Hollywood Producer Helps Buffett with Margaritaville Online

Frank Marshall, veteran Hollywood producer and long-time friend of Jimmy Buffett, helped to produce the new Margaritaville Online game that was released last month.

The Hollywood Reporter has an interview with Marshall on the game. There’s some interesting tidbits in the discussion. For example, Marshall says the game was originally planned to be released on the Nintendo Wii platform.

The Hollywood Reporter: How did you partner with Jimmy Buffett on Margaritaville Online?

Frank Marshall: Jimmy and I met over 30 years ago and we’ve been good friends ever since. We have a similar background and share a lot of the same interests. We’ve talked about movies, books, songs and just about anything you can think of.

I have always loved the world he’s created and the fact that he really lives in it. Jimmy and I have been trying to do something together for years and when the idea of a Facebook game came along, it seemed like a natural. What people love about Jimmy Buffett is his lifestyle and the world he’s created. Whenever the real world gets to be too much, you can escape to his world through this game, no matter where you are.

THR: Where did the idea for a Facebook game come from?

Marshall: I was actually meeting with Danny Bilson, EVP Core Games from THQ, about The Last Airbender game. We started talking about other things we could do. I wanted to do something fun, so I thought, instead of creating one of these violent worlds, why not go to paradise? Why not somewhere you could go to play games and have a party? Initially when we started talking about it, it was actually going to be made into a Wii game. But as social games increased in popularity, things shifted and we saw great potential of creating a social experience based on Jimmy’s lifestyle.

Read the full interview here.

Marshall also was a co-producer on Hoot, the 2006 film that Jimmy co-produced and played a teacher in.