Steven Spielberg
Page 88
Sources on Spielberg’s interest in directing Lucky Lady include Reed and the author’s interviews with Zanuck, Rocky Lang, and Lucky Lady screenwriters Huyck and Katz; Sid Sheinberg told Latham of his insistence that Spielberg make Jaws and his description of the film as “Duel with a shark.” Sheinberg’s denial that Universal was thinking of canceling the film or firing Spielberg is from Griffin, “In the Grip of Jaws.” The charges of nepotism over the hiring of Lorraine Gary in Jaws and two sequels were reported in Sue Ellen Jares, “Lorraine Gary Got a Big Bite of Jaws 2—But Not, She Insists, Because She’s the Boss’s Wife,” People, August 7, 1978; Zanuck’s suggestion of casting Linda Harrison was reported in “All in the Family,” New York, October 6, 1975, and in Harris, The Zanucks of Hollywood.
Verna Fields’s role in the making of Jaws was discussed in Mary Murphy, “Fields: Up from the Cutting Room Floor,” LAT, July 24, 1975; “Making It in Film” (advertisement), Millimeter, June 1976; Paul Rosenfield, “Women in Hollywood,” LAT, July 13, 1982; Todd McCarthy, “Oscar-Winning Film Editor Verna Fields Dies of Cancer,” DV, December 2, 1982; Margy Rochlin, “In the Editing Room, Many Propose, Few Dispose,” NYT, July 23, 1995; and Gottlieb, “Jaws Did Not Need Saving” (letter replying to Rochlin), NYT, August 6, 1995. Fields’s promotions by Universal were reported in studio press releases, “Verna Fields—Biography,” June 5, 1975, and “Verna Fields Named a Vice President of Universal Pictures,” February 18, 1976. Spielberg’s decision not to work with Fields on Close Encounters of the Third Kind was reported in Phillips, You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again; Schrader’s remarks about Spielberg resenting his helpers are from Crawley.
Jaws reviews (1975) include Murf. (A. D. Murphy), DV, June 12; Frank Rich, “Easy Living,” New Times, June 27; Molly Haskell, “The Claptrap of Pearly Whites in the Briny Deep,” The Village Voice, June 23; and William S. Pechter, “Man Bites Shark (& Other Curiosities),” Commentary, November. Universal’s quote ad appeared in Variety on September 24, 1975. Pauline Kael’s comments are from “Notes on Evolving Heroes, Morals, Audiences,” The New Yorker, November 8, 1976. Jane E. Caputi’s essay “Jaws as Patriarchal Myth” is from Journal of Popular Film, Vol. VI, No. 4, 1978.
Articles on “Jawsmania” (1975) include: “Summer of the Shark”; John Charnay and Doug Mirell, “Ripping Response to Jaws,” HR, June 26; Peter Goldman, “Jawsmania: The Great Escape,” Newsweek, July 28; Robert E. Dallos, “Sharks: Jaws of Fear Open on All Shores,” LAT, July 12; and John Getze, “Jaws Swims to Top in Ocean of Publicity,” LAT, September 28. Fidel Castro’s interpretation of the film and Spielberg’s response were reported by Tuchman. Ellis and McCosker commented on the film’s impact in Great White Shark; Cleveland Amory reported on the protest against Universal souvenirs in “Sharks Have Feelings Too,” TV Guide, November 27, 1976. Spielberg’s proposal for chocolate sharks was recalled by Joan Darling.
The date on which Jaws turned a profit was reported to the author by Gilmore. Its box-office record was reported in “U Claims Rental Record as Jaws Passes Godfather,” DV, September 10, 1975; see also “Star Wars Zaps Jaws in Grosses,” LAT, December 2, 1977, and Spielberg’s advertisement congratulating George Lucas in HR, December 2, 1977. Alfred Hitchock’s reaction to the success of Jaws was reported by the author in “Hitchcock: a Defense and an Update,” Film Comment, May–June 1979. Spielberg discussed the film’s release strategy in “Ripping Response to Jaws.” Peter Biskind discussed the “blockbuster syndrome” in his essay “Blockbuster: The Last Crusade,” in Mark Crispin Miller, ed., Seeing Through Movies, Pantheon, 1990.
Information on Spielberg’s profit percentages on Jaws is from the author’s interviews with Zanuck and Michael Phillips; Getze’s article; and Klemesrud’s interview with Spielberg. His contract renegotiation was reported in “Spielberg, Universal in Four-Film Deal,” HR, July 11, 1975; “Spielberg, Universal Sign Four-Picture Agreement,” LAT, July 14, 1975; and Deborah Caulfield, “E.T. Gossip: The One That Got Away?” LAT, July 18, 1982. Sheinberg’s prediction that Spielberg would win an Oscar is from Haber; Spielberg’s reaction to the nominations is recorded in TVTV Looks at the Oscars (TVTV/KCET, Los Angeles, 1976).
Sources on Jaws 2 include the author’s interviews with the film’s director, Jeannot Szwarc, and Alves, its production designer and associate producer; Ray Loynd, The “Jaws 2” Log, Dell, 1978; “Spielberg Spanks Sequels as ‘Cheap, Carnival Trick’”; and Joseph McBride, “Director Avers Jaws 2 Not a ‘Rip-Off Sequel,’” DV, May 13, 1977 (interview with John Hancock, who later was fired from the film).
11. WATCH THE SKIES (PP. 261–92)
See notes for previous chapter for material on the genesis of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The author interviewed the following people who worked on the film: Michael Phillips, John Veitch, Vilmos Zsigmond, Joseph Alves Jr., Douglas Trumbull, Allen Daviau, and David Giler (as well as discussing the film with François Truffaut during production); and others including Robert S. Birchard (who worked on the 1980 Special Edition), Robert Stack, and Bob Gale. The production of Close Encounters was chronicled in Balaban, with an introduction by Spielberg, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” Diary; Forrest J. Ackerman, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”: Official Authorized Edition (magazine), Warren Publishing Co., 1977; Durwood, ed., “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”: A Document of the Film; Julia Phillips, You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again; and Making “Close Encounters,” a 1990 documentary produced by Isaac Mizrahi and Morgan Holly, included in the Criterion Collection laserdisc edition (which contains both the original 1977 release version of Close Encounters and scenes added for the 1980 Special Edition).
Dell published a novelization, credited to Spielberg, in 1977, and a “Fotonovel” adaptation of the film in 1978. Screenplay extracts are included in Making “Close Encounters”; the shooting script, credited to Spielberg, is dated May 12, 1976. Sources on the other writers who contributed to the screenplay include the author’s interviews with Michael Phillips and Giler; Schrader’s comments in Crawley and in Jackson, Schrader on Schrader & Other Writings; You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again; Will Tusher, “Phillips’ Close Encounters Cost on $11 Mil Space Trip,” HR, April 22, 1976; Shay, “Steven Spielberg on Close Encounters”; Lane Maloney, “Michael Phillips on Lucky Streak with Tyro Directors,” DV, October 2, 1981; and the Jagger–Warhol interview with Spielberg. Julia Phillips’ 1991 comment on Spielberg’s relationship with writers is from Sally Ogle Davis, “Attack of the Killer Tomato,” Los Angeles, March.
Included in the January 1978 special issue of American Cinematographer, “The Making of Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” are: Spielberg, “The Unsung Heroes or Credit Where Credit Is Due”; Herb A. Lightman, “My Close Encounter with CE3K”; Lightman, “Spielberg Speaks About Close Encounters”; Alves, “Designing a World for UFO’s, Extraterrestrials and Mere Mortals”; Trumbull, “Creating the Photographic Special Effects for Close Encounters of the Third Kind”; Frank Warner, “The Sounds of Silence and Things That Go ‘Flash’ in the Night”; Zsigmond, “Lights! Camera! Action! for CE3K”; and “From the Producers’ Point of View.” Cinefantastique, Fall 1978, contains Don Shay’s “Steven Spielberg on Close Encounters,” “Close Encounters Extraterrestrials,” and “Close Encounters at Future General.” Filmmakers Newsletter, December 1977, includes Chuck Austin, “Director Steve Spielberg”; Judith McNally, “Making Close Encounters”; and Steve Mitchell, “Special Effects: Douglas Trumbull.”
Writings by Dr. J. Allen Hynek include The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry, Regnery, 1972; foreword to Jacques and Janine Vallee, The UFO Enigma: Challenge to Science, Regnery, 1966; “Are Flying Saucers Real?” The Saturday Evening Post, December 17, 1966, reprinted in Jay David, ed., The Flying Saucer Reader, Signet, 1967; and “Twenty-one Years of UFO Reports,” in Carl Sagan and Thornton Page, eds., UFO’s—A Scientific Debate, Norton, 1974. Hynek was quoted on Close Encounters in Cook and profiled by Peter Gwynne in “The Galileo
of UFOlogy,” Newsweek, November 21, 1977.
Other books on ufology include C. G. Jung, trans, by R.F.C. Hull, Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies, Princeton University Press, 1978 (originally published in 1959); Curtis Peebles, Watch the Skies!: A Chronicle of the Flying Saucer Myth, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994; C. D. B. Bryan, Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind: Alien Abduction, UFOs, and the Conference at M.I.T., Knopf, 1995; Phil Cousineau, UFOs: A Manual for the Millennium, HarperCollins West, 1995 (which quotes Ronald Reagan’s alleged comment to Spielberg). The allegation that Close Encounters and E. T. were part of a military plot to indoctrinate the public is made in Brad Steiger and Sherry Hansen Steiger, The Rainbow Conspiracy, Pinnacle Books, 1994. Sources on Spielberg’s involvement with META include “Taking a Long Look for a Real E.T.,” LAHE, September 30, 1985; his appearance with his son Max on the TV special Nova: “Is Anybody Out There?” (WGBH, Boston, 1986); and Thomas R. McDonough, The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Listening for Life in the Cosmos, John Wiley & Sons, 1987; see also Walter Sullivan, We Are Not Alone: The Continuing Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (revised edition), Plume, 1994. Ray Bradbury wrote about Close Encounters in his introduction to Durwood’s book (first published in LAT, November 20, 1977, as “Opening the Beautiful Door of True Immortality”) and in “The Turkey That Attacked New York”; The Martian Chronicles was published by Doubleday, 1950.
Additional articles on Close Encounters (1977) include Frank Rich, “The Aliens Are Coming!” Time, November 7; Jack Kroll, “The UFO’s Are Coming!” Newsweek, November 21; Gregg Kilday, “Special Encounter on Effects,” LAT, December 5. Melinda Dillon’s comments on the filming are from “A Wedding for Dillon,” Horizon, January 1978. Richard Dreyfuss’s comments are from Durwood, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”: A Document of the Film, and from Steve Grant, “Blithe Spirit,” Time Out, January 10–17, 1990. The influence of The Searchers on Close Encounters was discussed in Stuart Byron, “The Searchers: Cult Movie of the New Hollywood,” New York, March 5, 1979.
Information on the budget and production cost of Close Encounters is from the author’s interviews with Michael Phillips, Veitch, and Trumbull; and other sources including You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again; Will Tusher, “Encounter Budget to Top $7 Million,” HR, November 14, 1975; Tusher, “Phillips’ Close Encounters Cost on $11 Mil Space Trip”; “How Close the Encounter to a Profit,” Variety, November 9, 1977; and “From the Producers’ Point of View.” Spielberg’s earnings on Close Encounters were estimated by Lane. Sources on Columbia’s finances include the author’s interview with A. D. Murphy; McClintick, Indecent Exposure; and Bernard F. Dick, “From the Brothers Cohn to Sony Corp.,” in Dick, ed., Columbia Pictures: Portrait of a Studio, University Press of Kentucky, 1992. Spielberg’s comment on David Begelman is from Brown, “Final Exposure.” Information on the 1975 start date is from Phillips; “Shelter Deadlines Possible Reasons for Odd Pic Starts,” DV, December 31, 1975; and Shay, “Close Encounters at Future General.” The title Close Encounter of the Third Kind is mentioned in an August 15, 1975, Columbia press release and trade press articles including “Col. Lineup Nears Peak,” HR, March 29, 1974, and “Spielberg’s New Close Encounter First Since faws,” HR, August 12, 1975.
The Star Wars screening was described to the author by Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck; see also Pollock, Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas. Information on Spielberg’s Hawaiian vacation with Lucas and their decision to make Raiders of the Lost Ark is from Pollock; Taylor, The Making of “Raiders of the Lost Ark”; and Champlin, George Lucas: The Creative Impulse.
Information on Close Encounters previews is from Michael Phillips, Veitch, and Trumbull; Crawley; Making “Close Encounters”; and 1977 articles: Gregg Kilday, October 10, November 5 (“Close Encounters: Go or No-Go?”), and November 9, LAT; “Col Delays Press Preview of Close Encounters,” DV, October 11; “Columbia Disputes Magazine’s Views on Third Kind,” HR, November 2; William Flanagan, “An Encounter with Close Encounters,” New York, November 7, and letter to the editor, New York, November 21; Rich; Geri Fabrikant, “Wall Street Vigil; Col Stock Peaks with Encounters,” HR, November 8; and “Col Holds Bally Rally in N.Y. for Encounters Launching,” Variety, November 9. See also Shay, “Steven Spielberg on Close Encounters.”
Julia Phillips’s claim that her cocaine problem began on Close Encounters is from Joyce Wadler, “A Hollywood Outcast Treats the Stars to an Acid-Dip Memoir,” People, March 18, 1991. Spielberg’s no-comment reaction to her book is from Larry Rohter, “Hollywood Memoir Tells All, and Many Don’t Want to Hear,” NYT, March 14, 1991.
Close Encounters reviews (1977) include Rich; Charles Champlin, “Saucer Sorcery,” LAT, November 18; Kroll; Stephen Farber, “Close Encounters: Smooth Takeoff, Bumpy Landing,” New West, December 5; and Molly Haskell, “The Dumbest Story Ever Told,” New York, December 5; also, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., “Close Encounters of a Benign Kind,” Saturday Review, January 7, 1978. Spielberg’s 1994 comment on the film is from The Barbara Walters Special
Spielberg wrote about Truffaut in “He Was the Movies.” Writings by Truffaut on Close Encounters include “En tournant pour Spielberg,” preface to Tony Crawley, L’Aventure Spielberg (1984 French edition of The Steven Spielberg Story), reprinted in Truffaut’s Le Plaisir des yeux, Flammarion, Paris, 1987; Dominique Rabourdin, trans, by Robert Erich Wolf, Truffaut by Truffaut, Harry N. Abrams, 1987; and Truffaut, ed. by Gilles Jacob and Claude de Givray, trans, by Gilbert Adair, Correspondence 1945–1984, The Noonday Press, 1990. Other sources include “François Truffaut Moves to Other Side of Camera for Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” Columbia Pictures pressbook, 1977; Bridget Byrne, “Truffaut Savors Hollywood Treatment,” LAHE, December 13, 1977; Heathwood; Larry Van Dyne, “His Mind Is a Camera, His Life Is Film,” The Chronicle Review, March 19, 1979; William Kowinski, “François Truffaut, the Man Who Loved Movies,” Rolling Stone, June 14, 1979; and David Lees, “Checking In,” Playboy, October 1981. Truffaut criticized Julia Phillips in James F. Clarity, “François Truffaut—A Man for All Festivals,” NYT, September 26, 1976; Spielberg responded in a letter to the editor, October 24, and Phillips in You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again; Truffaut made additional remarks in “Truffaut, Part V,” The New Yorker, October 18, 1976. Jean Renoir’s comment on the film is from his March 7, 1978, letter to Truffaut, in Renoir’s Letters, ed. by Lorraine LoBianco and David Thompson, Faber and Faber, London, 1994.
Spielberg’s two versions of Close Encounters are compared in Laurent Bouzereau, The Cutting Room Floor, Citadel Press, 1994. Articles on the Special Edition include Aljean Harmetz, “Close Encounters to Get Even Closer,” NYT, December 6, 1978; “Col Encounters Plans News to Steven Spielberg,” DV, October 24, 1979; and (1980): Cart. (Todd McCarthy), “New Encounters a Refinement of Original Version,” DV, August 1; Miles Beller, “The High Cost of Going Inside the Alien Spaceship,” LAHE, August 1; Arthur Knight, HR review, August 1; Charles Champlin, “Encounters Even Closer in Revision,” LAT, August 3; Vincent Canby, “Close Encounters Has Now Become a Classic,” NYT, August 31; and Pauline Kael, “Who and Who,” The New Yorker, September 1. Gail Rentzer’s lawsuit was reported in “Columbia Sued over Film’s Ads,” NYT, August 9, 1980.
12. “REHAB” (PP. 293-322)
Sources on Amy Irving include Laurent Bouzereau, The De Palma Cut, Dembner Books, 1988; Phillips, You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again; Kerry Segrave, The Post-Feminist Hollywood Actress: Biographies and Filmographies of Stars Born After 1939, McFarland, 1990; Cherie Burns, “Amy Irving’s Enjoying a Close Encounter of Two Kinds: Love with Steven Spielberg and Stardom in The Fury,” People, March 27, 1978; Roderick Mann, “An Encounter for Amy, Steve,” LAT, March 13, 1979; “Amy Irving’s Voices,” Look, April 2, 1979; Janos; Andrea Chambers, “She’s Streisand’s Sweetie in Yentl, But Amy Irving Says Her Heart Belongs to Broadway,” People, January 16, 1984; Stephen Farber, “Once in Love with
Amy …,” Cosmopolitan, March 1985; Meme Black, “Amy Irving’s ‘Charmed Life,’” McCall’s, June 1985; and Cliff Jahr, “Amy Irving: Mom Is Her Real Starring Role,” Ladies’ Home Journal, March 1989. Information on Spielberg’s Coldwater Canyon house is from the author’s interview with Bob Gale and various articles including Klemesrud; Seligson, “Steven Spielberg: The Man Behind Columbia Pictures’ $19-Million Gamble”; and Royal, “Steven Spielberg in His Adventures on Earth.”
Information on Spielberg’s pirate movie project is from A. H. Weiler, “Spielberg Weighs Two Projects,” NYT, June 9, 1974; his involvement in The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings is from the author’s interview with Joseph Alves Jr. and from Bruce Cook, “The Saga of Bingo Long and the Traveling All-Stars,” American Film, July–August 1976. Spielberg discussed Magic in his introduction to Andy Dougan, The Actors’ Director: Richard Attenborough Behind the Camera, Mainstream Publishing Co., Edinburgh, 1994; his plans to direct a TV production of Twelve Angry Men were mentioned in “Dialogue on Film: Steven Spielberg.”
Sources on Gale and Robert Zemeckis and their projects with Spielberg include the author’s interview with Gale; the June 23, 1978, Zemeckis–Gale screenplay After School; Balaban, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” Diary; “Steven Spielberg’s ‘Broker’ Position as Newcomers Film at Universal,” Variety, November 30, 1977; Ray Loynd, “Surprising Turns for Two Hit Filmmakers,” LAHE, December 9, 1977; “Studios Cheat Us All, Sez Spielberg,” Variety, February 22, 1978; “Spielberg Modest Cost for Universal; Actors’ Maximum Age Is 14,” Variety, March 1, 1978; “Used Cars Tells Sleazy Side; 2d ‘Sale’ for Young Scripters,” Variety, November 21, 1979; Gregg Kilday, “The 1941 Campaign Revisited,” LAHE, December 14, 1979; and Paul Attanasio, “The Zooming Zemeckis,” Washington Post, July 3, 1985. Truffaut’s urging Spielberg to make a movie about “keeds” is from Spielberg, “He Was the Movies.” Information on the Oak Tree Gun Club is from the author’s interviews with Gale, Robert Stack, and Arnold Spielberg; the author’s 1975 visit to the club with John Milius; Hodenfield, “1941: Bombs Away!”; and Attanasio. Charlton Heston’s comment on Hollywood gun enthusiasts is from In the Arena: An Autobiography.