Leading Lady: Sherry Lansing and the Making of a Hollywood Groundbreaker
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Fonda was shooting The Electric Horseman: Author interview with Jane Fonda.
“The world has never known a day quite like today”: “Meltdown at Three Mile Island,” American Experience, first broadcast on PBS February 22, 1979.
“No interviews—this whole thing is too serious”: Excerpt from Bridges’s diary, March 28, 1979.
The film did well: Boxofficemojo.com.
“Truffaut and I were friends”: Author interview with Robert Benton.
Some executives felt Streep: Details of the salaries and budget come from the Columbia Pictures archive: Analysis Detail Listing for Kramer vs. Kramer, October 18, 1980; Studio Daily Progress Report, December 12, 1978.
“I was a young actress, for the most part unknown”: Meryl Streep, email message to author, June 23, 2014.
“He felt we were rushing”: Author interview with Stanley Jaffe.
The film opened on December 19, 1979: Boxofficemojo.com.
“It was obviously a tremendous trauma for everyone”: Author interview with Alan J. Hirschfield.
It would not be long before the full extent of his misdeeds: See David McClintick, Indecent Exposure: A True Story of Hollywood and Wall Street (New York: William Morrow, 1982).
After wooing but failing to hire: Aljean Harmetz, “Melnick Named President of Columbia Pictures,” New York Times, June 2, 1978.
“I knew he was doing drugs, but barely”: Author interview with Alan J. Hirschfield.
“In the field I operated in”: Author interview with Frank Price.
Price longed for the glamour of film: Aljean Harmetz, “Frank Price Named to Head MCA’s Universal Film Studio,” New York Times, November 12, 1983.
“It was generally known that there was chaos at Columbia”: Author interview with Frank Price.
But when Price took up his post: Ibid.
“It was very hard work getting Danny”: Author interview with Alan J. Hirschfield.
“When I make a mistake, it’s a beaut”: Aljean Harmetz, “What Price Glory at Columbia?” New York Times, October 5, 1980.
With Price promoted to president: “Frank Price Seen Assuming Vacant Col Presidency,” Hollywood Reporter, March 5, 1979.
Only eight months earlier, she had told Life: Jim Watters, “The New Hollywood Hotshots,” Life, April 1979.
“John was a difficult character”: Author interview with Frank Price.
“Dennis and I just didn’t agree on anything”: Author interview with Alan Ladd Jr.
News reports at the time claimed: “Now This Is What We Call Star Wars,” Los Angeles Magazine, September 1979.
“I had a couple of very good friends”: Author interview with Alan J. Hirschfield.
He could not help thinking of Melnick’s demands: Ibid.
“It was the first time a woman [would be] in a top role”: Author interview with Dennis Stanfill.
“She was really worried about losing control”: Author interview with Martha Luttrell.
“When Sherry makes a decision”: Ibid.
On January 2, 1980, the front page of the New York Times: Aljean Harmetz, “Sherry Lansing, Former Model, Named Head of Fox Productions,” New York Times, January 2, 1980.
“There were magazine profiles and news analyses”: Budd Schulberg, “What Makes Hollywood Run?” New York Times Magazine, April 27, 1980.
Us used her name as an answer: Us, March 4, 1980.
The Los Angeles Times headlined its story: Charles Schreger, “A Movie Mogul Eats Her Words,” Los Angeles Times, January 4, 1980.
CHAPTER 7
“Those were hard days for a woman to come in”: Author interview with Alan J. Hirschfield.
Fox had deep pockets: Newsweek, January 14, 1980, 69.
It was a mistake that one of Lansing’s colleagues: Author interview with Robert Cort.
and one that became even costlier: James Rainey, “Disney’s ‘Star Wars’ Merchandise Gives the Force to Younger Generation,” Variety, December 1, 2015.
“When big corporations saw the kind of money”: Author interview with Amy Pascal.
“We were starting from zero”: Author interview with Alan J. Hirschfield.
“the ultimate WASP”: Author interview with Robert Cort.
A second meeting did not go so well: Excerpt from Bridges’s diary, February 22, 1981.
The filmmaker was especially taken aback: Author interview with Jack Larson.
“I ask him how much [shit] will he eat?”: Excerpt from Bridges’s diary, August 26, 1981.
“Robert Redford has been booted out of The Verdict”: Marilyn Beck, “Without Redford, Verdict’s Out,” Palm Beach Post, September 3, 1981.
She considered asking Fonda to star: Lumet alludes to the problems with Redford, but doesn’t name him, in Making Movies (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995), 39: “They did five additional rewrites [with a third writer]. By now there was a million dollars in script charges on the picture. The scripts kept getting worse….The star kept eliminating the unpleasant side of the character, trying to make him more lovable so that the audience would ‘identify’ with him.” “I just found the character unrelatable to me at that time,” Redford told his biographer. Michael Feeney Callan, Robert Redford: The Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011), 362.
“a man of appetites”: Author interview with Susan Merzbach.
“There were a few ‘conditions precedent’ ”: Author interview with David Puttnam.
National Lampoon’s Animal House: Boxofficemojo.com.
Reluctantly, Levy agreed to give the picture a trial run: Author interview with Don Carmody.
The picture opened across the nation: Boxofficemojo.com.
“I was in Norman’s office”: “Norman didn’t believe that from me,” said Hirschfield. “I knew Sherry would never stand for that, and Norman would have been the wrong person for the job.” Author interview with Alan J. Hirschfield.
“It was a sea of dysfunction”: Author interview with John Davis.
But Davis was nothing if not shrewd: Alex Ben Block, Outfoxed: Marvin Davis, Barry Diller, Rupert Murdoch and the Inside Story of America’s Fourth Television Network (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1990), 25.
A six-foot-four, three-hundred-pound Denver oilman: Harry Anderson et al., “From Oil to Films: A Giant Step,” Los Angeles Times, August 2, 1981.
“A guy was suing Marvin”: Author interview with Wayne Rogers.
When a publicity release of July 1982 announced: Aljean Harmetz, “Melnick Is Leaving Fox Before End of Contract,” New York Times, July 29, 1982.
“The day before he died”: Aljean Harmetz, “How a Hollywood Rumor Was Born,” New York Times, December 12, 1982.
“We thought he had it all”: Ibid.
“An inquiry by the Los Angeles District Attorney”: Jeff Gerth, “Studio Investigation Centers on Contract of Producer at Fox,” New York Times, October 11, 1982.
Even the usually circumspect trade press: “Melnick Denies Fund Misuse, Connection to Lawyer’s Death,” Hollywood Reporter, September 29, 1982.
When the Hollywood Reporter printed Melnick’s denials: Harmetz, “How a Hollywood Rumor Was Born.”
“The uglier the rumor”: Ibid.
“Watch for this story”: Ibid.
“It was so fantastic”: Ibid.
“We have found no evidence”: Ibid.
“[It is] one of the most arid”: For Ebert’s review, see www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-king-of-comedy-1983.
The country was going through: Richard X. Auxier, “Reagan’s Recession,” Pew Research Center, December 14, 2010.
The director was appalled: Peter Biskind, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock-’n’-Roll Generation Saved Hollywood (New York, Simon & Schuster, 1998), 406.
“Ultimately, what did it mean?”: Author interview with Susan Merzbach.
“We hadn’t been really successful”: Author interview with Alan J. Hirschfield.
“My dad loved Sherry”: Author interview
with John Davis.
“Sherry never really felt he needed her”: Author interview with confidential source.
“I said, ‘If we’re partners, we’re partners’ ”: Author interview with Stanley Jaffe.
CHAPTER 8
“Stanley was very direct”: Author interview with Karen Rosenfelt.
“Paramount has figured out, better than any other studio”: Tony Schwartz, “Hollywood’s Hottest Stars,” New York Magazine, July 30, 1984, 24.
On January 4, 1983, the industry’s trade publications: Stephen J. Sansweet, “Sherry Lansing Joins ‘Kramer’ Producer to Start Film Firm with Paramount Link,” Wall Street Journal, January 4, 1983.
“I believed in them and believed they would do great”: Author interview with Michael Eisner.
“Things got very strained”: Author interview with Richard Benjamin.
“I remember going to a preview”: Author interview with Stanley Jaffe.
The movie tanked: Boxofficemojo.com.
Even though Eisner maintained: Author interview with Michael Eisner.
“Paramount didn’t hire us”: Author interview with Stanley Jaffe.
To Jaffe, that was more than manageable: Ibid.
In February 1983, on his way home from a trip: William G. Blair, “Charles G. Bluhdorn, the Head of Gulf and Western, Dies at 56,” New York Times, February 20, 1983.
Bluhdorn’s deputy, Martin Davis: Bryan Burrough, “The Siege of Paramount,” Vanity Fair, November 6, 2007.
Once, when Katzenberg dropped by: James B. Stewart, Disney War (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005), 38.
“Marty Davis was elected year-in”: Author interview with Michael Eisner.
Over at Fox, Marvin Davis: Thomas M. Pryor, “Stanfill’s ‘High Noon’ at Fox,” Variety, July 1, 1981.
“Barry had his opportunity at Fox”: Author interview with Michael Eisner.
No matter how much Frank Mancuso: Author interview with Frank Mancuso.
“She was emotional, emotional, emotional”: Author interview with Martha Luttrell.
“Yes,” said Gasson: Author interview with Judith Gasson.
“My goal as an agent”: Author interview with Michael Ovitz.
“You have to realize”: Ibid.
“I think I’m going to cut my throat”: Author interview with Stanley Jaffe.
CHAPTER 9
Fatal Attraction was based on a short film: Author interview with Stanley Jaffe.
“I’m not going to say [the story] was autobiographical”: Author interview with James Dearden.
The short came only a few years: Joyce Wadler, “Harris Found Guilty of Murder,” Washington Post, February 25, 1981.
She resumed work with Dearden in Los Angeles: Author interview with James Dearden.
Later the name Sean was changed to Alex: Ibid.
“It was the perfect what-if”: Author interview with Michael Douglas.
“We even had a Halloween scene”: Author interview with James Dearden.
“I went and woke my wife up”: Author interview with Adrian Lyne.
“This could be the shortest meeting”: Author interview with Stanley Jaffe.
“There was a debate about her sexiness”: Author interview with Michael Douglas.
“My hair was long and I didn’t know what to do with it”: Author interview with Glenn Close.
“She just knocked it out of the park”: Author interview with Michael Douglas.
In fall 1986, shooting got under way: Paramount Pictures Budget Summary, September 24, 1986. The document notes: “This budget figure does not include allocation of $1.6 million for Jaffe-Lansing term-deal overhead which will be added to the negative cost of the picture upon completion.”
“Stanley’s got a good shit detector”: Author interview with Michael Douglas.
“We tried to take its innards out to make it real”: Author interview with Adrian Lyne.
Lyne urged Douglas to make his character believably flawed: Author interview with Michael Douglas.
“There’s a scene where they’re arguing”: Author interview with Adrian Lyne.
“We were on hour thirteen”: Author interview with Stanley Jaffe.
“I thought, in the words of The Mikado”: Author interview with Nicholas Meyer.
Finally he’d agreed to work on the movie: Ibid.
“I burst into tears”: Author interview with Anne Archer.
“I had to pretend it was a great idea”: Author interview with James Dearden.
“I had a big talk to her about the theater”: Author interview with Michael Douglas.
Close rejected that out of hand: Author interview with Glenn Close.
Fatal Attraction opened on September 18, 1987: Boxofficemojo.com.
Time put Douglas and Close on its cover: “The Thriller Is Back,” Time, November 16, 1987.
“It’s about men seeing feminists as witches”: Pauline Kael, “The Current Cinema: The Feminine Mystique,” New Yorker, October 19, 1987, 106–11.
CHAPTER 10
Reckless Endangerment—which later became The Accused—: Initial reports indicated that the bar’s patrons had cheered on the rape. Later reports undermined that assertion. See Jonathan Friendly, “The New Bedford Rape Case: Confusion over Accounts of Cheering at Bar,” New York Times, April 11, 1984.
“I read these drafts and said”: Author interview with Jonathan Kaplan.
Lansing had a somewhat different recollection: Topor did not respond to requests for comment.
Steel was willing to green-light the picture: Paramount Pictures Budget Summary, April 23, 1987, notes a budget of $8.4 million, plus $1.6 million in overhead.
“Dawn didn’t have quite enough power”: Author interview with Jonathan Kaplan.
“They thought I was still this child”: Author interview with Jodie Foster.
“Our biggest problem was the boys’ club”: Author interview with Jonathan Kaplan.
“I was scared to prepare”: Author interview with Jodie Foster.
“[Marketing executive] Sid Ganis comes up”: Author interview with Jonathan Kaplan.
“Out of twenty women in the focus group”: Ibid.
“I felt terrible about it,” she said: Author interview with Jodie Foster.
The actress’ life had been thrown into upheaval: Howell Raines, “Reagan Wounded in Chest by Gunman; Outlook ‘Good’ After 2-Hour Surgery; Aide and 2 Guards Shot; Suspect Held,” New York Times, March 31, 1981.
“It was a serious concern,” said Kaplan: Author interview with Jonathan Kaplan.
In a November 1988 People magazine cover story: Kelly McGillis, “Memoir of a Brief Time in Hell,” People, November 14, 1988.
The revelation of McGillis’s ordeal: Boxofficemojo.com.
In February 1989, Foster was nominated: Author interview with Jodie Foster.
“There are very few things”: Academy Awards Acceptance Speech Database, http://aaspeechesdb.oscars.org/link/061-3.
“When we got to Japan”: Author interview with Michael Douglas.
“We were hysterical,” said Jaffe: Author interview with Stanley Jaffe.
“Sherry and Stanley had this amazing partnership”: Author interview with Jonathan Kaplan.
“I was in New York in March 1991”: Michael Cieply, “Stanley Jaffe Named Paramount President: The Veteran Producer May Help Boost the Firm’s Sagging Film Operation,” Los Angeles Times, March 19, 1991.
“The day I told her was one of the hardest”: Author interview with Stanley Jaffe.
“Unlike the novel”: The changes rankled Engelhard, who saw his work as an exploration of cultural differences. “The husband’s a Jewish speechwriter and the wife is a Grace Kelly type,” he said. “So the novel, obviously, has many layers, political, religious, cultural, that Hollywood won’t touch.” Author interview with Engelhard.
“It didn’t read as well as Fatal”: Author interview with Adrian Lyne.
Lyne wanted to make some script changes: Holden Jones was in
censed to learn that Goldman’s name was on the shooting script and not hers. “I’d spent two and a half years on it, but it looked fancier with his name,” she said. The Writers Guild eventually awarded her sole credit. Holden Jones also resented changes to her script. Lyne, she said, was “under the thumb of Redford. The first two acts were almost the same, but from the point where the couple splits up, Adrian made it more sympathetic to the rich man. In my version, [Demi Moore] leaves Redford. He doesn’t heroically give her up.” Author interview with Holden Jones.
“I remember meeting him in a large”: Author interview with Adrian Lyne.
“Tom, Adrian, Sherry and I sat with Goldman”: Author interview with Alex Gartner.
His arguments with Lansing became so passionate: Lansing’s relationship with Lyne alternated between affection and frustration. At one point during the shoot, she recalled: “I said, ‘You’re impossible!’ and something came out of my mouth. And he said, ‘Did you just spit at me?’ I looked at him, shocked, and said, ‘Did I? This is crazy!’ ”
“Redford received $5 million”: Author interview with confidential source.
“Adrian is a great admirer of beautiful actresses”: Author interview with Alex Gartner.
Three weeks before Indecent was due: In a suit filed April 28, 1992, the film’s backers, MGM and Pathé, alleged that “sudden success has caused Harrelson to attempt to take advantage of his new popularity by disregarding his existing obligations [to MGM] in favor of improperly taking on another motion picture project he now considers more favorable.” The suit was amended June 4 to add conspiracy charges against Paramount, Lansing and Lyne.
“I said, ‘Fine, we’ll let you leave”: Author interview with Alan Ladd Jr.
“It was a huge moment”: Author interview with Bryan Lourd.
To everyone’s surprise, Redford: Author interview with Michael Tadross.
“We would test it on the Paramount lot”: Author interview with Alex Gartner.
While they were editing: Elizabeth Kaye, “The Sexes: This Proposal Is for Status Quo,” New York Times, April 18, 1993.