New York and London-based theatre impresario John Gore moved into film in 2023 with the acquisition of the Hammer Films label, and Dracula: Restored And Uncut, his digital 4K restoration of the Hammer classic, is now on release.
John Gore Studios was created in 2025 to develop, produce and potentially fully finance a features slate, and saw the acquisition of a slew of UK-based film and IP outfits.
John Gore titles at AFM include The Return Of Stanley Atwell starring Nicholas Galitzine, being sold by Protagonist Pictures, Mike Newell’s My Duchess, starring Joan Collins as Wallis Simpson, is being sold by Embankment Films and will be released in the UK and Ireland by the company’s Kaleidoscope Films, and Peter Hoar’s A Waiter In Paris, is being introduced to buyers by Cornerstone Films.
What is your office like?
We’re on the fourth floor of the former Warner Bros building on Wardour Street [in London]. It can be a bit of a toy shop because we have a lot of stuff around from Thunderbirds, which was my original stage show success, and a lot from Hammer. My main office is the Brill Building in New York, where I have Lorne Michaels’ old office.
What was your first job in film?
Consulting and working in merchandising on Tim Burton’s Batman in 1989. I had put Batman on the stage in London [as director and producer], based on the 1960s TV show. Warner Bros said: “We love the show, but we’re going to do a serious [Batman] movie. Will you get involved in it?”
Who helped you most in your early film career?
The people who spotted my Batman show had a publishing company called Titan Books and a store called Forbidden Planet, which was basically a film toy shop. I met lots of major film people, so I got to see the inside truths of the studio system while not trying to make films.
Did you have a mentor?
[Producer-financier] John Heyman, David Heyman’s father. There wasn’t anyone who wouldn’t take John’s call.
Who do you look up to in the film industry?
Mike De Luca was the first person who interviewed me in Hollywood when I went in [for a directing job on The Mask]. He’s extraordinary. He understands film on a fundamental and commercial level.
What do you like best about your job?
I’m basically a director; everything I’m doing is a form of directing. But I’m not quite ready yet [to direct my own film]. A lot has happened in a very short time, and I need a bit of space to do it properly.
What are you most proud of professionally?
I didn’t get to finish drama school as I didn’t have the money. Now we find ways to assist in education across the board [to support] theatre and drama teaching. We do stuff with the National Youth Theatre, with Juilliard. Anyone who gets on to the drama acting course at Juilliard will never have to pay anything.
What is the biggest professional mistake you’ve made?
It’s taken me too long to get back to film. I wish I had done this 15, 20 years ago.
With whom would you most like to take a meeting?
David Ellison. You have to speak to the boss.
Where would you like to be five years from now?
We’ll be running up to the 100th anniversary of Hammer. That’s been our psychological milestone. I’m hopeful we’ll have a major Hammer film that is a studio release.
What was your favourite film growing up?
Dracula. There are pictures of me at Halloween, and in fact any fancy dress, dressed as Christopher Lee.
What would you do if you didn’t work in film?
I joke that the only job offer I might have said yes to was running Disney. But I’m sure we’ll have a theme park at some point. I have a design for a rollercoaster no one’s ever made that I want to put my name on: The Gore.
What do you do to unwind, and where do you go?
There’s so much transatlantic travel that I try to use it to unwind, especially an LA trip where you can tune out, catch up on a movie. I spend a lot of time in the Bahamas, but I don’t get holidays. When you run the business, you can’t just take off.
Who would play you in a biopic of your life and who would direct?
I’ve got to know Rebecca Miller, Arthur Miller’s daughter, which obviously lends itself to [her partner] Daniel Day-Lewis playing me. I’d have to direct.
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