Exec producer Jill Leiderman recalls her favorite moments from “Jimmy Kimmel Live”
“It was a surprise to Jimmy. It took a lot to keep it secret, and for us to pull off the piece without him knowing.”
“It was a huge team effort, a tremendous Herculean task. It was exciting to get all the talent but in order to get Brad Pitt, I had to sing the song to him over the phone.
“We had Don Rickles, who was truly the heart and soul of the show. He came into our green room and made everyone feel like a member of the family.”
“She was a total trooper to spend an entire day with us. She was fantastic and inspirational. She really is magical and she wowed our entire staff and crew.
“That was an exhilarating day when Tom and Jimmy zipped over Hollywood Boulevard to the Kodak Theater. That took a lot of production to accomplish. Jimmy and Tom were both champs.
“It was an amazing piece that our staff put together for post-Oscars ’12: The longest movie trailer in history, including every genre and cameos from George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Charlize Theron, Don Cheadle and Gabourey Sidibe.
“It inspired us to all think in a different way, more in line with his sensibilities.
“We shot it piecemeal over the course of six weeks. Our production team shot whenever the individual guys were available to shoot their portion or in groups. They made it look like everyone was in the room at the same time.
“We lost power and Jimmy did the show on his laptop. It actually worked out really well.
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Watch Jimmy Kimmel receive his star on the Walk of Fame
