Success Nuggets #46 - A Touch of the Madness with Larry Kasanoff

What does it take to transform wild ideas into billion-dollar entertainment franchises? Larry Kasanoff, the legendary producer behind Mortal Kombat and Terminator 2, reveals his secret weapon: “a touch of the madness.”

From betting his career on Platoon to pioneering video game films, Larry’s journey is a masterclass in daring creativity, bold persistence, and breaking the rules when everyone else plays it safe. He shares the three-part formula behind his biggest wins:

Ask anyone for anything

Persevere beyond what’s reasonable

Have genuine fun doing it

Forget credentials—Larry’s only question is: “Do they get stuff done?” His no-nonsense approach and outrageous success make this one of the most energizing episodes yet.

🎧 Whether you're building in business, entertainment, or innovation, this episode gives you permission to go all-in on the idea everyone else thinks is crazy.

Nugget of the day “That crazy, wonderful idea everyone thinks you're nuts for believing in – that’s the one. Go for it.”

With thanks to One Golden Nugget and Maxwell Preece for editing, support and artwork

Transcript

Welcome to Success Nuggets Podcast

Speaker 2 0:19

Thank you about the patterns that drive progress . Get ready to dive into a world of insights and inspiration . This is the Success Nuggets Podcast , with the founder of the Digital Lightbulb and your host , david Abel .

Speaker 3 0:36

Welcome back to the Success Nuggets Podcast , where we uncover the golden clues to success . Today we have absolute legend in the world of entertainment Larry Kasanoff . Larry isn't just a producer . He's a master of bringing the wildest ideas to life . He's the creative force behind Mortal Kombat , terminator 2 and so many more blockbuster hits . I can smell the popcorn

Larry's Early Hollywood Journey

Speaker 3 0:57

from here . But beyond the big screen and billion dollar franchises , larry is a firm believer embracing madness because , as he says , the crazy idea is usually the right one . Hello , larry . Hi , how are you ? I'm very good . 1991 . If we go back to 1991 , which is , I believe , 35 years ago if I do my maths correctly , you must have been having a wild time with the films that you were involved in , and the music videos as well .

Speaker 1 1:23

Yeah , we were having a great time . We're still having a great time . Let me start a little early . You know I wanted to be a movie producer since I was a little kid and I got very lucky . And out of school I got a great job as head of production , acquisitions and co-production for an independent studio called Vestron . And this was in the mid to late 80s and surfing in the wave of what we could call the home video boom . In those days when home video markets blew up , they needed movies , just like when streaming blew up years ago , it needed movies . And I became head of production to that company . I mean , no one would take a chance on a kid like me today doing that and so my instructions were make 80 movies a year , which is a lot Most studios make 12 today . They come , buy them , co-produce them , we don't care , don't lose money . And they were lower budget movies six million and under and we made , you know , rom-coms and kind of B action movies and horror movies and stuff , and they were all doing well and it was a blast . We're traveling around the world .

Speaker 1 2:12

But then I got a script for a movie called Platoon , and Platoon was very different . Platoon was a serious movie about the Vietnam War and the effect it had on kids , more psychologically even than physically , and I wanted to make it . I just had a good instinct and my boss said you're crazy , this isn't what we do . Where's our rom-com with so-and-so star ? But I fought for it . He said look , you're the head of production now you can decide , but if it fails you're fired . What do you want to do ? And I was listening . Well , I didn't play it safe . So I greenlit Platoon . And when I first saw it I was the only person to giggle their way through the screening of Platoon , not because it wasn't good , because it was so good I was like oh my God , I'm writing a funner .

Speaker 1 2:51

And Platoon was so good that it won Best Picture at the Academy Awards that year . And a few months later I ran into the director Oliver Stone at . I always liked you , you have a touch of the madness . And I thought a touch of the madness Is he saying I'm a little crazy , am I a little crazy ? And then I thought well , my boss was a little crazy about a 25-year-old kid running an 80-picture film slate . With no prior experience . Oliver had a touch of the madness by insisting on a Vietnam movie in a way that no one had ever done before .

Speaker 1 3:19

The touch of the madness by betting the greatest job in the world on one movie .

A Touch of the Madness

Speaker 1 3:24

And that's when it occurred to me that a touch of the madness is exactly what you need in the movie business . But I think in any business to be great . And the reason you need it is because it helps you innovate . The current of the river of life will always pull us towards the middle , always , all the time imperceptibly , and the best way to swim away from that is with innovation , and innovation comes from a touch of the madness . So that's been my touchstone ever since and that's what I've done in the movie business and all my other endeavors ever since .

Speaker 1 3:48

And so when it then came time to Terminator 2 and True Lies and the Guns and Roses video , that was for Terminator 2 , it was . It was all a series of crazy ideas . They weren't all my ideas , but you know that we were involved in with our group and asking people to do things they never did when , when we made that video for guns and roses with terminator 2 , you know terminator 2 was the most expensive movie ever made at the time , so we were trying to make sure that everything we get all the promotion and you know mtv in those days actually we had music videos . So I wanted to make a music video and I had to go ask arnold , who wasn't contractual , obligated the studio , the record company , the director and everyone you know , not easily , but eventually said yes and first said no and on and on and on . But it became one of the videos of the year on MTV and it was a huge hit and it was a huge help to the movie .

Speaker 1 4:35

And again , it was just constantly asking , because I think there are three tenets to my touch of the madness and one of them is ask . You must always ask anybody anything you want to help you get to your goal Anybody and so I would ask you'd probably do this already , but I would ask whoever is listening or watching now if you could call anyone in the world right now I mean a real person and ask them a real question . That would advance something you do , who would you call and what would you ask ? And most people say , huh , that's a good question . I don't know . And the reason they don't know is because we're taught to believe you can't do it . But you can do it , I mean . So what ? So they don't answer you ?

Speaker 1 5:11

The phone call I had before we started this podcast was literally about that talking to a director who's friends with an actor

The Power of Asking

Speaker 1 5:17

who's a very famous actor , saying , well , call him , and people just are so scared to make that ask . Just they're so scared to make that ask . But I'm telling you , ask anybody anything if it helps you . So what you know ? People are afraid of a . No , you know , if you look at a boxer , you bet . You know . You said you met evander holyfield . You look at the best boxer in the world and he wins the match . He still gets hit like 200 times and in training for the match . He gets hit 20 times a day for like three months . So you know , no one bats a thousand , as we said so anyway .

Speaker 1 5:42

Anyway . So the answer is it was a blast , because the other tenant I have is at three , the other one is having a lot of fun and we had a blast doing it because they were all new and different ideas . You know , no one had ever done more , you know , in a movie extensively in Germany , or two before , and no one had done a music video like we did before . So that's what was exciting .

Speaker 3 6:00

They did and is that like the first rule ? It sounds like you bet on yourself . It is a wild idea . I worked at a clothing company called ted baker and we actually went from 20 oh , I know that company . Yeah , yes , I was there end of the 90s . We went from 20 to 100 million in those five years , which was pretty rapid growth . What was interesting was we didn't have a marketing budget . Everyone had sort of forgotten because no one really liked marketing . Everyone thought sort of newspaper spreads were boring and not really what we wanted . So we just made the windows move . We had like a world on a train . We had a Santa with in those days , you know , reindeers in like lap dancing gear and he was drinking a beer and it would stop traffic and people would go in the shop you did that kind of an increase all from the windows .

Speaker 3 6:45

Yes , pretty much because , yeah , we had no marketing budget . It was that a repeat customer's word of mouth as well Wow , that's great as you walk through the door . It was good music , great service , good-looking people , clothes that were awesome .

Speaker 1 6:58

Yeah , that's great . You know , I think you have to do whatever it takes . I mean , you know , at Vestron , at First Jump , it's some of the lower-budget movies we made . We didn't have much of a marketing budget either , but we'd make these great posters and we'd make these outrageous kind of campaigns which people for a long

Bringing Fun Back to Entertainment

Speaker 1 7:14

time in the last few years have been scared to do . I think it's coming back .

Speaker 1 7:16

We want to bring back fun and those campaigns worked and then if you hit with a campaign , the press will spread the wildfire themselves , and so we did a lot of crazy things . You know , know , we had this low budget movie , just terrible low budget horror movie , called blood diner , and we came up with a tagline that said first they greet you , then they eat you , and the poster that our marketing department did was so beautiful , it was like an art deco , old diner and first degree you , then they eat you . And I mean the movie . I mean , you know I still don't get it , but 30 years later that movie is still playing in midnight shows and I'm telling you it's because of the poster , not just . But so I think Atlanta's ideas are great . It's been harder the last five years of worldwide political correctness to get people to be out there . But I think that ice is finally cracking .

Speaker 3 7:59

Good , now I do as well . Come on , let's warm it up a little bit and crack it some more , but you did say bringing fun back . Bringing fun back , and I remember in 2023 , someone said 2023 is the year we're going to get back out there and look in the whites of people's eyes and there was still a lot of people held back , not coming out and becoming more . Stay on your own , stay away from people and those kinds of things , and they took a long time to warm up . How are we getting fun back and where are the blocks ?

Speaker 1 8:31

do you think ? Well , you know , here's a little different , because in hollywood we had in 2023 . We had strikes and the after the pandemic we couldn't work for whatever two or three . It strikes in the writer's strike and the actor's strike , which also mean you couldn't work . So that was really a second kind of blow to it , so people got even more scared . But I think you have to then be very creative .

Speaker 1 8:47

So that was the year we couldn't make any movies and so I wrote the book a touch of the madness that we just spoke about . But I also did a photography book called malibu blonde , yeah , which is gorgeous models on the beach in malibu . It's like a throwback to the old days of malibu with , you know , rent convertibles and beach boys , music and puppy dogs and beautiful women , aspiring movie stars can . All the proceeds go to charity to elephant and it's fun , and the whole point was to bring back fun and it's doing really well , and so we couldn't make a movie that year . I said , well , I can , I have a camera , you know I can , I know how to shoot a picture , and so whatever it is you can do to help , you got to do it , whether it's even just fun .

Speaker 1 9:30

The movies we have coming up not all , but almost all are breaking some mold or having some idea that are very , very , very outlandish , and it takes a little while to convince people . But you have to be relentless . A great , crazy idea or talent is half the battle . You then have to be relentless about pushing it and you cannot give up , because the political correctness does not come from the audience . It doesn't come from your customers or my audience . It comes from Twitter or whatever it's called .

Speaker 1 9:57

I mean not literally that company , it comes from a small group of cognoscenti and that you have to get over . You just have to have a touch of the madness also means you have to have a touch of the madness in terms of perseverance . You know I have movies that have a touch of madness in terms of perseverance . You know I have movies that have taken me six months to make and I have movies that have taken me 10 years to make . You know it took Spider-Man , which is not my movie . It took Spider-Man 25 years to get to the screen , wow . But so what ?

Speaker 3 10:18

But that resilience and just going for it where does that come from ? I really admire that quality .

Speaker 1 10:23

I think you're having a good time doing it and you believe in it . You don't have a choice . All the movies that I haven't developed in my whole life including the ones I have now , which I'm just as excited about as the ones I had my first day or my first job

Ruthless Prioritization and Getting Things Done

Speaker 1 10:36

I see them in my mind and it's like a disconnect . I see them and I have to then make them . So they come to life . The characters become friends of mine in my head and I couldn't imagine not doing it . I couldn't imagine not waking up and doing it . The same way , I couldn't imagine not waking up and calling my family or playing with my dog . It's if you love it , you want to do it . You don't think , oh , I got to call him . You say I can't wait , and if people say no to me which they do all the time I'm convinced they're wrong .

Speaker 3 11:13

I mean , I know that's arrogant , but I'm not arrogant to them think everyone isn't right and you do it again , because you just can't wait to do it , you can't wait to make it , you can't wait to see it . I think you gotta love what you do . In terms of making progress , though . So I love what I do , but I keep having piles of notepaper everywhere and loads of ideas every night . My notes on my phone is full of them . How do I get a fish here done ?

Speaker 1 11:25

I think that's a great question . I I go through that all the time , every you know . Maybe three to six months I look at all the movies and shows that have development . I say , okay , do I still love them ? Let's just check on this , what's right ? And then I sort of prioritize them . Like , for example , recently literally last night I was talking about this I have two movies that are a little smaller than my other movies and I thought , you know , I don't want to make smaller movies and so I figured , can I make them bigger by changing them a little bit , or I'm not going to make them because that's really what I want and that's what I'm doing . So I think if you take all your piles I have piles of notes everywhere too If you take all your piles and say , what is my number one priority ?

Speaker 1 12:03

Let's just forget all the other priorities . What's my number one priority ? All the stuff that doesn't fit into your number one priority . Let's say you have three priorities but it doesn't fit into your number one . Get rid of them and just focus on the number ones . Bring things into focus and all of a sudden you think , oh yeah , I don't think this one isn't right and that's what you do . You got to be a little bit ruthless about editing , I think .

Speaker 3 12:21

Yeah , I think that's a good one being ruthless about it . Do you much on spirituality ?

Speaker 1 12:27

Several

Spirituality, Intelligence and Getting Stuff Done

Speaker 1 12:28

years ago I read a book by a kind of revered Zen master Buddhist monk named Thich Nhat Hanh and I loved the book and I thought what do I do with this peaceful monk ? And I thought , you know , he'd be a great inspiration for this character I had in mind for Mortal Kombat , and so you know the two are very at odds with each other monks in Mortal Kombat . But I called him anyway and I went to meet him , but it was different than I expected . After two hours I forgot about the movie and I felt like I'd been on vacation for a week and I said what's your secret ? He said no secret practice . And he gave me one of these little wrist things to just remember to breathe . I mean , I can learn how to feel like this . And then he goes , yeah , and I became really good friends with him .

Speaker 1 13:05

I saw him all over the world . He asked me to do a documentary on mindfulness , which I did , called Mindfulness Be Happy Now , which is on Amazon , and so I believe in that because I think he has a great message peace in yourself , peace in the world . You're not going to solve the world's problems , but if you find peace in yourself , you'll be nicer to the barrister , your coffee place and to your spouse , and they'll be nicer to their , and so I believe in that . And then there's IQ and so I believe in that .

Speaker 3 13:29

And then there's IQ . So we could have a score of 100 and I've got 90 . You're more clever than me and I could learn more and improve my IQ . And then there's EQ , your emotional intelligence , how you ride things out . And then there's positive intelligence .

Speaker 1 13:43

But the challenge to your question is I don't really pay much attention to any of those scores or things like that . I really have a very binary question in countering people , certainly professionally , which is do they get shit done or don't they ? Can they actually get this done or don't they ? I mean , you know , my book , a Touch of the Madness , is dedicated to all the great scoundrels , and scoundrel , you know , is an old kind of American slang word for lovable thief . These guys aren't really here anymore .

Speaker 1 14:06

But a scoundrel is someone who comes to town , takes you out for the weekend . You have the time of your life , you just have the best time you can imagine . And Monday morning when they left , you realize they were using your credit card . So you're still at a great time , but they were using your credit card . That's a scoundrel . But they got stuff done and that's how I grew up in the movie business , learning from guys like that . So to me , blah blah , blah , blah , blah , I don't care . You know I have fortune , I have a great education , but I don't care whether they went to school or not , whether they did this or not , how they did the test or not . It's a question of are we getting stuff done and that's it . That's my thing .

Speaker 1 14:36

I cannot tell you the amount of people we encounter every year in all walks of our business who are talented . I can tell if someone's talented in the movie business in 30 seconds , if they have the perseverance to get stuff done . I can't tell the only time I can tell . So the answer is for me Tegnata , for example . He walked the walk . Whatever he preached , he did so he got it done and he would never go anyplace . He was invited to all kinds of places , to the Senate , unless he could . That's it , that's my one test . And if they do , great , and if they don't , I don't care .

Speaker 3 15:08

Do you have ambitions to teach yourself when you get to that kind of level of age and wisdom ?

Speaker 1 15:13

No , I don't think . You know , I do stuff like this which I enjoy . I'm hired to give speeches , which I enjoy because it's one speech and I meet people , but as a teacher I'm just not great . I don't have the patience . I think I'm too . What I just said get stuff done . I don't think that goes well in today's world .

Speaker 1 15:33

You know , a friend of mine is the Dean of a big film school here . Well , the Dean , she's the chairwoman of the big film school here , and so I used to go into the class every semester and I would mock interview the seniors . You know , like , okay , what do you want to do ? You want to be a director ? I'll interview you for five minutes and the class will vote on whether or not you want to do it . And you know we should hire you and then you can learn . And you know you'd get a kid who said what do you want to do ? I want to direct movies . What kind of movies ? Horror movies ? What are your favorite horror movies ? Oh , I don't watch horror movies . Like if someone says that when I'm doing it I say I would eliminate you right there , but then eventually other teachers would say no , no , you're being too harsh on them . We have to hug them more and it's just not much more of like . But here's how you get it done in real life . Yeah , and so no , I , I . There's so many people who I know who I think are so much more qualified to teach than me . I love talking for an hour and we have interns every semester , so I have like five interns . But , as actually teaching , being a professor not my gig , I go crazy .

Speaker 1 16:23

Yeah , where did you grow

Larry's Path from Boston to Hollywood

Speaker 1 16:24

up , larry ? I grew up in Boston , in the northeast of the United States , and when I was a really little kid , my dad took me to see a James Bond movie and when we left I said , okay , I want to be a spy , but what was that guy ? Who said the producer , what does that guy do ? And my father explained it and that was it . And I said , well , how am I going to do this ? And so I was a really little kid and in Boston there's only two schools like this in the United States . There's one in New York . They're like public-private schools . It's called the Boston Latin School and it's the oldest high school in the country . Benjamin Franklin went there and you have to take a test to get in and if you do well on the test , you can go for free . And so since I was a little kid , I was like I'm going to get into that , I'm going to take that test .

Speaker 1 17:04

And I got in and then the school was like going to school in like the 1800s . It was horrible . I mean , I hated it , but it had , in those days , the biggest track record of getting kids into either of these schools in the country . So if I get into a good school , I'll meet people One way or another . I'll meet people and I got to get into Aladdin school , then Aladdin school , I got to get into a good Ivy League school and then I got to get into a good business school . I went to Wharton and then through that I got internships and that's how I got my job . So it worked . But I've been plotting this since I was , like you know , 11 .

Speaker 3 17:33

Yeah Well , I've just got one more .

Speaker 1 17:34

and finally that crazy wonderful . Everyone thinks you're nuts . You can't believe they're going to let you do it idea .

Speaker 3 17:47

That's the one go for it . Thanks for coming in . That was a mind-blowing conversation . It was really entertaining and insightful . We shall see you again on the success nuggets . My pleasure . Join david and his incredible guests next time on the success nuggets podcast and to find out more , visit one goldenGoldenNuggetcom .

Speaker 1 18:06

Thank you for listening .