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But his money will at least enable Fox to make movies, and he may in the end not have much influence on what pictures are made. His one previous expedition into moviemaking, with fellow Aussie Robert Stigwood, actually resulted in a good movie, Peter Weir's Gallipoli. "I don't think anyone should be alarmed about Rupert," says Stigwood. "His clear, sharp business head will be good for Fox. He will be a breath of fresh air in Hollywood, and he may remove a bit of the hot air there." Francis O'Brien, Gallipoli's executive producer, says that Murdoch expected him to justify his budget, but otherwise left him alone. "Rupert will take a very keen interest in the business side," says O'Brien, "but he will defer to Diller on the running of the company."
In fact, most people who know all three principals expect Diller, who is accustomed to domineering bosses, to get along as well with Murdoch as with the man who hired him. Compared with the late Charles Bluhdorn, who was the head of Gulf & Western and Diller's former boss, both Murdoch and Davis are Mr. Nice Guys. "You could add Davis and Murdoch together and multiply them by five, and you still wouldn't have half the trouble of Charlie Bluhdorn," says one former Paramount executive. For his part, Murdoch is not likely to oust Diller, who made Paramount into one of the most successful companies in the business.
Whatever drama comes next from Fox headquarters will probably be titled Battle of the Giants. No one expects either Davis or Murdoch to be content with half control. Most predict that the eventual winner will be Murdoch, who has long hankered for a movie company to provide films for his TV holdings outside the U.S. "Now that he has a studio, he isn't going to be satisfied with half of one," says former New York Editor Clay Felker, who once fought with Murdoch for control of the magazine, and lost. "I'd bet that Davis' time as an equal partner is limited. The clock is ticking."