Latest news with #MichaelDouglas
Telegraph
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
‘Don't kill the dog': The man who saves Hollywood films from disaster
The end of Fatal Attraction would have been very different without Kevin Goetz. The original climax to the 1987 thriller had Glenn Close's bunny boiler, Alex, die by suicide after the end of her affair with Dan, played by Michael Douglas. He was blamed for her death, and the last thing viewers saw was his wife, Anne Archer's Beth, rushing to try and clear his name. Anybody who has watched Fatal Attraction will know that its frenzied ending actually sees Beth kill Alex, in an act of apparently-deserved retribution. It became a box office smash. Goetz had an unheralded role in making the change and, ultimately, creating one of Hollywood's most famous endings. He was running a focus group watching an early cut of Adrian Lyne's film who did not like the conclusion; one member said they wanted someone to 'kill the b---h'. Goetz reported this to the filmmakers, who shot the alternative ending despite Close's objections (she would later say that it made 'a character I loved into a murdering psychopath'). The final version went down in history. Over more than three decades, Goetz has made a career of taking the thoughts of 300-or-so ordinary people who have seen a work-in-progress film to advise on how to make films better. 'Part of my job is navigating what I think the audience is trying to say, what they are saying, and distilling that specificity to the film-makers so they actually have something to do in the editing room,' he says. 'You've got a bunch of people using audience feedback to make informed decisions. Not 'I think': who gives a f--- what you think? You care what the audience thinks.' The founder and chief executive of Screen Engine/ASI has worked on upwards of 5,000 films, from blockbusters such as Titanic, Barbie and F1 to smaller fare, like Jordan Peele's Get Out. The Los Angeles Times once dubbed him the 'doctor of audience-ology' in 2005 and the nickname has stuck. Most films released in cinemas and on streaming services go through a testing process. A panel of people who might be disposed to like it is recruited – in a similar fashion to those assembled by political opinion pollsters – and their general and specific feedback is sought. The question of whether they would 'definitely' or 'probably' recommend a film to a loved one is key. Goetz collates this data and helps studios and filmmakers try and interpret it so that they can make the film more appealing. Often that can mean reducing the running time, clarifying confusing elements, removing dud jokes and excising offensive material. Over the years, test screenings helped make Jaws scarier, made Molly Ringwald end up with Andrew McCarthy and not Jon Cryer in Pretty in Pink, and ensured Loki was kept alive at the end of Thor: The Dark World – for which Tom Hiddleston is, presumably, very grateful. 'I could get something, with the help of the audience, from a C or a C-minus to a B-plus or even an A-minus. Can you imagine that? That's huge growth, huge. And it's the difference between, potentially, hundreds of million dollars,' says Goetz. 'Remember, it's not show-art, it is show-business. I truly believe that every movie, made and marketed for the right price, should make money. Now that's a big bold statement, not said lightly. But the problem is most people don't understand what they have at the outset so they pay way too much, budget-wise, for the movie, and as a result of that, they fail.' Something can be salvaged from even the biggest stinkers. Producers of zombie-flick World War Z 'reshot a third of the movie' after a negative screening, while in 2020's Sonic the Hedgehog 'the whole lead character was recrafted'. Goetz fondly recalls Gore Verbinski's Mousehunt, which he says was 'originally an adult dark comedy that turned into a family movie – and it was a success. There are ways to do it, but it's harder than hell to do it'. While Goetz says that most filmmakers get on board with the testing process, there are some notable exceptions. Christopher Nolan, for instance, does not subject himself to the views of mere mortals (though those who watched Tenet may wish he did). 'Picasso never audience-tested his paintings,' Ang Lee, the Oscar-winning Life of Pi director, once told Goetz. 'I love Ang Lee. Ang Lee is one of my favourite filmmakers,' Goetz tells me. 'He's an artist, what can I tell you? But guess what? So am I. I would say I am no less of an artist and I contribute no less than…' At this stage he breaks off to point at a large trophy behind him; it is American Cinematheque's 'power of cinema' award, which honours those who have helped advance the relevance of film. 'I got that award in 2023 – it's one of the highest awards in Hollywood, as you know – for my contributions to the motion picture business. I didn't get it because I'm a number cruncher.' As if to underline the point, he has a publicist send me the seven minute-long video of tributes that was played when he was garlanded with the honour. 'We are absolutely nothing without you and your incredible talent,' beams Charlize Theron. Margot Robbie says: 'You are so good at what you do and it has been such a gift to have your expertise and support on so many of our films… it is truly mindblowing how many films you have had a positive influence on.' Tom Cruise and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson call him a friend. 'I'm only saying this, not to be self-aggrandising, but so you will understand my relationship with these people,' says Goetz. A fast talker who is liable to go off on tangents, he is clearly not overly burdened by self-doubt. Much of the 63-year-old's success can be attributed to his bedside manner, which allows him to tell even the haughtiest auteurs things they do not want to hear. He illustrates the issue he often has by asking me to imagine me being the pushy parent of a child. 'Liam, I need to tell you that your seven-year-old daughter, she's just not as attractive as you think she is. She's never gonna make it as a model. I know you want her to be in commercials, but she's a little chunky, she's got crooked teeth, she's got freckles, and it doesn't work,' he says, deadly earnest. 'I have to say those things, and these are their children. These are their babies, right?' Ultimately, the power of numbers in his focus groups makes most filmmakers listen to him. 'If someone honks at you on the highway, they're an a--hole. But if seven people honk at you, you're the a--hole. At the end of the day, they're saying 'You d––'.' His constructive attitude, combined with his discretion, makes him a trusted partner for many of the world's biggest stars and explains why so many were queuing up to sing his praises at the American Cinematheque awards. Goetz says that a couple of filmmakers have fallen out with him, but refuses to name names. He is full of praise, however, for Ron Howard ('it doesn't get better than Ron in the screening process. He's a great partner and treats you like one') and Peele ('he's a very hot filmmaker who really respects the process and he's had great success'). He leverages the close relationships he strikes with them into interviews for the podcast he hosts, Don't Kill the Messenger, and he has written a pair of books about the business (2021's Audience-ology and the forthcoming How to Score in Hollywood). Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, Goetz aspired to act, sing and dance, and was a fixture in TV adverts and stage plays before he got an acting degree from Rutgers University in New Jersey. He also spent a couple of years as a Domino's pizza delivery boy. He moved to Los Angeles to pursue his acting career and took a part-time job with National Research Group, a consulting outfit. It started out as a 'survival job', where he moderated test screening focus groups, but it gradually became his primary interest. Decades on and he is still as enthused by it as ever. One iron-clad rule has emerged from years of test screenings that filmmakers would do well to heed at all times: do not mistreat a dog. A scene was added to Back to the Future so that it was clear that Doc Brown's dog, Einstein, did not get hurt when he was sent through time. 'You never want to hurt a dog,' Goetz says. 'Anchorman has a story about the dog that they needed to reshoot to show that the dog was OK, and it helped a lot. In The War of the Roses, one of them was eating and the implication was he barbecued the dog and the audience was… they had to shoot an insert shot of the dog sitting there to show that he was just f---ing with her.' Needless to say, Goetz is a dog person and lives in Beverly Hills with his husband, Neil, and their labradoodle, Kasha. In recent years, Hollywood has been accused of playing it safe, with a conveyor belt of sequels, prequels, remakes and reimaginings released, to the detriment of more original ideas. 'There is a tremendous amount of risk aversion. The reason is the stakes are so high,' Goetz says. 'The audiences seem to want the same, but different. They don't want a rehashing, but they want something that feels familiar but is different, like [Ryan Coogler's] Sinners. People have seen vampire stories, but not one like this. And I think then they'll also go to a Jurassic Park.' But Hollywood needs to remember that the audience is never wrong. 'The audience has final cut. An audience can never be wrong, because it's just an opinion,' he says. With thousands of screenings under his belt, watching films at various stages in the production process, it would be easy for Goetz to stop enjoying seeing them for fun: who would want a hot dog after spending all day seeing how the sausages are made? But he says he loves sharing films he enjoys with his husband and friends. There is, however, one part of the cinema world that he cannot bear. 'People often ask if I eat popcorn. And the answer is, no, very rarely,' he says with a smile. 'I smell popcorn every night of my life!'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Iconic 90s erotic thriller to reportedly get ‘anti-woke' reboot
Amazon MGM's United Artists has reportedly announced a reboot of Basic Instinct, one of the most provocative thrillers of the early 1990s. The 1992 erotic thriller starred Michael Douglas as a detective who becomes involved with the prime suspect of his murder investigation, played by Sharon Stone. The film went on to become a box office hit, earning over $350m worldwide. The original film's screenwriter, Joe Eszterhas, has returned to pen the new screenplay under a deal worth up to $4m, according to The Wrap, which first reported the news. While not much is known about the forthcoming reboot, including whether Stone could reprise her breakout role as Catherine Tramell, a source familiar with the deal said the film is expected to be 'anti-woke'. The Independent has reached out to Amazon MGM for comment. In 2019, Stone said she doubted whether the film could have been made in the present. 'I think Basic Instinct was made at the exact right moment in history because it captured all our fears and doubts and the moment of change of power for women,' Stone told Allure. 'It's still an intriguing film, but could it be made now? I doubt that it would have any form of the sensationalism it had at the time. When I began my career, there were only two ways we were allowed to sit: cross at the ankles or ankles under the chair.' Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone in 'Basic Instinct' (StudioCanal/Shutterstock) Basic Instinct has been the subject of controversy over the years, particularly over the scene that sees Stone crossing and uncrossing her legs in a room full of men during an interrogation. In her 2021 memoir, Stone claimed she had no idea how exposed her genitals would be in the now famous uncrossed-legs scene where lead Michael Douglas first meets her character, Catherine Tramell. 'After we shot Basic Instinct, I got called in to see it,' she wrote. 'Not on my own with the director, as one would anticipate, given the situation that has given us all pause, so to speak, but with a room full of agents and lawyers, most of whom had nothing to do with the project. 'That was how I saw my vagina-shot for the first time, long after I'd been told, 'We can't see anything – I just need you to remove your panties, as the white is reflecting the light, so we know you have panties on.' 'I went to the projection booth, slapped [director] Paul [Verhoeven] across the face, left, went to my car, and called my lawyer, Marty Singer,' Stone continued. She also said in 2019, while accepting her Woman of the Year accolade at the Berlin GQ Men of the Year Awards that Verhoeven asked her to take off her underwear since they were visible in the shot. 'Some years ago I was sitting on a sound stage, and my director said, 'Can you hand me your underpants because we're seeing them in the scene and you shouldn't have underpants on, but we won't see anything,'' she said. 'I said, 'Sure.' I didn't know this moment would change my life.' 'Sharon is lying,' Verhoeven, 87, said in 2017. 'Any actress knows what she's going to see if you ask her to take off her underwear and point there with the camera.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
That's a career-wrap on Michael Douglas
Michael Douglas has hung up his bifocals and dashed any hopes fans had for a sequel to his Benjamin Franklin series. Speaking at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) in the Czech Republic yesterday, per The Hollywood Reporter, and following nearly 60 years on screen, the 80-year-old Oscar winner announced that he has 'no intention' of working again, saying he'd rather hang out with his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, which, yeah, makes sense. It was a long time coming. Douglas says that he hasn't worked since 2022 when he realized 'I have to stop,' and indeed he has. Throughout his career, Douglas rarely went a year without a new release, and in the last two decades, he also survived throat cancer, a Wall Street sequel, and the ups and downs of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In that time, in addition to an Emmy-winning performance in Behind The Candelabra, he also enjoyed runs on the Netflix hit The Kominsky Method and a Green Eggs And Ham show that we're all just finding out about. Sadly, that's a wrap on Michael Douglas, who, weirdly, 'did not want to be one of those people who dropped dead on set.' Though he stops short of saying he's retired 'because [if] something special came up, I'd go back,' he reiterates, 'I have no real intention' of doing so. In the meantime, he's 'happy to play the wife,' which we'll take in the good spirit of his sentiments and not as a weirdly regressive way of looking at his marriage with Zeta-Jones, who he admits is '25 years younger than' he and 'very busy right now.' Douglas' IMDb page lists a couple more projects in the pipeline, including a drama called Looking Through Water, which is reportedly scheduled for release this summer, and the long-in-development Reagan & Gorbachev mini-series, co-starring Christoph Waltz, for Paramount+. Selfishly, we implore Douglas to reconsider his retirement until after his dramatic retelling of the Reykjavík Summit. Still, we understand if he'd rather play Catherine Zeta-Jones' wife until something really good comes along. More from A.V. Club Superman gets a big, blue reboot that supercharges a beleaguered genre Spoiler Space: Jurassic World Rebirth once again makes dinosaurs everyone's problem Federal court of appeals unsubscribes Americans from "Click to Cancel" Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Amazon is giving Joe Eszterhas $4 million to write an "anti-woke" Basic Instinct reboot
Hey, did Michael Douglas somehow summon this up by announcing he was retiring? The Wrap is reporting that Amazon MGM and United Artists are chucking $2 million—which will be upped to $4 million if the movie actually gets made—at screenwriting sleaze legend Joe Eszterhas, reportedly to write a reboot of his massively successful 1992 money-maker Basic Instinct. This is fairly wild, in so far as Eszterhas has been absent from any real Hollywood conversation—absent the occasional Showgirls nostalgia/irony confluence—for nearly 30 years, having been dropped out of the business around the time his 1997 comedy Burn Hollywood Burn bombed massively. (He did get some nice press from his 2004 memoir Hollywood Animal, but since then it's mostly been occasional headlines about feuding with Mel Gibson, and a little light coverage of his post-flop pivot to Jesus.) But apparently he's spent at least some of that intervening time writing a new Basic Instinct on spec. (And, in hindsight, why not? That's how the first movie got made, netting Eszterhas another multi-million dollar paycheck at the time.) 'But,' we hear you asking, 'How will this film, a cinematic return to a movie that collided with the sexual politics of the 1990s with absolutely zero subtlety, respond to the updated mores of our modern era?' Well, The Wrap reports that Eszterhas' script is apparently—per an insider source—for an 'anti-woke' version of a story that was already about how those dang bisexuals are always just waiting to seduce you and then stick an icepick in your head, so let that little shudder of horror you felt during the first half of this sentence serve as a reminder that Eszterhas has still got the juice, fright-wise. Basic Instinct previously got a sequel, starring Sharon Stone, but sans Eszterhas, in 2006; the film flopped hard, bringing in something like one-tenth of what the 1992 original summoned up at the box office. Amazon MGM has apparently drawn a lesson from this, although god only knows if it'll be the right one. More from A.V. Club And Just Like That… ruins Aidan Shaw once again Whisper Of The Heart left a lo-fi legacy unique to Studio Ghibli Netflix and Greg Berlanti combining powers for live-action Captain Planet reboot Solve the daily Crossword
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas' son Dylan hits back after being falsely accused of being 'scumbag' who caused chaos at Beyonce concert
The son of Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas has been forced to defend himself after he was wrongly identified on TikTok as a man who'd abused a group of women at a Beyoncé concert in the US. Dylan Michael Douglas, who is currently enjoying a holiday in his mother Catherine's hometown of Mumbles in Wales, shared a video on social media, where he told his followers he'd been the victim of false identity and a barrage of online vitriol. A photo of a young man in a cowboy hat, who bears a striking resemblance to Dylan, is being circulated on TikTok, after he was said to have poured water on a group of black girls at a Beyoncé concert in Atlanta, Georgia. But 24-year-old Dylan, insisted that the man in the photo, is not him. He said: 'I'm sorry to come on here and do this but I've been put in a very awkward situation. This video that's circulating on TikTok about some person pouring a drink on somebody at the Cowboy Carter concert in Atlanta, Georgia, that wasn't me. 'I've never been to a Beyoncé concert, I'd love to go, maybe one day. Never been to Atlanta in the last five years. I'm in rainy Mumbles in the cold in Wales.' Dylan, who is a budding actor, then filmed himself entering a traditional British pub, where Karaoke was underway in the background. He said, 'I'm here at a bar with my Nanna, we got Karaoke, it's not nearly as good as Beyoncé, but whatever happened there, I hope you find the guy, it looks horrible but it wasn't me, I've had a lot of scary DMs and comments and other things that have been frightening and I just hope it all stops.' Dylan, who has a younger sister Carys, 21 and a half brother, Cameron from his father's previous marriage to actress Diandra Luka, has an ever growing profile in the public eye. Having graduated from Brown University in 2022, with a degree in political science, Dylan recently fronted a podcast called Young Americans for which he made a slew of TV and radio appearances to promote the show. Soon the nepo baby, whose parents are both Oscar winning actors, will make his on screen acting debut in a psychological thriller, I Will Come to You, directed by Jacob Arden. In a statement to Variety magazine, Dylan shared his excitement about the project. He said: 'I was drawn to this role because of its complexity and depth,' he said. 'I am looking forward to bringing this character to life and being a part of a project that pushes boundaries.' Indeed Dylan's mother Catherine is one of Britain's most successful actresses, after she shot to fame in the 90s as the star of the much loved ITV drama, the Darling Buds of May. She then became a Hollywood star after her screen stealing turn in the Mask of Zorro, opposite, Antonio Banderas and Anthony Hopkins. Shortly after her success in Zoro she met Michael Douglas at the Deaville Film festival in France, they fell in love and married at a lavish wedding ceremony at the Plaza hotel in the year 2000. Catherine then went on to star in the film Entrapment with Sean Connery and Chicago, for which she won an Oscar in 2002. Last year, Catherine said she and Michael were selling their $12 million New York City homebecause their kids were 'leaving the nest.' In a conversation with The Wall Street Journal, she said: 'When I purchased our Irvington home, I knew our family would share many happy times here, and we have! 'Now that both our son and daughter have left the nest, it seems like the right time to sell.'
