A fugitive, Cameron, is on the run from the law and he manages to find his way onto a film set. The film’s director, Eli Cross, allows Cameron to hide out with the film crew on condition that he be the new stunt man for the war movie he is making. Cameron accepts, although he fears Eli might be trying to kill him.
Blaine: In 1970, Richard Rush had just done a movie called “Getting Straight” for Columbia Pictures. After that, Columbia showed Richard the novel, “The Stunt Man” and asked if he would be interested in turning it in to a screenplay. Richard turned down the project at first, but he couldn’t ignore the fact that the plot sounded clever. Richard kept thinking about what kind of effect this story could have an audience. The characters also interested him of who they are and what is going through their heads.
Richard also had ideas he could put into the script that weren’t in the novel. So after putting a lot of thought into it, Richard decided to do the screenplay. He asked another screenwriter, Lawrence B. Marcus, to help him adapt it. Richard and Lawrence spent nine months working on the screenplay and Richard fell in love with the screenplay by the time it was finished. Bad news was the studio didn’t share the same enthusiasm as Richard and for some reason the studio didn’t want to do the project anymore. Richard’s agent thought the script was genius and thought any studio would want to have something like this, but he was wrong. Every studio rejected “The Stunt Man”. The reason studios were rejecting it was because the Vietnam war was still going on at the time and “The Stunt Man” is about a man making a war film.
Another reason was because no one had ever made a movie about a stunt man before and studios didn’t want audiences seeing what happens backstage while making a movie. They also couldn’t understand if “The Stunt Man” was a comedy, a drama or an action adventure because in those days filmmakers didn't mix together different genres together. “The Stunt Man” was a lot of things no one had ever seen on film before.
Richard’s favorite actor was Peter O’Toole and he always had Peter in mind for the director character, Eli Cross. Richard was informed by a friend of his that Peter O’Toole was going to be at this party and Richard was able to get into the party thanks to his friend. Richard had a nice chat with Peter, but he never brought up “The Stunt Man” once because he didn’t want to look desperate and he was too busy enjoying the conversation with his favorite actor. Of course after Peter left, Richard was upset with himself that he never asked Peter if he would be in “The Stunt Man”. Lucky thing for Richard one of Peter’s friends was a huge fan of one of his films and he told Peter how interesting his films are. Peter watched one of Richard’s movies and he liked it so much that he wanted to tell Richard in person what he thought of it. Richard took that moment to finally show Peter the script for “The Stunt Man”. Peter O’Toole read the whole thing and demanded to play the part of Eli Cross. Richard was full of joy after that, but he still needed a studio to say yes to the project. Peter O’Toole was patient with the project.
Whenever Richard was ready to direct a new movie he wanted to do “The Stunt Man” and the studio would get annoyed every time Richard brought up “The Stunt Man” and told him to get lost. The studio told Richard to just forget about “The Stunt Man”. Richard then made a movie for Warner Bros. called “Freebie and the Bean”, which became the top grossing movie in 1974. Richard felt Warner Bros. could trust him after his last movie was a box office hit. He brought up “The Stunt Man” once again, but Warner Bros. wasn’t in the mood and they kept delaying. One day Warner Bros. asked Robert if they could use “The Stunt Man” title for another movie they were going to do and Richard got pissed off because he had been asking the studio for years to finance “The Stunt Man” so he could make it. Richard fought for the title and Peter O’Toole backed him up, which helped Richard win the battle.
Warner Bros. renamed their new movie “Hooper” and it became the first movie about a stunt man, which was very upsetting for Richard because he wanted “The Stunt Man” to be the first. For years Richard had been asking permission to make “The Stunt Man”, but the studio kept saying “no” and all of a sudden they decided to make another movie about stunt men. Richard had enough of Warner Bros. after that and decided to take “The Stunt Man” somewhere else. Melvin Simon had developed a small independent film company, Melvin Simon Productions, and Richard met him while he was in New York. Richard tried to pitch “The Stunt Man” to Melvin, but Melvin didn’t have time to listen because he was about to fly to Boston. Melvin decided to invite Richard on his plane and as they were flying to Boston, Richard had told Melvin about “The Stunt Man”. Melvin said yes to the project and Richard finally got the answer he had been wanting to hear for a long time.
The location to shoot “The Stunt Man” needed a big resort hotel with an interesting rooftop for this big battle scene being shot for the war movie. Hotel del Coronado had everything Richard wanted to see, all except for the palm trees. Richard almost felt it was hopeless finding the perfect location until he thought the trees shouldn’t be his problem, it should be the director in the movie, Eli Cross, problem. Richard decided to go with Hotel del Coronado and he wrote a new scene where Eli is telling Cameron and Nina about how the trees are the only problem for the film he is making. Richard was basically putting his own experience of trying to make “The Stunt Man” in the movie itself. Richard also wrote another new scene where Eli Cross and his crew are having dinner and the screenwriter brings up how Eli had been wanting to make this war movie for years and that he couldn’t make it earlier because no one would allow it and a war was still going on. It’s just like what Richard had to go through when he wanted to make “The Stunt Man”. Richard didn’t write his own personality into the Eli character. Peter O’Toole’s performance he had based on his “Lawrence of Arabia” director, David Lean.
Actor Steve Railsback was recommended to Richard by a friend of his. Richard told Steve to come over to his house to read for him and Richard was having his garden done that same day, so when Steve went into Richard’s house he thought that Steve was the gardener’s son. Steve didn’t look like an actor to Richard, but when Steve read lines from the script Richard was stunned. Richard knew Steve was the only person in the world who could play the other lead character in the film, Cameron. Through the movie, the audience sees how things are going through Cameron’s eyes. Steve thought the script for “The Stunt Man” was something special, but at the same time he had trouble understanding if it was a comedy or drama.
Barbara Hershey wasn’t recommended by anyone, she just auditioned like everyone else. Barbara was interested in being apart of projects that were new and original. Like Steve Railsback, Barbara had trouble understanding if “The Stunt Man” was a comedy or drama. However Barbara did get addicted to the script and the mystery of what Eli Cross is trying to do to Cameron. Barbara’s character, Nina Franklin, is a famous actress playing an elder woman in Eli Cross’s film. She is very fond of Cameron as soon as she meets him and she becomes his love interest. She becomes sort of a mystery too. Barbara really wanted to be apart of “The Stunt Man”, but Richard was taking his time to decided if Barbara should play Nina. Barbara got an offering in another movie and she informed Richard about it. Barbara wanted to be apart of “The Stunt Man” more than the other movie, but she needed work and if Richard wasn't going to cast her in “The Stunt Man” then she would take the other job. Richard was being rushed and he had thirty minutes to decide. Finally, Richard decided to give Barbara the part.
Richard needed a shot of a World War I airplane over the rooftop which was illegal because the hotel was declared a National Monument. He had to call the AA to ask permission and they laughed and said no. The pilot Richard hired wouldn’t fly the plane because they didn’t have the permission. One of the crew members was good at flying and he volunteered to fly the plane over the roof. They shot the scene without permission and five cameras had to be shooting that scene because they only could do one take. Richard needed camera equipment to shoot the movie in front of and behind the camera. Richard’s friend owned camera systems and he asked him for an construction crane that you could attach a camera to because some of Peter O’Toole’s scene would show him either in a helicopter or a crane with a film camera. Peter O’Toole wanted to figure out what kind of clothes a director would wear and one day he showed up on set wearing the same clothes as Richard.
Richard liked the way “The Stunt Man” was looking as they were shooting, but he felt pressure while the movie was being cut down. The studio told Richard to make “The Stunt Man” a two hour movie and the problem was there were scenes that he wanted to leave in the movie that had to be cut out because there wasn’t any room for them. When Richard showed the film to the studio they couldn’t understand if it was a comedy, a drama or an action adventure. That was always the question on everyone’s mind. They didn’t know what “The Stunt Man” was supposed to be. “The Stunt Man” had trouble being released because the studio was afraid people wouldn't understand or like the film. And the studio was going through some problems. Once again Richard was upset because he had been dying to make this movie for a while and now that it was finally finished he couldn’t get it out there for people to see it. Richard wouldn’t allow this, so he went behind the studios back and showed it to people. Richard showed it to a critic and the critic gave it a great review. Richard showed other critics the movie after that and they all gave “The Stunt Man” good reviews. Richard then tested “The Stunt Man” out at a few theaters and the audiences loved it. The studio was very upset with Richard for showing “The Stunt Man” to people without their permission. A friend of Richard’s owned a movie theater in Seattle and he was nice enough to allow “The Stunt Man” to show there, but first they needed some advertisement to open the movie with. Richard hired a young female artist to design the advertisement and she was very creative and imaginative. She had an idea of having the devil using a film camera. Richard loved it, but he felt changes needed to be added to it because he knew Melvin Simon Productions would hate it and he was right. The studio thought it looked stupid for advertisement. Richard then thought the devil should look like Peter O’Toole, so the artist redesigned it. Peter O’Toole had a positive reaction when he saw that drawing. The studio still wouldn’t expand “The Stunt Man” in other theaters because they still needed proof if this movie was good enough to see in the theater even though every critic Richard showed the film to gave it a good review. The studio wanted to know if it was Oscar worthy and it got three nominations for best adapted screenplay, best director and best actor Peter O’Toole. One movie theater kept “The Stunt Man” for a whole year and every time someone went to see it they loved it.
My rating on “The Stunt Man” is five out of five stars.
