Peter Bart: Celebs Rumors

“Uninspired.” “Never catches fire.” “Non-memorable.”

To outsiders, Eleanor Coppola, who died Friday at age 87, presented as soft spoken and unassuming, yet as someone who always understood exactly what was going on. When I first met her she was playing the role of the perfect ’60s “hippie chick” who hung with young filmmakers, tolerated their ego trips but also had a keen sense of talent.

It had all the elements of a good action movie – jeopardy, revenge, a mega budget – with even some casualties thrown in (albeit corporate).

With at least 10 sequels awaiting our imminent attention, here’s the challenge for filmgoers: Viewing each sequel means mastering a new code. Dune: Part Two becomes more accessible once you’ve learned why the Chakobsa-speaking characters are frustrated by their stalled kirzibs. For that matter, the fifth Ghostbusters makes more sense if you understand why an old Ectomobile is crucial to harpooning geriatric ghosts.

The Greek provocateur seemed to be smiling throughout Oscar night. In the past he’d delivered films with titles like Dogtooth and The Lobster, and his newest, Poor Things, was now stockpiling the statuary even as Hollywood’s filmmaking elite looked on, perplexed.

“That movie was the President’s idea, not mine, but it was a demand, not a suggestion.”

“I despise auditions,” Marlon Brando barked as he launched into the audition for his role in The Godfather. It was his idea, I reminded him, so he himself had caused his actors angst, not the studio. (It was, of course, a great audition.)

“It was a dream job. Except it was the job from hell.”

“Sequels suck, whether you’re making them or watching them.” So said one storied filmmaker in rejecting a rich movie deal (details below), and he’d likely react the same if offered Biden vs. Trump.

“Satire is a dangerous game In Hollywood,” Billy Wilder once observed. “It invites self-immolation.” Still, the satiric spirit looms large in many of this year’s buzzworthy movies: American Fiction, Poor Things, Saltburn, Air, The Holdovers and even Barbie.

The sound of music was back with us this week in the form of two polar opposite productions that may intrigue audiences but challenge marketers.

“Why is this like a dark secret? It’s just a movie.”

When Barbra Streisand delivered her 992-page memoir to her editor at Viking earlier this year, did anyone urge her to cut? Even gently?

Having won an Oscar for her gritty first film about a revenge murder, Emerald Fennell’s second movie, out this week, reminds us that she doesn’t believe in happy endings. Saltburn is about a vengeful college student who aspires to an even wider death toll.

The consensus is clear: Hollywood feels it must pursue what Bob Iger tactfully (or ominously) calls “some fixes.”

The Israeli-Gaza morass this week seemed to defy coherent media coverage, reminding me of critic David Thomson’s conclusion about Hollywood war movies and how they “used to celebrate courage, not confusion.”

The angriest filmmaking fights that I’ve witnessed over the years have not been about cost or cast; they were about length. The movies were too long but so were the fights.

I think Walt would be grumpy.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor With both Disney and Warner Bros. turning 100 this year, it’s a great time to remember the Golden Age of moviemaking. The business is changing at a precipitous rate, and recent studio mergers have forever altered the longtime map of Hollywood production.

“Politics is poisonous – even in making movies.”

With guild agreements being signed and production ramping up, Hollywood hopefully awaits a moment of youthful innovation.

To state the obvious, this is a dicey moment in the job market. Amid cutbacks and strikes, even headhunters are job hunting. Those hot USC graduates who once lined up for CAA internships are now foraging for a TikTok moment. YouTube is swamped by a confluence of influencers.

Will the Hollywood studio become extinct?

The film festivals can always be counted on to deliver surprise hits at this time of year, but meanwhile Hollywood must deal with another issue: Its Barbitude hangover.

With festivals beckoning and box office wobbling, this obnoxious question looms ever larger: What’s next?

“I know how to change bad news into good news,” Edward L. Bernays, the father of public relations, used to boast. Since he was a nephew of Sigmund Freud, I wonder how he’d find a positive mind-set among today’s practitioners of his craft.

“How did I become Tom Joad? I used to write for a living.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: William Friedkin’s passing is a gutting experience for anyone lucky enough to have sat as he reminisced over his classic movies, with measures of regret for the recklessness, humor, and keen observations of why Hollywood’s Auteur Era gave way to the global blockbuster, and whatever it is we have today as two guilds strike seeking transparency, and residuals for writers and actors. This interview was originally published August 6, 2015 under the title ’70s Maverick Revisits A Golden Era With Tales Of Glory And Reckless Abandon. I am feeling a bit gutted by Friedkin’s passing. I looked forward to a long interview with him for his Venice-bound Showtime remake of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial. After spending time with Billy and his elegant wife Sherry Lansing at Peter Bart’s 90th birthday where the back and forth between them proved the highlight of the evening, I wanted them to write a column for Deadline. On anything. None of that can happen now, and Deadline can only offer condolences to Sherry. And to Deadline readers who are Friedkin fans, a replay of this bracingly honest look at his career, done as he got a reissue of Sorcerer, the adaptation of the Georges Arnaud novel that first was filmed as 1953’s The Wages of Fear. The whole interview is presented as originally published nearly a decade ago. 

Back To The Future: The Musical made me very nostalgic for that great time-traveling ’80s movie, but Peggy Sue Got Married isn’t available on any of my streaming services.

Barbie is confounding: In addition to setting box office records, the movie has also inspired a flood of commentaries about its presumed “message.”

The mysterious sanctuary hidden away in the Jemez mountains was known only as Box 1663 in the mid 1950s. The mission of its 13,000 residents was to create “the gadget.” Living there was a challenge. “It’s a prison camp for eggheads,” whispered one scientist.

“To survive in Hollywood, all you need is an occasional miracle.”

Movie stars no longer “own” Hollywood, we are told, but two hallowed brand names owned much of the media space this week.

Barbie will own the conversation. No, Oppenheimer will be the summer’s “must see” movie. The July 21 face-off between those unlikely rivals hints at the imminent surprises of Summer ’23.

What do writers do when they can’t write? It’s an exasperating question, since some write anyway – even in risky ways.

Navigating the frenzied Cannes Film Festival scene can prove perilous for a first-timer, even if he’s boss of the Oscars.