"Training Day" Producer Suffers Fatal Heart Attack
A second well-respected indie movie producer in his 40s has died suddenly. Robert Newmyer, who has a long list of credits including sex, lies and videotape and Training Day, suffered a heart attack in a Toronto gym while visiting the set of Breach, a film he was producing starring Chris Cooper and Ryan Phillippe. An LA Times obituary explains how Drew Barrymore was partially responsible for a passionate career of movie making:
A native of Washington, D.C., Newmyer graduated from Swarthmore College and was attending Harvard Business School when he decided to go into the movie business.
"Just before he graduated, he saw Spielberg's 'E.T.' and he came out and said, 'That's what I want to do,' " said documentary filmmaker Eames Yates, who had been best friends with Newmyer since the first grade. "We argued about it. I said, 'Wouldn't you rather go into Wall Street and make hundreds of millions?' He said, 'No, I'd rather make movies.' "
