What a man Thinks, he becomes

By Steven Zeitchik

Is David Bergstein one of the biggest headaches to hit the indie business in years? Its necessary lifeline in troubled times? Or a complicated entrepreneur - one-part bogeyman, one part misunderstood victim?

As is so often the case with the embattled -- especially the wealthy embattled -- it depends on who you ask. Fortunately, Alex Ben Block, in his excellent and penetrating profile of the Capitol Films/ThinkFilm mogul, asks a lot of people. Some of them aren't exactly candidates to win the Kofi Annan impersonation contest; former Nickelodeon president Albie Hecht, who produced the ThinkFilm doc pickup War/Dance, calls Bergstein "the biggest disgrace in the film business" and an exec who "looks like he has no intention of fulfilling his obligation to filmmakers and artists."

The man who's had almost as many metaphors attached to him as he's had lives also gets his say. Of course he's contrite and unapologetic, rational and bewildering.

Bergstein, who is scouring for dollars to keep assets like Think in business, will nobly admit thats "some of what is out there is true," referring to accusations made over unpaid bills and unfulfilled promises, which he's been accused of on subjects that range from the $30 million David O. Russell fiasco of the (unfortunately titled) "Nailed" to release malfeasance on Alex Gibney's Oscar winner "Taxi to the Dark Side."

But he also turns around and defiantly asks, "So what? So what if X, Y or Z might be owed money?' "

And then, sometimes, Bergstein just sounds like a guy who thinks he's playing the mogul (or the fiddle) even as everyone around him run in the other direction. "Our business plan is not so much about the movie business," he says, in a voice that could have come from Peter Chernin. "It's really to build a global digital distribution business."

The amazing thing is that ThinkFilm -- which, it should be said, Bergstein stepped in and bought back in 2006 when it was close to out of cash -- has managed to solider on despite the uncertainty at the top. "Then She Found Me," the Helen Hunt directorial debut that opened in the spring with barely a red cent in P&A and with a staff slashed to ribbons, has still managed to make nearly $4 million at the box office in these troubled times.

The movies and the movie campaigns continue. A figure like Bergstein just continues to perplex.