Larry Cohen

by Michael Doyle

  Leo Rossi gives a sickeningly convincing performance as the psychopathic Turkell. He is barely recognizable in the role.

  Yeah, I thought Rossi was very good. He brought a sleazy intensity and energy to that character, which was exactly what was required. In fact, Leo played the lead role in Fast Getaway. He got that part in Spiro’s film because of his excellent work on Maniac Cop 2. Rossi made a very memorable psychopath, but there were some other good people in Maniac Cop 2. You also had Michael Lerner, who is another solid actor. Around this same time, Michael had earned a considerable amount of acclaim for his role as a studio executive in The Coen Brothers film Barton Fink. I actually thought his was a rather clichéd performance. He was certainly good in the part, but there was nothing particularly fresh or inventive about it. That character was just the usual portrayal of a dim, boorish studio executive.

  In Maniac Cop 2, Lerner plays the corrupt Deputy Commissioner Edward Doyle. I’ve heard that Richard Crenna was originally set to play that role, but dropped out of the film shortly before shooting commenced. Is this true?

  No, I don’t believe that. I have no knowledge of that. I don’t believe that Richard Crenna — even at the lowest point of his career — would have done that.

  What is your final estimation of Maniac Cop 2?

  Maniac Cop 2 is certainly a lot better than the first film, in production value anyway. Maniac Cop had some good scenes and some pretty interesting ideas, but it was marred by poor direction and some cheaping out. For instance, there are moments where the Maniac Cop breaks down some doors and it looks like the doors are made of cardboard. I mean, you would have thought that Ed Wood had directed the picture! I couldn’t stand how poorly some of the things were set up and how cheap some of the sets looked. I was like, “Gee, you could have done better than that!” But again, criticizing Bill Lustig can be very painful because anything you say to him — even the smallest criticism — is taken as an agonizing experience. He just can’t stand it. The problem with Bill is that he doesn’t enjoy directing pictures. He wants to be a director and he gets these pictures started by raising the money, but once the movie begins shooting he doesn’t like the actors and he doesn’t enjoy the experience. He’s miserable on the set. He’s a very big fellow, way overweight, and has trouble standing up. It must be physically painful for him to direct a film and he looks like he’s in pain. He doesn’t have a good time. I like to have a circus when I’m making a movie. I’m having a great time kidding around with the crew, putting on acts and tap dancing and driving them for fourteen hours a day. I enjoy every minute of it. But Bill looks like he can’t wait for it to all be over. He just hates the experience of directing and that’s too bad because he’s so good at putting these projects together.

  What did you make of the “Maniac Cop Rap” that is heard during the end credits of Maniac Cop 2?

  Frankly, I’ve never stayed around long enough to hear it. I always walk out of the theater after a movie is over. I don’t sit around to watch the credits. I hate endless credits that go on and on — all these names that just roll on forever — because nobody really looks at them. Everyone who works on a film, from the person who cleans the toilets to the people who serve the food, has to be credited. It’s simply exhausting. Anybody and everybody who works on a particular special effect, miniature, or matte must have their name on the picture. Well, god bless ‘em! I guess it makes them feel good, but who really cares? On my movies, we don’t have those kinds of interminable credits.

  Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence was released in 1993, three years after the second film. Out of curiosity, were you responsible for the Badge of Silence imprimatur?

  Yeah, that was my idea.

  How were you coerced into writing a third film after experiencing problems with your residuals on Maniac Cop 2?

  After Bill called me up and said he had performed his magic once again and secured the money to make a third movie, there was no question that I had to write it. So, I did write it and I thought I wrote a good script, actually. Unfortunately, Bill — being the way he is — decided that he wanted to be the big cheese and kind of aced me out of the project. He sided with the production company and that was a mistake. Once he broke up the team, he became vulnerable and then they got rid of him, too. So, it ended up that the both of us were kicked off the picture. I was happy to be kicked off Maniac Cop 3. It wasn’t really anything that was done to me personally. I had just written the script and they decided that they would do their own script, and that was it. I did get paid in full, so I was pleased. I didn’t really want anything to do with the movie anyway, frankly. I didn’t want anything to do with any of the Maniac Cop pictures. But instead of working with me as he had done before, even begrudgingly, as he always does, Bill decided that he would undermine my authority and have the script changed. That was his mistake.

  Has Lustig ever acknowledged that mistake?

  No, he isn’t capable of acknowledging something like that. I don’t dislike Bill. Honestly, I thank heaven that he came along. I’ve made quite a lot of money from my association with him, and we later did Uncle Sam together. I’ve done quite a number of pictures with him and, in fact, as I once told Bill, “We are batting a thousand.” I’ve never ever worked on a project with him that did not get made. Every single movie has been made! In most cases, when you write a screenplay and are in development, you are lucky if fifty percent of them ever get made, but with Bill everything got made. He is certainly a lot better at raising money for movies than I am.

  Of course, that is a great talent in itself.

  Oh, absolutely. It’s an extremely difficult thing trying to get money to make a film. I mean, god bless Bill, because he got the money to make the Maniac Cop movies and Uncle Sam. I don’t know how he does it. I don’t know why people would give him any money — certainly after the Maniac Cop pictures — but they always do.

  There are reports that Lustig dropped out of Maniac Cop 3 after apparently delivering a 51-minute rough cut of the film. He was then replaced at the helm by producer Joel Soisson. Are these reports accurate?

  I really don’t know the internal politics of Maniac Cop 3. I only know that Bill was replaced. I don’t think he bowed out, I think he was replaced.

  Do you remember any of the substantial changes that were made to your script?

  I do remember there was something I had written where the policewoman in a coma is pregnant with the Maniac Cop’s child. Cordell had basically inseminated her as she was lying there in a catatonic state. I thought that brought an interesting element into the story, because it raised the question of whether or not the authorities should terminate her life — and the life of her unborn baby — by switching off the life support system. I don’t think the producers appreciated that aspect of the script. Maybe they thought it was a little too much. I don’t know. What I do know is they simply wanted Cordell to be killing people left and right like he always did. Anything that deviated from that objective was frowned upon, I’m sure. I can’t think of anything else that was cut or changed. To be totally honest with you, all of that has been completely blanked out of my mind because I just didn’t care. In cases like Maniac Cop 3, I don’t brood over these things. I simply erase them from my memory and quickly move on. Usually, the people who do those kinds of things to your script end up suffering for it themselves. They end up with a bad movie and a bad rep, and so what? I still get to keep the money no matter what happens. Honestly, I don’t really care. If you want the opportunity to tamper with my script, you are going to have to pay for it. Then you can go ahead and make whatever changes you want. Just be prepared to also deal with the inevitable consequences.

  There is a repetition of footage in Maniac Cop 3, as indeed there was in Maniac Cop 2. Was this done in order to pad out the running time or did you specifically write those flashbacks into the script?

  I thought we needed some re-establishment of the story and situation in the sequels. I felt the flashbacks would be hel
pful in case people hadn’t seen the previous films.

  Yet again, Lustig comes through with an eclectic array of interesting players in his cast: Robert Forster, Paul Gleason, Julius W. Harris, and Jackie Earl Harley. Harley in particular has recently enjoyed a career revival after his Oscar-nominated performance in Little Children.

  Yeah, that’s right. Jackie Earl Harley is in the first scene where the gunman goes crazy in the store. I actually wrote that scene and it’s still in the picture. Although Julius Harris and I had worked together previously, I frankly had nothing to do with him being hired for the part of the witch doctor. It came as a complete surprise to me when I saw him in Maniac Cop 3. Maybe the fact that Julius had been in a couple of my movies influenced whoever cast him. I don’t know. I actually thought that Robert Forster’s scene was rather embarrassing. It was just unfortunate, but he did an equally embarrassing scene in Uncle Sam for Bill. I mean, the fact of the matter is that Bob was down on his luck at the time and would take any job.

  Did you write that scene where Forster’s character is x-rayed to death?

  I think I might have written that, yes, but I certainly didn’t expect them to hire an actor of Bob’s stature to play that part. It was a nothing part.

  Maniac Cop 3 culminates with an extraordinary chase sequence in which Cordell drives a car down a highway whilst on fire. When you wrote the script, did you think that sequence would be difficult to realize?

  I don’t think about things like that. My job is to create the idea, and their job is to execute it.

  You’ve delivered a withering assessment of the Maniac Cop trilogy, but which instalment do you think succeeds best?

  I guess the second one.

  It was recently announced that Nicolas Winding Refn, the acclaimed Danish director of Valhalla Rising, Drive, and Only God Forgives, is mounting a remake or prequel to Maniac Cop. Is this accurate?

  Yeah, it is. There is going to be a remake of Maniac Cop, but it’s not going to be too much like the original. It will be executive produced by Nicolas Winding Refn, and Bill Lustig is one of the producers. I’m the creator of the characters; that’s my main role in the project. I did supply them with half a dozen scenes that they could use in the script and they did include them. So, I do have some contributions to the screenplay. Actually, the script is not bad, and it looks like the movie is going to move forward and will get made. It’s being financed by Wild Bunch, but, presently, I have no idea who the director will be.

  Are you an admirer of Nicolas Winding Refn’s work?

  Not particularly, but he’s been to my house a couple of times. He came over here and gave me the old story about how much he admires my movies and all that stuff. He came over twice, sat around and drank and ate hors d’oeuvres. We treated him very nicely, but if you ask Nicolas Winding Refn for anything, you never hear back from him. It’s the same old story again, you know?

  What did you ask of him?

  I asked him to read something that I had written, and he claimed he was just too busy. What can you say? You know, he’s just not very pleasant. He asked me to write a scene for Drive, which was the picture he was directing at the time we met, but he didn’t use the scene. He said that he didn’t have time to shoot it. I can’t go into details about what the scene was about, but it was rather superfluous. I’m sure it’s true; he probably didn’t have the time to do it. What I don’t understand is why he was bothering me to write it for him in the first place. I was gracious enough to create something for him — for nothing! That’s just the way it usually is with people in this business. They want something from you, but they offer you nothing in return.

  It’s my understanding that Winding Refn is indeed a big fan of your work.

  Well, maybe he is. I can’t stop him from being a fan. I don’t judge people and tell them they can or can’t be a fan of my movies. It’s just the way they behave when they meet you that concerns me. Somebody may be a big admirer of your work, but that doesn’t guarantee that they will always treat you with courtesy. But I really do want him to make the picture. I have no problem with them doing the remake. I’m glad they are doing it and I’m glad they have raised the money. I hope they make a good film.

  In a recent interview, you indicated that if you were going to mount a remake of the film yourself, you would explore more of Cordell’s life and background before he became the Maniac Cop.

  I wouldn’t direct a remake of Maniac Cop. I’ve already written that script and I have no desire to go back and explore the character more deeply. Back then, I wrote what I wrote and that was enough. As I say, I did come up with half a dozen new gags that could be inserted into the new movie and they did incorporate them into the script. As a matter of fact, everything I suggested was incorporated into the remake. On my own films, I never had to deal with anybody else, but that wasn’t the case on the Maniac Cop movies. That’s why dealing with somebody like Bill Lustig was an anomaly. It was an occasion when I had to work directly with somebody whose talent I did not respect. Again, I must say it, every suggestion I offered was an agonizing experience for Bill because the poor guy just wanted to make a movie, but he didn’t know how. Unfortunately, anything you said to him was like a slap in the face. I would try to be helpful, but any help that I volunteered was rejected. He would just push me away. It was like putting your arm around somebody and having them just shrug you off. No matter what you tried to do for him — to make the picture better or to assist him — he just couldn’t accept it. I really had no ulterior motive other than to try and help him make a good movie, but he couldn’t and wouldn’t allow it. Everything was an insult. What can you do?

  Other than the forthcoming remake of Maniac Cop, I assume that you won’t be collaborating with Lustig again anytime soon?

  Oh, you never can tell. I mean, he may come up with the money for another picture at any time and, if that happens, I’ll certainly write it for him. I have absolutely no problem with doing that. If Bill secures the finance for a project and he wants me involved, I will be right there. I don’t care. Listen, I make my own pictures my own way but then I also write scripts and sell them to other people. Of course, I can’t control what they are going to do with those scripts once I sell them, but I’m not averse to taking people’s money.

  Finally, you must concede that despite your feelings about the Maniac Cop trilogy they still continue to enjoy a considerable cult following.

  Oh, absolutely, and I think I have acknowledged that. Look, I believe that when I wrote the three Maniac Cop scripts, it took just under a week to complete each one. Each one took three or four days to write — dictated — and I don’t ever think for one moment that these movies represent the best of my work. But, yes, of course, I do realize that some people really do love these pictures. The Maniac Cop movies are quite popular and are still being embraced and enjoyed by audiences on DVD and Blu-ray. They are cited by other filmmakers as inspirational and favorite works, and I can’t give you an answer for why that is. I really can’t.

  Wicked Stepmother (1989)

  The story of Wicked Stepmother — the real story behind the making of the film — is in many ways more eventful and fascinating than the end product itself.

  I guess there’s some truth to that. Wicked Stepmother is usually considered to be a disaster because Bette Davis famously walked off the picture. It was a highly unfortunate situation and a lot of untruths have been written and spoken about it. The whole project really began with my desire to work with Bette. I’d always loved her performances, and, like most people during the 1980s, I had seen Bette as a guest on various TV chat shows, discussing her life and career. The most noticeable thing from those interviews was her shocking physical appearance, because she looked incredibly old and fragile. Listening to her conversations, I quickly realized that despite her health this woman was desperate to work. She was really putting herself out there on the circuit in the hope that somebody — anybody — would give her a part in a movie. I guess whe
n you get to a certain age in Hollywood you begin to receive awards, honors, and dinners, celebrating your long and successful career. That’s a perfectly fine and welcome thing, but when that’s all you are getting and the employment dries up, it’s no fun at all for an actor. Bette now found herself in that position, and I felt she deserved more. I then decided I was going to write something for her because clearly nobody else was interested in hiring her. I mean, the respect was still there for her achievements, but she was now seen as being too old and delicate to work. So, I wrote Wicked Stepmother for her and came up with the story of this wicked old witch who marries an elderly widower. He brings the witch back to the home of his daughter and her husband, causing all kinds of magic and mayhem in their lives. My basic idea was, “What would you do if Bette Davis suddenly came to stay and had married your father?” So, in a way, the whole picture was a takeoff of Bette’s screen persona.

  What was Davis’ initial reaction to your screenplay when she read it?

  Well, just getting the script to her proved to be difficult. When I first sent it out, it was rejected by Bette’s agent, whom I doubt very much even took the trouble to read it. The second time I submitted it, Bette herself rejected the script without reading it. She thought Wicked Stepmother was a straight-up horror film and she had no desire to do a horror film. I was determined to secure her services, so, on my third attempt, I gave the script to Robert Osborne, who later became the host of Turner Classic Movies. Osborne was a friend of Bette’s, and he rather generously got it into her hands. On this occasion, she actually read it. I remember I was in the kitchen of my house one day when the phone rang. I picked it up, and Bette’s unmistakable voice said, “Hello, is this Mr. Cohen? I read your script last night and it certainly made me laugh. I liked it very much. Did you write this for me?” I told her I had indeed, and couldn’t imagine anyone else possibly playing the part. We then arranged to meet, and I went over to Bette’s house on Havenhurst in Hollywood to meet her. That’s when I saw up close just how terribly frail she looked. Despite that, I really wanted her to do the movie. When that looked like it was going to be a real possibility, I immediately took out a full-page ad in Variety and commissioned a poster to be made that had the words “Bette is Bad Again!” emblazoned on it. We also had a picture of Bette smoking a cigarette and looking suitably evil. The agent and producer Robert Littman then approached his friends at MGM, and we managed to get the studio to give us $2.5 million to make Wicked Stepmother. $250,000 of that money would go to Bette.