Hollywood Insiders

[poliphilo]

 The London Review of Books sends me free articles every once in a while and sometimes I even read them. This morning we had John Lahr talking about his experience of attempting to establish himself as a Hollywood Player. Fox had bought a novel off him, hired him to write the screenplay and teamed him with the director Sidney Pollack- known to his associates as "King P". Lahr and Pollack produced the first draft of a script and then Pollack, having collected 50 grand for his work, dropped Lahr and moved- or was moved- to a more attractive project. Lahr was assigned a less distinguished director- and the beancounters said the story- which was a quintessentially New York story- would have to be rewritten to move the action from New York to L.A. because filming in L.A. would be cheaper. Finally the project got the green light and everything was wonderful until a new studio chief came in and turned it off. Lahr had had his ego buffeted by every wind that blows and returned to London with nothing to show for it. Reading the stories of Hollywood insiders (and Lahr's essay pivots on the review of a collection of insiders' stories) you wonder how the studio system ever produced anything worth watching.

Writing about Pollack, Lahr cattily remarks that there's nothing like a confidence artist to instil confidence in a person. Pollack directed a number of big glossy movies that haven't worn too well (at least that's my impression) but also did a bit of acting. His leonine mid-level illuminatus in Eyes Wide Shut is unforgettable.