Mr. Floppy 01.26.08: Ishtar
Posted by Peter Bielik on 01.26.2008
Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty together. Enter at own risk.
Although I usually don't comment on happenings in the real world, this week I'll make an exception. Unsurprisingly I guess, I'm talking about the death of Heath Ledger.
You know, it doesn't happen very often that a well-known person dies with me feeling sad over it. It's never pleasant news to hear, but it happens all the time. When the deceased person was of an old age, I actually don't find anything tragic in it at all (unless there's a disease or some accident involved). It's different however, when a young talent dies. And it's even worse, when it's someone I personally liked very much.
I'm not going to pretend that every single celebrity (for lack of a better word) death affects me the same way. That would be impossible. I believe many people are like this. It may be a sad state of things that we care only about selected individuals, but it's an undisputable fact.
From my personal life, I can recall only three deaths in the entertainment business that really saddened me- Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit and family (this was a huge shock) and now Heath Ledger.
I liked Heath Ledger as an actor. A lot. I'm not saying this just because he's dead and I feel somehow obliged to write some nice words about him. If that was the case, I wouldn't write anything at all. I hate how people, who didn't care before, suddenly start saying how wonderful he was, etc. No, I really believed Ledger was one of the best young actors working today.
I'm not saying I was on to him since day one, but ever since watching Brokeback Mountain, I am convinced he was an amazing actor. The performance was virtually perfect. The posture, the gestures, the voice, mimics- everything worked. It was very subtle, but extremely precise performance. In every scene, it was obvious what kind of struggle Ennis Del Mar (name of the character) was going through and how much oppressed emotion there was bottled up in him. You could tell what the character was going through just by looking into his eyes. That's something very few actors can do. I really thought the performance was so good, that it simply couldn't be a lucky accident.
I've also seen Monster's Ball, Lords of Dogtown, The Brothers Grimm and Candy. All of those films just served as a proof that Heath Ledger had enormous talent to completely slip into his role. To put it simply-you believe he's the character he played (who recognized him in Lords?). That's actually a very hard thing to do- to overcome your own persona to the point, where people really only think about the character and not about the actor playing it. For example, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio are great actors, but watching them in films, I always admire how good they are acting. But when I watch Blood Diamond, I don't see a Rhodesian smuggler. I see Leonardo DiCaprio doing a great job playing the part. And therein lies the difference.
That's why I was behind casting Heath Ledger as The Joker from the start. I believed he had all the tools to create something special, to create an unforgettable character. And from what we've seen and heard so far (prologue and trailer, comments from co-stars), it certainly looks that way. And once again, watch the trailer and ask yourself-if you didn't know it was Heath Ledger, would it be easy to recognize him? The Dark Knight was one of this year's most anticipated films. Now, it still remains anticipated, but the aura around the film has changed a bit. Now it's also something like a memorial piece for Heath Ledger. What was supposed to be his most high profile role and with highest probability a star-making turn, is sadly going to be the last time we ever see this great actor perform. I definitely do not envy Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. who find themselves in a very uncomfortable situation. A movie like this needs to be marketed and advertised, but how to do it without exploiting Heath Ledger's death? I certainly hope they're not going to somehow use it as a marketing device.
Again, it's extremely saddening that a genuine talent left this world so young. Just like always with a celebrity death, a demand for his work significantly increased after the sad news broke out. It's funny how that happens every single time someone well-known dies. Suddenly everybody wants to see what this guy's done, but if you suggested some of his work to people before, they wouldn't care. Death sells and that's a fact. Just check Amazon.
So, Heath Ledger- thanks for the great performances and may you rest in peace.
And now, let's look at this week's inductee. Even though Dustin Hoffman has many hits on his track record, he also has a very good representative on the other side of the box-office fence.
Year of the cock-up: 1987
Budget: $55,000,000
Domestic gross: $14,375,181
Foreign gross: below $15,000,000
Worldwide gross: below $30,000,000
Well, if you know your box-office flop history, you certainly know Ishtar. It's one of the most notoriously known flops and it became such a landmark that when Kevin Costner and Kevin Reynolds were happily going WAY over budget with Waterworld, the media labeled the film "Fishtar". Now that's a cult film right there. Maybe not exactly the cult the creators were hoping for, but it's better than anything.
If you're not familiar with the movie's plot (and I somehow suspect many of you are not), here's a little summary. A duo of two worthless, untalented lounge singers, Lyle Rogers (Warren Beatty) and Chuck Clarke (Dustin Hoffman) accept a booking from their manager in the north African country Morocco. Here, they somehow manage to stumble into an international power play between the CIA, the Emir of Ishtar, and the rebels trying to overthrow his regime.
Actually, the plot doesn't sound that bad. It's reminding me of Spies Like Us (with Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase back when they had careers worth mentioning), which I consider to be a fun flick. They had the big stars, big budget and a promising premise for a comedy. Now where did it all go wrong?
Both Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman were Oscar winners when they agreed to participate in this project, so the studio obviously had great faith in the film. In fact, both stars had such name value back in 1985, when the production started, that they were able to negotiate a salary of $5 million, which was an astronomical number back then. With their apparent influence, they were also able to secure the director Elaine May full control over the project. The two actors knew her from their previous very successful projects Tootsie and Reds, for both of which May was an uncredited writer. Columbia Pictures wholeheartedly agreed, which was a decision they must have been hitting themselves in the head for, because May was about as far from a capable director as you can get.
For example, May was still shooting 6 months after the original premiere date, because she wasted numerous weeks searching for just the right desert with dunes that would be wavy just like her vivid imagination desired. She finally found the desert and guess what she did? She flattened all of the dunes, because…well, the reasons remain unknown. So with an obviously tight schedule like this, Ishtar began shooting in 21 October 1985 and wrapped on 24 March 1986. Reshoots didn't wrap until roughly June 1986, and because of this, the release date had to be pushed all the way to May 1987. And even then things didn't go very smoothly. Director Elaine May worked on the editing for months, and she only turned in a print of the film when the studio threatened legal action. The writing was already on the wall.
If the director's actions seem a bit strange, just wait what ludicrous stuff Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman were pulling off during the production.
It was well known fact that Warren Beatty had a big ego, but the crew was left standing with their mouth hanging down when the star showed why he earned that reputation. Reportedly, he wanted his camel "fired" from the film, because he felt it was stealing some of his spotlight. And I thought I was insecure. When this little stunt of his didn't work, he at least managed to convince the studio to transport an ENTIRE fully equipped gym from the United States all the way to Sahara, where the film was shot.
Dustin Hoffman however wasn't going to let Beatty embarrass him and pulled out his own uncanny tricks from the sleeve. He demanded the production to be moved to Spain, because he was afraid of a terrorist attack. This demand wasn't fulfilled, because the studio knew terrorists didn't have the guts to interrupt Dustin f'n Hoffman making a film. But, just like Beatty, he also had a back-up plan. Hoffman took his children with him to the shoot, but they were probably sad and depressed from the lack of fun things to do in the desert, so good daddy Dustin had his kids' toys flown in from USA. At the production's expense, of course.
With the ridiculous stuff happening on the set, the prolonged shooting and post-production, the originally $30 million dollar budget rose up to $55 million. And that was a HUGE sum of money back in 80's.
The film opened in May 1987 and earned only $14,375,181 during its theatrical run.
Some people speculate it was all a huge and elaborate practical joke on then Columbia Pictures boss David Puttnam, with whom both main stars had some unsettled scores. I don't know if there's any truth to this, but if there is, Hoffman and Beatty pulled their prank off flawlessly.
This week, I give the award to the trio of Elaine May, Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty. If they would have done their job right, the movie would have probably made decent money.
I don't know about the actual quality of the film, since I haven't seen it. It's user rating on IMDB is 3.6, if that's an indication of how well this collaboration worked out.
So since Ishtar was these three amigos vehicle, I hereby award them the prestigious Floppy title.
Dustin rebounded from this, Beatty not so much. So I guess, sometimes just things do happen. :-))
