• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 542 0

was dramatic gridlock. Her approach was aggravated by the fact that several important scenes had inept and sometimes self-indulgent performances by amateur black actors she had hired in Africa, and one of the most powerful scenes in the picture, when I defy the judge in the courtroom and say, “You are a pustule on the face of justice” and he has me dragged out of the courtroom, had disappeared. After I saw the rough cut, I implored Paula Weinstein and MGM to let me pay for recutting the picture to give it more tension and dramatic coherence.

These are a few excerpts from my letters:

If judicious cuts are made to avoid the pitfalls of summer stock performances and offensive rendering of scenes that interfere with the emotional build up of the sequences, you will have greatly advanced the forward thrust of the story. If not, every time a false note is hit, you weaken your grip on the nuts of your audience. You then will be obliged to pay a tidy sum trying to again crank up the viewers’ emotional commitment to refocus their dwindling attention on the unfolding of our tale. The equation is simple: loss of dramatic tension is equal to the cube of the ingestion of popcorn.…

I have never put more of myself in a film, never suffered more while doing it, and never received so little recompense of any kind in … any motion picture over the last thirty-five years … let me honk my own horn. I have been in thirty-plus pictures, almost all of them financially successful. Some went through the roof. Some I directed. From early on I have directed my own stuff. I have, by any measure, been considered an accomplished professional … I believe this picture, properly supported and released, will win Academy Award nominations.… Let me briefly remind you that the picture “Shane” was cut four different times into practically four separate films. “Lawrence of Arabia” was in release when the prints were withdrawn and the picture was recut and went on to win Academy Awards. Pictures are made in the cutting room. Pictures are sold in executive offices. Please give me a chance to exercise over thirty-five years of my experience with films … we really want the same objectives. It is possible for MGM to wear this picture on its lapel with a measure of pride and with some change jingling in [its] pockets. You must understand that I have invested far too much energy, effort, passion and hope in this picture. I can’t just sit here at ringside and watch somebody blow [it] with so much at stake for everybody … please try to understand that under the circumstances I am truly striving to be reasonable and cooperative.…

I offered MGM executives many specific suggestions on how to improve the picture without reshooting it, but they either didn’t answer my letters, said that the director refused to make changes or claimed that it was too late to recut it. I resented having extended myself on behalf of the picture and a good cause, working hard at no charge, and not having been allowed to recut at least my part of the picture the way it should have been done.

Finally I called Connie Chung at CBS and told her I would give her an interview if I could speak about what had happened. I did, but MGM still refused to budge. Then Paula Weinstein called me from the Tokyo Film Festival, where the picture was being shown, and I pleaded with her again. “It’s not too late,” I said.

She said, “It is too late, we can’t do it, if we had more time …”

“It’s never too late. I’ll still pay for the cutting,” I said; “I’ll pay whatever it takes.”

Paula was making more excuses when she was interrupted by someone; then she said, “You’ve just won the best acting award.”

“Did the picture win?” I asked, and she said, “No, the picture didn’t, but you did.”

She still didn’t get the message and wouldn’t change the ending. I felt betrayed, and the picture was a terrible flop.

I had only a small part in Superman, but since it was a popular movie and my contract gave me 11.3 percent of the gross, I made about $14 million for less than three weeks’ work. When Alexander and Ilya