I had no idea producers had so much to do with the creation of a film. As a matter of fact, it never occurred to me that a producer did anything more than make sure the director didn't go over-budget. The fact that a producer could have so much control, even pick which director to work with, really brings to mind the enormity of the job. Perhaps with this tyrannical power a producer can keep a director's reckless creativity in check with realistic expectations. That, I suppose, is a good thing, but it certainly diminishes in my mind the importance of the director, whom I always thought of as the most important man/woman behind a film. I imagine most people are given this impression, since the director's name seems to be most advertised in connection with their works. In a small way it saddens me to think that great creative geniuses like Orsen Welles or Stanley Kubrick should be held in by the "leash" of contractual agreements and arrangements. It also naturally raises my admiration for those that produce and direct their films, as well as intensify my interest in such anomalies as Alfred Hitchcok.