Steve McQueen - Marc Eliot [79]
When asked about the Warner deal by Variety columnist Army Archerd, Steve said he was “looking toward the day when I, too, will be able to direct.” It was the first time Steve had ever talked about wanting to move behind the camera.
SO MUCH for retirement, student unrest, taxes, and the war in Vietnam. Steve would make no more public comments about any of it. In the end, making movies rather than statements was where the action was and he knew it. Now, as Hollywood’s reigning blue-eyed, blond-haired golden boy, he also made it his business to catch up with some of the perks he had so dearly missed while away in Southeast Asia: namely, drugs, fast cars, faster women, and the resumption of his favored all-nighters at the Whiskey. Somehow, he always managed to wind up at Sebring’s place, where there was never a shortage of hot, eager starlets looking to show off their best talents for Steve and his celebrity entourage. Sebring was a master at a lot of things, not the least of which was his ability to self-promote and maneuver around the gossip press so that only his hairstyling was of any interest to them. Sebring’s not being an actor provided a great deal of latitude for Steve and the others.
And, of course, there was always the occasional public appearance for Steve with Neile thrown in for good measure, at David Foster’s insistence.
However, it wasn’t all play and no work. Less well known is the extensive charity work Steve did. He donated considerable sums of money to the Youth Studies Center at USC and became a member of its board, where he helped steer significant funds to Boys Republic. He also participated in several clothing and medicine drives for needy children and infants and on more than one occasion personally showed up to help distribute both.
And whenever he could, he indulged his latest hobby, fishing in Alaska with the family, where, unfortunately, his star power apparently did not have the kind of sway it did in Hollywood. Not long after they arrived in Alaska the first time, he was promptly arrested for drunk driving, booked, and eventually let off. None of which bothered him in the least. He actually enjoyed having his mug shot taken. The lighting was lousy but at least he didn’t have to learn any dialogue.
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1 To make the film, Fox agreed to let Solar Productions co-produce. The deal brought Steve’s initial combined fees closer to $650,000.
2 The film is historically inaccurate in both place and time, and its two main incidents of violence, the attempt to rescue the missionaries and the battle on the Yangtze, play fast and loose with the facts. The movie takes place ten years earlier than the novel. McKenna served in the Far East in the thirties and the book version of The Sand Pebbles is set in 1926. The only battle involving the U.S. Navy and Asians was the Yanay incident, which took place in 1937 between the Americans and the Japanese, not the Chinese. The attack on the USS Panay is likely what the attack on the San Pueblo is based on. One possible reason for the change of nationalities by the attackers is that, at the time the film was made, America was at peace with the Japanese but not the mainland Chinese, who actively supported the North Vietnamese. McKenna likely based the killing of the missionaries in the film on the murders of John and Betty Stam, which took place nearly eight years later than it does in the film, in 1934.
3 Interestingly, when Coppola ran into problems filming Apocalypse Now (a film McQueen turned down, not wanting to return to the Far East to make another movie; his part was eventually played by Martin Sheen), Coppola screened The Sand Pebbles for his cast and crew as inspiration for what their film should look like.
4 Stan Kamen brokered the agreement. The William Morris Agency would never allow a deal for a star of McQueen’s magnitude to include any exclusivity, and if they did, the cost would have been prohibitive, even for Warner. The six as-yet-unnamed films were budgeted