Portfolio's Hollywood Deal blog writes touchingly of the once-strained relationship between Imagine Entertainment superproducer Brian Grazer and black sheep sibling Gavin, whose reciprocal appearances at each other's recent New York movie premieres (Brian's the troubled $100 million blockbuster he brought to the screen by sheer force of will; Gavin's, a somewhat less expensive , surrealistic Anthony Hopkins art project) were indicative of a closeness that long eluded brothers on the opposite end of the spectrum of Hollywood success. You need to read the entire story to appreciate their long journey towards reconciliation, but we've excerpted a couple of the piece's feel-good moments here:

Grazer's stature as the younger, struggling sibling of big-shot, Oscar-winning, and occasionally hyper-intense producer Brian Grazer is well-known in Hollywood but will have its first real public airing in Slipstream. Writer-actor-director-producer Hopkins (dubbed "SIr Realist" by one paper) chose to call Gavin's character "Gavin Grazer"; Brian Grazer considered a cameo as the character's unnamed brothers but couldn't schedule it.

The familial relationship—now, both assert, mostly peaceful and loving—is painted onscreen in dark hues. John Turturro's "Harvey Brickman" character—an outright portrait of a screaming studio chief that will truly test the disclaimer about resemblance to persons living or dead—shouts at "Gavin", "Yes. Your big brother. The producer. He says you're an idiot. A loser! He's right! He's right." [...]

Gavin and Lawford for a time contemplated an HBO-style show that would conjoin their stories of being shrouded by by prominent family members. The projects amicably split apart, and a script Gavin co-wrote with Brian's now-estranged wife Gigi Levangie is not likely to be made under Brian's Imagine banner as was once contemplated. In any event, Brian probably will not be allowed to forget Gavin's tram moment. "That flipped him out," says Brian, "But at the same time he turned it into comedy. I think he's totally talented, just kind of underutilized. We went surfing in Mexico, and he put on the tightest possible Speedo and is singing German opera as we surf—just hysterical. " [...]

Does Gavin still feel the poignancy of a scene where Lawford' s character agrees with Harvey that Gavin is trying to prove himself "to his brother...[the] hot shit producer, richer than God, three Oscars up his ass. This poor shmuck's been trying to get even all his life."

"I know where my neurosis lies," says Gavin, "When I got sober, there came moments with my brother where— well, cut to 16 years later, we're pretty much best friends...I got sober, and with sobriety came moments like ... he was going through a divorce at that time when I had six months of sobriety and he wrapped his arms around me one night, and he said, 'You are now the man of this family, Gavin, and I love you so,' and our relationship has grown ever since."

It will be interesting to see if Brian continues to allow the relationship to mature to a level he currently enjoys only with American Gangster star Russell Crowe, a man upon whose soul Grazer frequently eavesdrops for ideas on which love-project the spiritually conjoined pair should nurture into existence. We'd love for such a fruitful creative collaboration arise between the Brothers Grazer, beginning with the obvious buddy comedy suggested by the siblings' fond recollections of their deepening fraternal respect; Brian should be working the phones right now, seeing how Luke and Owen Wilson feel about bringing to life a lightly fictionalized version of their still-evolving story, one that features a hilarious, trailer-worthy set-piece centered around a good-natured—yet still hotly competitive—Speedo-filling contest on an exclusive Malibu beach.

• Slipstream and the Other Grazer Brother [Portfolio]