The guy who co-financed Narnia, for one.
http://www.latimes.com/business/custom/cotown/la-fi-anschutz5dec05,0,2989796.story?coll=la-tot-promo
And once again, Philip Anschutz is risking big. The Denver-based multibillionaire, who made a fortune in oil, natural gas, railroads, telecommunications and real estate, has spent $90 million — half the film's $180-million budget — to produce the screen adaptation of the children's classic "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe."
I do see your point, but many of the people actually risking the dollars in Hollywood are somewhat conservative.
The Nicholson story is plenty weird. But it made Jack one liberal who's against abortion to an extent-he said most abortions are about women who don't want to mess up their lunch schedules. Yikes!
Also, I don't agree that one has to be unbalanced to be in the arts. Too often artists use that pose to get away with murder, but it's the artists who are balanced and work hard who accomplish something.
The Narnia guy is a billionaire. So he can afford it...
I've been around "artists" of all types for 30 years and have met very, very few who were well balanced. For one thing, it's an extremely difficult job. It takes a certain amount of obsession with the craft, whatever it may be, to do a halfway decent job of it. It's not a job where you punch the clock, go home, forget about work and veg out in front of the television.
From what I've seen, the best of any given artist is pretty much handed over to their work. Needless to say, this plays havoc in their personal lives and their view of the world.
There's a great scene in Chaplin where Charlie's wife and kids find him in the studio putting the score together and the wife asks, "Is this how you lost your other wives?" To which he responds something like, "I don't know, maybe."