest night.
