meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Desert Island Discs

Dame Donna Langley, film studio executive

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.413.7K Ratings

🗓️ 12 November 2023

⏱️ 36 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Dame Donna Langley is chairman and chief content officer for the NBC Universal Studio Group, the first British woman in history to run a major Hollywood film studio. She green lit Christopher Nolan’s latest film Oppenheimer and was one of the earliest and most ardent supporters of the Abba movie Mamma Mia. She was born in London and brought up on the Isle of Wight. She always knew she was adopted as a baby, which she says made her feel special within her family. She left London for Los Angeles when she was in her early twenties, looking for adventure rather than following a career plan. In LA, she worked in a club on Sunset Boulevard before taking up an internship with a film producer. Later she worked as an assistant at the production studio New Line Cinema, and in 2001 she joined Universal Studios as senior vice president of production. She says her decision to say yes to a film is based on her gut instinct and whether she loves it. She is a champion of original content and early on in her career backed Straight Outta Compton – the story of the hip hop band NWA – and later Get Out, directed by Jordan Peele. She currently oversees major franchises including Fast and Furious, Despicable Me and Jurassic World. Dame Donna lives in California with her husband and two children. DISC ONE: Thank You For The Music - Abba DISC TWO: Zorba the Greek - Mikis Theodorakis DISC THREE: La Wally - composed by Alfredo Catalani and performed by Wilhelmenia Fernandez DISC FOUR: This is the Day - The The DISC FIVE: It Was A Good Day - Ice Cube DISC SIX: Never Is a Promise - Fiona Apple DISC SEVEN: All My Friends - LCD Soundsystem DISC EIGHT: Come Home (feat. André 3000) - Anderson Paak BOOK CHOICE: Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez LUXURY ITEM: Tarot cards CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: All My Friends - LCD Soundsystem Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.

0:04.6

Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne and this is the Desert Island Disks podcast.

0:08.6

Every week I ask my guest to choose the 8 tracks, book and luxury they'd want to take with them if they

0:14.3

were cast away to a desert island. And for rights reasons the music is shorter

0:19.3

than the original broadcast. I hope you enjoy listening. Oh, My castaway this week is Dame Donna Langley, Chairman and Chief Content Officer for the

0:50.0

NBC Universal Studio Group. She's the first British woman in history to run a major studio

0:56.6

and is arguably the most powerful woman in Hollywood. Her brief encompasses Universal's film and television studios and she oversees franchises

1:04.8

like Fast and Furious, Despicable Me and Jurassic World. Under her leadership

1:09.2

the studio has achieved record-breaking revenues and enjoyed some of the most profitable years in its

1:14.8

111-year history. She has earned respect in a fickle industry for her creative nouse and

1:21.0

championing of emerging talent as well as successfully wooing the likes of Stephen Spielberg and Christopher Nolan.

1:28.0

She's also stuck her neck out by backing original content, often where others failed to see the potential.

1:34.0

Mamma Mia, get out and straight out of Compton, the story of the hip-hop group NWA, are just three examples

1:40.6

from a very long list.

1:42.4

It is a testament to her talents that Ice Cube once declared

1:45.6

her the sixth member of the band. Though to be clear she's not from Compton, she's actually

1:50.5

straight out of the Isle of White, growing up on the UK's so-called Sunshine Island.

1:55.0

When she was in her early 20s, she decided to go where the weather was even better, LA.

2:00.0

She says, I am hyper competitive with myself. I push myself to beat my time to be faster, higher and stronger.

2:07.0

Dame Donna Langley, welcome to Desert Island discs.

2:10.0

Thank you so much for having me.

2:12.0

Donna, the operation that you run is absolutely vast,

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.