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故 事 大 綱
傳 奇 監 製 羅 拔 伊 雲 斯 (Robert Evans) ， 縱 橫 荷 里 活 半 個 世 紀 ， 多 番 大 起 大 落 ， 一 生 人 比 電 影 更 峰 迴 路 轉 。 1956 年 在 比 華 利 山 酒 店 泳 池 旁 邊 ， 他 的 美 男 風 采 吸 引 了 金 像 影 后 Norma Shearer 垂 青 ， 邀 他 合 演 新 作 ， 伊 雲 士 從 此 展 開 他 的 荷 里 活 生 涯 。 在 短 暫 而 璀 璨 的 明 星 風 光 後 ， 伊 雲 士 欲 挑 戰 製 片 工 作 ， 卻 奇 蹟 地 被 聘 任 為 派 拉 蒙 影 片 製 作 主 管 ， 當 時 只 得 34 歲 的 他 ， 憑 著 「 賭 大 贏 大 」 精 神 ， 策 劃 了 多 部 世 紀 經 典 電 影 ， 包 括 《 教 父 》 、 《 殉 情 記 》 、 《 唐 人 街 》 等 。
踏 入 80 年 代 ， 有 「 荷 里 活 金 童 」 之 稱 的 伊 雲 士 金 漆 招 牌 不 保 ， 與 靚 老 婆 艾 利 麥 葛 羅 (Ali MacGraw) 離 婚 後 ， 接 著 有 吸 毒 醜 聞 ， 不 久 更 牽 涉 入 《 棉 花 俱 樂 部 》 兇 殺 案 ， 伊 雲 士 亦 自 此 絕 跡 影 圈 。 但 憑 著 雄 心 鬥 志 ， 90 年 代 他 又 再 次 出 山 ， 重 回 監 製 本 行 之 餘 ， 撰 寫 的 自 傳 亦 賣 得 成 行 成 市 ， 更 被 搬 上 銀 幕 拍 成 本 片 ， 證 明 伊 雲 士 注 定 留 在 電 影 裡 。
製 作 花 絮
幕 後 玩 家 紀 錄 片 震 撼 荷 里 活 贏 盡 口 碑
本 片 乃 根 據 羅 拔 伊 雲 斯 的 同 名 自 傳 【 The Kid Stays in the Picture 】 改 編 而 成 ， 由 伊 氏 本 人 親 自 旁 述 ， 配 以 伊 氏 私 相 簿 和 大 量 影 圈 珍 貴 片 段 。 荷 里 活 的 浮 光 掠 影 與 伊 氏 妙 絕 人 生 追 溯 出 一 幕 又 一 幕 的 精 彩 軼 事 ； 能 以 紀 錄 片 姿 態 贏 盡 圈 內 外 口 碑 ， 影 片 本 身 又 是 一 個 荷 里 活 奇 蹟 。 【 紐 約 時 報 】 評 論 盛 讚 本 片 為 2002 年 「 最 有 趣 、 最 有 深 度 的 電 影 之 一 。 」 E! Online 則 指 「 荷 里 活 不 能 再 拍 出 比 本 片 更 好 的 故 事 。 」 在 美 國 影 評 界 一 致 推 舉 之 下 ， 本 片 橫 掃 波 士 頓 影 評 人 會 、 西 雅 圖 影 評 人 及 金 衛 星 獎 的 最 佳 紀 錄 片 獎 。
與 狄 士 尼 平 起 平 坐 伊 氏 影 響 力 驚 人
美 國 傳 媒 曾 這 樣 形 容 伊 氏 ： 「 他 對 美 國 電 影 及 文 化 的 影 響 ， 儼 如 林 肯 對 美 國 歷 史 的 影 響 一 樣 。 」 而 事 實 上 ， 伊 氏 當 年 在 影 壇 的 影 響 力 與 和 路 狄 士 尼 不 相 伯 仲 。 他 極 具 賭 徒 本 色 ， 開 拍 沒 有 人 膽 敢 投 資 的 電 影 如 《 教 父 》 ， 又 曾 經 鼓 勵 Saul Bass 執 導 只 有 兩 個 演 員 及 三 千 隻 蟻 主 演 的 《 Phase IV 》 ， 他 搞 的 電 影 ， 一 是 驚 天 動 地 ， 一 是 一 敗 途 地 ， 總 言 之 有 其 破 格 之 處 ， 乃 徹 頭 徹 尾 的 先 鋒 派 。 他 更 是 帶 領 荷 里 活 片 廠 由 守 舊 制 度 過 渡 至 新 美 國 電 影 的 重 要 人 物 。
伊 氏 亦 是 「 界 刂 女 」 鼻 祖 ， 過 去 50 年 來 ， 跟 他 有 過 情 史 的 女 星 不 能 盡 錄 ， 當 中 包 括 超 級 美 人 嘉 莉 絲 姬 莉 (Grace Kelly) 、 艾 娃 加 德 納 (Ava Gardner) 等 等 ， 《 愛 情 故 事 》 (Love Story) 女 主 角 艾 利 麥 葛 羅 (Ali MacGraw) 更 做 了 他 第 三 任 老 婆 。 而 他 的 巨 星 好 友 更 是 滿 天 下 ， 包 括 積 尼 高 遜 、 華 倫 比 堤 、 阿 爾 柏 仙 奴 等 等 。 就 連 政 界 亦 拜 倒 其 魅 力 之 下 ， 過 去 曾 經 有 ４ 位 美 國 總 統 找 伊 氏 撰 寫 演 說 講 辭 。
若 然 狄 士 尼 的 過 山 車 兒 童 皆 宜 ， 人 人 常 歡 笑 ； 伊 雲 斯 的 過 山 車 則 是 人 人 嚇 破 膽 ， 帶 你 上 天 堂 ， 也 教 你 闖 地 獄 。
由 自 傳 到 電 影
伊 氏 的 自 傳 【 The Kid Stays in the Picture 】 於 1994 年 由 Hyperion 發 行 ， 出 版 後 哄 動 一 時 ， 他 戲 劇 性 的 一 生 兼 鮮 為 人 知 的 影 圈 軼 事 ， 旋 即 被 行 內 人 選 為 指 定 讀 物 。 95 年 ， 伊 氏 補 上 多 章 新 內 容 ， 由 Dove Books 重 新 出 版 ， 現 時 已 被 翻 成 12 種 語 言 。 97 年 ， Dove Audio 推 出 ６ 小 時 錄 音 帶 版 本 ， 由 伊 氏 以 引 人 入 勝 的 聲 調 ， 親 自 讀 出 自 己 的 奇 遇 ， 掀 起 另 一 浪 搶 購 熱 。 2002 年 ， 更 重 新 錄 製 ， 並 推 出 CD 版 。
伊 氏 表 示 自 傳 其 實 是 為 兒 子 祖 舒 (Josh) 而 撰 寫 的 ： 「 我 寫 此 書 是 讓 兒 子 知 道 我 以 前 是 怎 樣 的 一 個 人 ， 因 為 他 跟 我 經 歷 了 1980 至 90 年 的 地 獄 日 子 ， 他 看 著 父 親 由 天 王 墮 落 到 差 不 多 要 亡 命 天 涯 。 」 殊 不 知 ， 自 傳 面 世 後 讓 伊 氏 搖 身 一 變 為 荷 里 活 Cult Figure 。
美 國 新 晉 紀 錄 片 導 演 組 合 畢 特 摩 根 (Brett Morgen) 與 連 納 貝 斯 坦 (Nanette Burstein) 大 膽 地 將 伊 氏 的 自 傳 拍 成 紀 錄 片 ， 且 在 荷 里 活 製 作 ， 是 因 為 他 們 認 為 過 去 半 世 紀 的 風 雲 人 物 都 與 伊 氏 有 一 段 精 彩 故 事 ， 能 聽 他 本 人 娓 娓 道 來 ， 帶 觀 眾 進 入 當 年 的 光 與 影 ， 就 已 經 是 最 佳 題 材 。 同 時 ， 伊 氏 好 友 、 前 【 Vanity Fair 】 雜 誌 總 編 輯 基 頓 卡 特 (Graydon Carter) 亦 合 作 監 製 此 片 。
「 電 影 真 實 」 拍 攝 手 法
身 為 紐 約 大 學 電 影 碩 士 ， 摩 根 與 貝 斯 坦 兩 位 導 演 揚 言 今 次 追 求 的 是 「 Cinema Verite 」 ( 電 影 真 實 ， 60 年 代 由 法 國 紀 錄 片 導 演 提 出 的 拍 攝 手 法 ) 。 就 如 跳 探 戈 一 樣 ， 兩 位 導 演 與 伊 氏 互 相 挑 釁 ， 時 而 誘 發 對 方 時 而 退 守 應 變 ， 層 層 推 進 ， 發 掘 伊 氏 內 心 世 界 及 其 一 生 軼 事 。 摩 根 這 樣 形 容 伊 氏 ： 「 你 搞 ３ 個 女 人 ， 佢 就 搞 夠 30 個 ； 你 拍 到 一 部 賣 座 片 ， 佢 就 拍 夠 一 打 。 」 要 面 對 如 此 「 無 所 不 盡 其 極 」 兼 主 導 性 極 高 的 人 ， 若 不 平 衡 進 玫 、 退 守 的 拍 攝 方 法 ， 就 會 單 單 跟 著 伊 氏 的 表 現 方 法 來 說 故 事 了 。
摩 根 又 表 示 ： 「 最 重 要 的 是 此 片 是 與 USA Films 合 作 ， 而 不 是 派 拉 蒙 。 我 們 不 用 偏 重 派 拉 蒙 。 」
大 屋 見 證 傳 奇 一 生
獲 伊 氏 同 意 將 自 傳 搬 上 銀 幕 後 ， 摩 根 與 貝 斯 坦 馬 上 搬 入 伊 氏 Woodland 大 宅 ， 住 上 了 ３ 、 ４ 個 月 ， 除 了 要 加 深 對 伊 氏 的 認 識 ， 方 便 搜 集 資 料 之 外 ， 更 因 為 這 幢 在 1967 年 建 成 的 大 宅 本 身 極 具 象 徵 意 味 ， 貝 斯 坦 解 釋 ： 「 伊 氏 的 屋 代 表 著 他 本 人 ， Woodland 大 宅 盛 荗 又 帶 有 帝 王 式 的 浮 華 ， 有 如 伊 氏 的 個 性 。 」 摩 根 則 說 ： 「 他 一 生 人 ， 最 長 的 關 係 亦 只 能 維 持 ３ 年 ( 與 麥 葛 羅 的 婚 姻 ) ， 但 這 間 屋 卻 跟 他 有 超 過 30 年 的 關 係 。 」 結 果 ， 兩 位 導 演 用 了 大 宅 作 為 最 重 要 的 「 道 具 」 ， Woodland 變 成 一 面 鏡 子 ， 既 反 映 了 伊 氏 本 人 ， 亦 得 見 伊 氏 是 如 何 看 自 己 的 。 而 為 實 踐 「 電 影 真 實 」 ， 兩 位 導 演 在 屋 內 只 用 上 手 提 攝 影 機 及 吊 架 拍 攝 ， 難 度 極 高 。
巨 星 全 力 支 持 允 准 借 用 舊 片 片 段
此 外 ， 由 於 影 片 需 要 用 上 大 量 電 影 片 段 ， 而 使 用 這 些 片 段 ， 不 但 要 取 得 個 別 電 影 公 司 的 協 助 及 版 權 ， 更 要 徵 求 每 一 位 出 鏡 的 演 員 的 同 意 ， 幸 而 積 尼 高 遜 、 華 倫 比 堤 、 羅 拔 烈 福 、 德 斯 汀 荷 夫 曼 、 波 蘭 斯 基 等 250 位 電 影 人 均 非 常 俾 面 ， 馬 上 簽 名 允 准 影 片 使 用 。
導 演 與 伊 氏 淵 源
於 洛 杉 磯 長 大 的 導 演 摩 根 原 來 與 伊 氏 兒 子 祖 舒 伊 雲 士 在 同 一 所 中 學 畢 業 ， 「 當 時 羅 拔 伊 雲 斯 的 影 響 力 已 遍 及 整 個 洛 杉 磯 ， 我 只 知 道 很 多 人 崇 拜 他 … ， 但 我 與 他 兒 子 進 了 同 一 間 中 學 後 ， 他 正 牽 涉 入 《 棉 花 俱 樂 部 》 兇 殺 案 … 但 看 了 《 教 父 》 、 《 唐 人 街 》 等 片 後 ， 我 只 覺 得 他 跟 禾 路 狄 士 尼 一 樣 ， 是 荷 里 活 代 表 人 物 ， 也 就 希 望 自 己 長 大 後 好 像 他 一 樣 。 」
羅 拔 伊 雲 士 生 平
「 每 個 故 事 都 有 三 個 角 度 ， 你 的 角 度 、 我 的 角 度 ， 以 及 真 相 。 無 人 說 謊 話 ， 只 是 記 憶 待 人 有 不 同 之 道 。 」 ─ ─ 羅 拔 伊 雲 斯 。
1930 年 ． 生 於 紐 約
羅 拔 伊 雲 斯 (Robert Evans) ， 1930 年 6 月 29 日 生 於 紐 約 市 ， 父 親 Archie 是 牙 醫 ， 在 哈 林 區 開 設 了 美 國 首 間 種 族 共 用 的 牙 科 診 所 。
12 歲 ． 做 DJ
二 戰 爆 發 亦 難 禁 表 演 欲 橫 流 ， 伊 氏 聲 演 人 氣 廣 播 劇 《 Henry Aldrich 》 ， 開 始 參 與 舞 台 劇 ， 更 成 為 美 國 最 年 輕 的 DJ ， 在 電 台 主 持 自 己 的 節 目 《 The Robert Evans Show 》 。
25 歲 ． 百 萬 富 商
大 哥 查 里 斯 (Charles) 與 裁 縫 Joseph Picone 合 搞 女 裝 ， 開 設 名 為 Evan-Picone 的 品 牌 ， 羅 拔 加 入 經 營 ， 25 歲 前 ， 身 家 已 過 百 萬 美 元 。
1956 年 ． 生 於 荷 里 活
Evan-Picone 在 比 華 利 山 開 分 店 ， 伊 氏 負 責 張 羅 ， 在 比 華 利 山 酒 店 泳 池 歇 息 時 ， 被 奧 斯 卡 影 后 Norma Shearer 睇 中 ， 邀 他 在 《 Man of a Thousand Faces 》 中 演 繹 其 亡 夫 、 著 名 製 片 人 Irving Thalberg 一 角 ， 此 刻 標 誌 著 伊 氏 在 荷 里 活 的 誕 生 。
1957 年 ． " The Kid Stays in the Picture "
伊 氏 獲 演 出 《 The Sun Also Rises 》 的 機 會 ， 卻 遭 原 著 作 者 海 明 威 (Ernest Hemmingway) 及 女 主 角 艾 娃 加 德 納 (Ava Gardner) 大 力 反 對 ， 電 影 公 司 老 闆 Darryl Zanuck 趕 往 西 班 牙 視 察 ， 在 看 了 伊 氏 第 一 take 演 出 後 ， Zanuck 卻 作 出 驚 人 判 斷 ， 說 了 一 句 ： 「 The Kid Stays in the Picture 」 （ 這 小 子 會 留 在 影 片 ） 。 這 句 話 不 但 救 回 伊 氏 一 個 黃 金 機 會 ， 更 說 中 了 他 一 生 電 影 人 的 命 運 。
1960 年 ． 再 見 短 暫 星 途
伊 氏 的 演 員 生 涯 十 分 短 暫 ， 在 拍 過 《 Man of a Thousand Faces 》 及 《 The Sun Also Rises 》 之 後 ， 只 在 58 及 59 年 主 演 了 《 The Fiend Who Walked the West 》 及 《 The Best of Everything 》 兩 片 。 此 時 ， 他 已 發 現 自 己 的 演 技 屬 有 限 公 司 ， 60 年 索 性 放 棄 幕 前 工 作 。
34 歲 ． 做 派 拉 蒙 阿 頭
60 年 代 初 ， Evan-Picone 成 功 上 市 ， 伊 氏 身 家 暴 漲 ， 遂 決 定 監 製 一 部 電 影 ， 作 為 放 大 假 的 娛 樂 。 他 買 下 小 說 【 The Detective 】 的 電 影 版 權 ， 並 聯 絡 好 「 二 十 世 紀 霍 士 」 ， 【 紐 約 時 報 】 的 副 刊 更 寫 了 一 篇 文 章 盛 讚 伊 氏 的 才 華 。 誰 知 剛 收 購 了 派 拉 蒙 影 片 (Paramount Pictures) 的 Gulf+Western 老 闆 查 里 布 唐 (Charlie Bluhdorn) 被 這 段 報 道 深 深 吸 引 ， 馬 上 找 來 伊 氏 主 管 派 拉 蒙 歐 洲 製 作 部 。
伊 氏 在 倫 敦 的 分 社 還 未 坐 定 ， 便 遇 上 了 高 層 人 事 鬥 爭 ， 布 唐 於 是 又 找 他 頂 上 ， 而 今 次 竟 然 是 坐 正 做 派 拉 蒙 阿 頭 ， 管 理 整 個 製 作 部 。
1966 － 1974 年 ． 屢 創 電 影 神 話
重 返 荷 里 活 的 伊 氏 ， 並 未 有 被 當 時 士 氣 低 落 的 派 拉 蒙 所 難 到 ， 他 發 揮 其 不 怕 死 精 神 ， 開 拍 一 系 列 破 格 新 電 影 ， 一 反 荷 里 活 片 廠 的 保 守 作 風 ， 代 表 作 有 68 年 的 《 The Odd Couple 》 、 《 殉 情 記 》 (Romeo and Juliet) 、 《 魔 鬼 怪 嬰 》 (Rosemary ' s Baby) ； 69 年 的 《 Goodbye, Columbus 》 、 《 True Grit 》 、 70 年 超 級 賣 座 片 《 》 (Love Story) ； 71 年 《 The Conformist 》 ； 72 年 《 Harold and Maude 》 ； 73 年 《 Serpico 》 、 《 Don ' t Look Now 》 ； 74 年 《 Death Wish 》 、 《 The Parallax View 》 。 其 中 最 震 撼 影 壇 ， 影 響 至 今 的 是 72 年 公 映 的 《 教 父 》 。 短 短 ８ 年 ， 伊 氏 率 領 派 拉 蒙 打 低 所 有 大 片 廠 ， 公 司 票 房 總 收 入 由 第 ９ 位 躍 升 至 第 １ 位 。
1974 年 ． 成 立 個 人 製 作 公 司
74 年 伊 氏 約 滿 派 拉 蒙 ， 遂 一 償 心 願 ， 成 立 自 己 的 製 作 公 司 Robert Evans Productions ， 創 業 作 是 波 蘭 斯 基 的 《 唐 人 街 》 (Chinatown) ， 這 亦 是 伊 氏 首 次 正 式 掛 名 做 監 製 的 作 品 。 另 方 面 ， 他 又 繼 續 獲 留 任 做 派 拉 蒙 製 作 主 管 ， 開 拍 了 《 教 父 續 集 》 及 《 The Conversation 》 ， 此 三 片 均 獲 提 名 奧 斯 卡 最 佳 影 片 ， 當 中 《 教 父 續 集 》 為 伊 氏 贏 得 最 佳 影 片 殊 榮 。
80 年 代 ． 藏 毒 被 捕 涉 嫌 兇 殺
事 業 處 於 高 峰 的 伊 氏 因 涉 嫌 藏 有 海 洛 因 而 被 控 ， 隨 後 開 拍 《 棉 花 俱 樂 部 》 (The Cotton Club), 1984 年 時 更 被 捲 入 一 宗 兇 殺 案 ， 雖 然 最 後 因 證 據 不 足 而 不 了 了 之 ， 但 多 次 醜 聞 盡 毀 伊 氏 聲 譽 及 形 象 ， 導 致 原 定 由 他 與 老 友 積 尼 高 遜 合 演 的 《 The Two Jakes 》 被 迫 停 拍 。 影 片 結 果 在 ４ 年 後 才 重 新 開 拍 ， 伊 氏 只 掛 名 監 製 ， 從 沒 踏 足 片 場 。
1991 年 ． 重 出 江 湖
銷 聲 匿 跡 多 年 的 伊 氏 91 年 重 出 江 湖 ， 並 與 派 拉 蒙 再 續 前 緣 ， 監 製 了 《 俠 聖 》 (The Saint) 、 《 偷 窺 》 (Sliver) 、 《 骷 髏 奇 俠 》 (The Phantom) 及 《 玉 燄 》 (Jade) 等 賣 座 片 。 94 年 推 出 的 自 傳 【 The Kid Stays in the Picture 】 令 伊 氏 人 氣 反 彈 ， 此 書 一 度 是 行 內 指 定 讀 物 。
73 歲 ． 愈 戰 愈 勇
現 年 73 的 伊 氏 ， 依 然 留 在 電 影 世 界 ， 且 愈 戰 愈 勇 ， 今 年 監 製 了 姬 蒂 韓 遜 (Kate Hudson) 及 馬 菲 麥 康 希 (Matthew McConaughey) 合 演 的 愛 情 喜 劇 《 How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days 》 ， 另 正 在 籌 劃 兩 部 新 片 。
總 結 一 生 情 史 ： 溝 盡 半 世 紀 靚 女 ６ 段 婚 姻 １ 個 仔
年 青 時 英 俊 不 凡 ， 老 來 則 以 大 四 方 黑 超 做 標 記 的 伊 氏 ， 過 去 半 世 紀 羸 盡 天 下 靚 女 心 ， 就 連 世 人 夢 寐 以 求 的 嘉 莉 絲 姬 莉 (Grace Kelly) 、 艾 娃 加 德 納 (Ava Gardner) 、 蘭 娜 端 納 (Lana Turner) ， 他 都 交 過 手 。 此 外 ， 艷 星 麗 歌 慧 珠 (Raquel Welch) 、 名 小 說 家 海 明 威 的 孫 女 Margaux Hemingway 和 Cheryl Tiegs 等 女 星 都 是 伊 氏 舊 情 人 。
伊 氏 一 生 結 過 ６ 次 婚 ， 最 近 一 次 是 2002 年 11 月 ； 最 轟 動 一 次 是 娶 到 女 星 艾 利 麥 葛 羅 (Ali MacGraw) 做 第 三 任 老 婆 ， 還 與 她 生 了 唯 一 一 個 兒 子 Josh ， 這 亦 是 最 長 的 一 段 婚 姻 ， 捱 到 ３ 年 ； 最 短 一 次 只 維 持 了 10 日 ， 當 時 伊 氏 68 歲 ， 剛 中 風 復 原 。
導 演 及 監 製 簡 介
畢 特 摩 根 與 連 納 貝 斯 坦 掀 紀 錄 片 新 浪 潮
被 譽 為 美 國 紀 錄 片 新 一 浪 先 鋒 的 畢 特 摩 根 (Brett Morgen) 與 南 妮 布 絲 汀 (Nanette Burstein) ， 於 1998 年 聯 手 監 製 及 導 演 了 他 們 首 齣 紀 錄 長 片 《 On the Ropes 》 。 影 片 公 映 後 贏 來 各 方 擊 節 讚 賞 ， 獲 提 名 奧 斯 卡 最 佳 紀 錄 片 。 同 時 ， 影 片 亦 榮 獲 美 國 導 演 工 會 頒 發 最 出 色 紀 錄 片 導 演 成 就 獎 ， 以 及 國 際 紀 錄 片 協 會 (International Documentary Association ， 簡 稱 IDA) 授 予 最 佳 紀 錄 片 成 就 獎 。 摩 根 與 貝 斯 坦 成 為 史 上 贏 得 此 兩 項 大 獎 的 最 年 輕 導 演 。
此 外 ， 《 On the Ropes 》 亦 在 辛 丹 斯 影 展 上 贏 得 特 別 評 審 團 大 獎 、 三 藩 市 影 展 上 贏 得 一 項 金 門 獎 ， 以 及 獲 得 獨 立 精 神 大 獎 提 名 。
同 樣 是 紐 約 大 學 電 影 系 榮 譽 碩 士 的 摩 根 與 貝 斯 坦 ， 在 合 作 攝 製 紀 錄 片 之 前 ， 分 別 在 HBO 及 PBS 電 視 台 製 作 過 《 Before You Go 》 、 《 In the Name of the Emperor 》 、 《 Ollie ' s Army 》 等 多 個 得 獎 紀 錄 片 。 2001 年 ， 摩 根 與 布 絲 汀 連 同 Quincy Jones 為 VH1 合 導 兼 監 製 了 ５ 集 紀 錄 片 系 列 《 Say It Loud: A Celebration of Black Music in America 》 ， 好 評 如 潮 。
現 時 ， 兩 人 為 The Learning Channel 、 Court TV 、 Lifetime 、 VH1 、 The Sundance Channel 、 USA Networks 導 演 及 製 作 紀 錄 片 節 目 之 餘 ， 亦 接 拍 廣 告 ， 新 客 戶 包 括 Nike 及 Footlocker 等 。
本 片 為 摩 根 與 貝 斯 坦 第 二 次 合 作 的 紀 錄 片 。
基 頓 卡 特 由 權 威 雜 誌 編 輯 至 電 影 監 製
基 頓 卡 特 (Graydon Carter) 在 美 國 傳 媒 界 頂 頂 大 名 ， 1992 年 起 他 出 任 【 Vanity Fair 】 總 編 輯 ， 帶 領 雜 誌 走 上 巔 峰 ， 於 97 及 99 年 更 因 銷 量 突 破 一 百 萬 本 而 兩 度 獲 頒 授 國 家 雜 誌 大 獎 ， 屬 行 內 至 高 榮 譽 。 1999 年 ， 密 蘇 里 大 學 推 舉 【 Vanity Fair 】 為 美 國 最 優 秀 月 刊 。 2000 年 ， 他 再 於 攝 影 及 戰 地 新 聞 組 奪 得 兩 項 國 家 雜 誌 大 獎 。
卡 特 本 人 亦 多 次 被 封 為 最 佳 編 輯 ， 於 96 年 及 97 年 分 別 獲 Advertising Age 及 Adweek 選 為 Editor of the Year ， 乃 史 上 連 續 兩 年 贏 得 此 項 殊 榮 的 編 輯 。 2000 年 ， Columbia Journalism Review 選 卡 特 為 十 大 最 佳 編 輯 。
於 1983 年 加 入 【 Life 】 之 前 ， 卡 特 在 【 時 代 周 刊 】 任 職 了 ５ 年 ， 撰 寫 的 文 章 由 商 業 、 法 律 以 至 娛 樂 ， 樣 樣 皆 精 。 1986 年 ， 他 與 人 合 辦 【 Spy 】 雜 誌 ， 在 他 擔 任 總 編 輯 期 間 ， 【 Spy 】 銷 量 躍 升 ６ 倍 ， 並 贏 得 兩 項 國 家 雜 誌 大 獎 提 名 。 1991 年 ， 他 到 【 The New York Observer 】 報 章 工 作 ， 翌 年 轉 投 【 Vanity Fair 】 ， 令 雜 誌 成 為 美 國 最 具 權 威 性 的 刊 物 之 一 。 2000 年 ， 他 策 劃 了 ５ 年 的 【 Vanity Fair ' s Hollywood 】 終 於 面 世 ， 書 中 收 錄 了 多 年 來 在 雜 誌 刊 登 過 的 經 典 明 星 照 、 文 章 及 人 物 插 畫 ， 見 證 了 影 圈 的 最 重 要 時 刻 。
近 年 ， 卡 特 嘗 試 參 與 紀 錄 片 監 製 工 作 ， 首 作 便 是 震 撼 全 球 、 由 James Hanlon 及 Gedeon Naudet 兩 位 法 國 導 演 執 導 的 紐 約 消 防 員 紀 錄 片 《 9/11 》 。 本 片 則 是 卡 特 第 二 次 任 監 製 的 作 品 。
| 旁 白 ： | 羅 拔 伊 雲 坦 | |||
| 導 演 ： | 畢 特 摩 根 | 《 On the Ropes 》 | ||
連 納 貝 斯 坦 | 《 On the Ropes 》 | |||
監 製 ： | 畢 特 摩 根 | |||
連 納 貝 斯 坦 | ||||
基 頓 卡 特 | 《 9/11 》 電 視 紀 錄 片 |
| 上 映 日 期 ： | 五 月 廿 二 日 | |
| 發 行 ： | 泛 亞 影 業 有 限 公 司 | |
| 片 長 ﹕ | 94 分 鐘 | |
| 級 別 ﹕ | IIB | |
| 院 線 ﹕ | 嘉 禾 港 威 |
Robert Evans
The Kid Stays in the Picture
Directed and Produced by Brett Morgen & Nanette Burstein
Produced by Graydon Carter
A USA Films Release
Production Notes
Synopsis
The Kid Stays in the Picture traces the meteoric rise, fall, and rise again of legendary Hollywood producer Robert Evans. Adapted from Mr. Evans's tell-all autobiography, the movie takes the audience on an intimate journey into the mind of this Hollywood legend.
Robert Evans lived the life that many only dream of. His film career started in 1956, at the oddest of places: poolside at the Beverly Hills Hotel. His good looks, charm, and overwhelming confidence captured the eye of screen legend Norma Shearer. She offered him a role in the picture "Man of a Thousand Faces." After a glamorous, but short-lived, career as a movie star, Evans decided to try his hand at producing. Miraculously, at the age of 34, with no producing credits to his name, he landed a job as chief of production at Paramount Pictures. Evans ran the studio from 1966-1974. During his tenure, Evans was responsible for bringing some of the greatest films of the era to the screen, including "The Godfather," "Rosemary's Baby," "Love Story," "The Odd Couple," "The Conformist," "Harold and Maude," and "Chinatown."
By the early '80s, the "Golden Boy" of Hollywood was losing his luster. After a failed marriage to Ali MacGraw, a cocaine bust, and, finally, a rumored involvement in the "Cotton Club" murder, Evans disappeared into near-obscurity. Only through tremendous will and uncanny luck did he once again rise as "the kid who stays in the picture."
Through the years, Evans's closest friends have included Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, Roman Polanski, Henry Kissinger, and Dustin Hoffman. Long considered one of Tinseltown's most enduring bachelors, Evans has enjoyed meaningful love affairs with some of the most beautiful women of the past half-century, including Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly, Lana Turner, Ali MacGraw, Cheryl Tiegs, Raquel Welch, and Margaux Hemingway. The Kid Stays in the Picture shares gripping anecdotes about Evans's unusual friendships and follows the thread of his tumultuous love life.
The Kid Stays in the Picture is narrated by Mr. Evans in his distinctive voice and storytelling manner. Academy Award-nominated filmmakers Brett Morgen and Nanette Burstein ("On the Ropes") and producer Graydon Carter bring this Hollywood tale to life utilizing visual effects, archival footage, clips from classic films, and 35MM photography by cinematographer John Bailey to create a rich visual and aural portrait of the man who, throughout the 1970s, was considered Hollywood's "Golden Boy." The Kid Stays in the Picture made its World Premiere at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.
A USA Films presentation of a Highway Films & Ministry of Propaganda Films production. Robert Evans. The Kid Stays in the Picture. A Film by Brett Morgen & Nanette Burstein. Associate Producer, Christopher J. Keene. Music by Jeff Danna. Director of Photography, John Bailey, A.S.C. Edited by Jun Diaz. Co-Producers, Kate Driver, Chris Garrett, Sara Marks. Based on the book The Kid Stays in the Picture by Robert Evans. Adapted for the Screen by Brett Morgen. Produced by Graydon Carter. Produced and Directed by Brett Morgen & Nanette Burstein.
The Kid Stays in the Picture
A Brief History of Robert Evans
"There are three sides to every story: my side, your side, and the truth. And no one is lying. Memories shared serve each one differently."
-- Robert Evans
Born Robert J. Shapera in New York City on June 29th, 1930, Robert Evans grew up on West End Avenue during the Great Depression. His father, Archie, was a dentist who ran the first racially integrated dental clinic in America (in Harlem, north of the family's residence). Archie was married to Florence, with whom he had three children: Charles, Robert, and Alice.
When Robert Evans was 12 years old, the family changed its surname to "Evans" as a tribute to Archie's dying mother (whose maiden name was Evan). At about the same time, Robert caught the acting bug and vaulted successfully into the business during wartime - with a costarring role on a top radio show, "Henry Aldrich." He also did stage work and became the youngest disc jockey in America with "The Robert Evans Show."
Although he was on the verge of breaking into films at Paramount Pictures in Hollywood, a family business beckoned: older brother Charles had started, with a tailor named Joseph Picone, a women's clothing line. Robert joined Evan-Picone (as the company was called) - and became a millionaire before his 25th birthday. While in Beverly Hills to oversee a new Evan-Picone boutique, he was discovered by Academy Award-winning actress Norma Shearer by the pool of the Beverly Hills Hotel. Ms. Shearer picked Robert to play her late husband, legendary mogul Irving Thalberg, in "Man of a Thousand Faces" (1957).
From there, Robert Evans landed a role in "The Sun Also Rises" (1957). The resulting publicity and attention meant that the lucrative Evan-Picone business would play second chair to his show business career. The lead role in the Western "The Fiend Who Walked the West" (1958) came next, followed by the glossy "The Best of Everything" (1959). He then made his initial venture into producing with a play, Ketti Frings' "The Umbrella," which closed before it could reach Broadway.
Shortly thereafter, Evan-Picone went public, bringing Robert and Charles considerable wealth. But Robert was determined to make producing movies his vocation. Based at 20th Century Fox, he acquired the film rights to Roderick Thorp's novel The Detective. An "Arts & Leisure" section profile in The New York Times on the active New York-based producer caught the attention of Gulf+Western chieftain Charlie Bluhdorn. G+W had just bought Paramount Pictures, and Bluhdorn picked Robert to head European production for Paramount Pictures.
Relinquishing his participation in the about-to-lens "The Detective," Robert relocated to London in 1966. He had scarcely spent time in the new job when an executive shakeup at Paramount led to Bluhdorn appointing Robert head of production at Paramount Pictures. Returning to the U.S., Robert moved to Beverly Hills and got to work generating a slate of movies at Paramount.
Over the next several years, his reputation was made on such Paramount successes as "The Odd Couple" (1968), "Romeo and Juliet" (1968), "Rosemary's Baby" (1968), "Goodbye, Columbus" (1969), "True Grit" (1969), the blockbuster "Love Story" (1970), "The Conformist" (1971), "Harold and Maude" (1972), "Serpico" (1973), "Don't Look Now" (1973), "Death Wish" (1974), "The Parallax View" (1974), and - most famously of all during this period - the Academy Award-winning "The Godfather" (1972). During this time, Paramount Pictures went from #9 at the boxoffice to #1, the leader of all major film studios.
When his contract was up, Robert realized his producing dream by forming Robert Evans Productions. The company was set up at Paramount - while Robert remained head of production at Paramount. His first picture as producer was the classic "Chinatown" (1974). Two other Paramount films from that same year were "The Godfather Part II" and "The Conversation," and all three movies received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture (with "The Godfather Part II" the victor).
He then left Paramount's executive suite to segue directly into producing Paramount releases, beginning with "Marathon Man" (1976). Subsequent films included the 1980 duo of "Urban Cowboy" and "Popeye," which attracted considerable attention and boxoffice. At the same time, though, Robert's involvement with cocaine began to threaten his career and even his life.
The troubled production and post-production of "The Cotton Club" (1984) exacerbated Robert's personal and professional struggles, which culminated in the shutdown of production on "The Two Jakes" in 1985. Robert was both producing and starring in the film, opposite longtime close friend Jack Nicholson. The film was eventually made four years later, with Robert still credited as producer. He never visited the set, but director/star Nicholson consulted him throughout production and post-production.
The legal and professional fallout from "The Cotton Club" continued for several long years. Robert was sidelined as a producer and even physically, battling personal demons.
In 1991, he rallied. His securing of the rights to the coveted "The Saint" property, coupled with a management shakeup at Paramount, led to a full reactivation of his production deal with the studio. He also began writing his autobiography. The first film that Robert made under the new arrangement was "Sliver" (1993), followed in quick succession by several more films, the most successful of which was "The Saint" (1997). Still based at Paramount, he is currently in active pre-production on "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" and is preparing two other films.
Married and divorced five times, Robert is the father of actor/filmmaker Joshua Evans (whose mother is Ali MacGraw).
The Kid Stays in the Picture
The Kid Stays in the Picture was first published by Hyperion in 1994. The response in the film industry alternated among shock, titillation, awe, and respect. The book joined the short list of required reading in the movie business. Dove Books published the paperback version in 1995 with new chapters by Robert Evans that recounted his experiences since the book was first published.
The audiocassette version followed, released by Dove Audio in 1997. The audio book achieved its own notoriety as a new generation of film talent and executives gravitated to the tape to hear Robert Evans tell his own story in his own words, a de facto master class for aspiring industry players. Always a phenomenal raconteur, Robert literally gave the performance of his life on the audio book.
In January 2002, New Millennium Audio (which is run by original Dove partners Deborah Raffin and Michael Viner) released a remastered version (also available on CD) of the audio book (produced by Raffin and Viner, and directed by Raffin).
The Kid Stays in the Picture
Q-and-A with directors/producers Brett Morgen and Nanette Burstein
Q: How would you describe Robert Evans to the totally uninitiated?
Brett Morgen: Robert Evans is a Zelig-like figure of the latter half of the 20th Century. He has dated the most glamorous women of the last 50 years, from Ava Gardner and Lana Turner to Kathleen Turner - you name them. His best friends over the past 50 years have been Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Al Pacino, Henry Kissinger. He has written speeches for four presidents. There is no iconic figure that has lived over the past 50 years who Evans does not have an incredible story about - and it's not just "I met them at a party." Beyond that, he is responsible for bringing to the screen some of the greatest films made in the last 30 years - "The Godfather," "The Godfather Part II," "Chinatown," "Rosemary's Baby," "Harold and Maude"…these films would never have been made without Evans.
Nanette Burstein: Bob was the ultimate gambler. He played the game of forfeiture. He took enormous risks in everything he did at Paramount Pictures, he was a total maverick.
BM: He's a blind gambler. The one consistent thing with all of Bob's movies at Paramount is, whether they're brilliant or miserable, there was something interesting about them. I mean, who else would have greenlit Saul Bass to direct a film, "Phase IV," in which there were two actors and 3,000 ants? Bob approached it the same way he approached "Love Story" or "The Godfather" - that he doesn't know if they're going to work out, but let's roll the dice and see.
NB: It was in a rare time in Hollywood, where it wasn't just happening at Paramount, it was part of a whole trend in cinema that was breaking the rules. It was very unconventional and exploratory, and Bob was one of the great pioneers of that. Unfortunately, that cinema is gone today: it was just this window of time in the late '60s to mid-'70s.
BM: The reason there was this window is, Bob is the link between the old studio system and the corporate conglomerates of the '80s. In fact, Evans came to Paramount in 1966 shortly after the studio system had become unraveled. Yet it was before the conglomerates had really started purchasing the studios. Gulf+Western was one of the first to purchase a major Hollywood studio [Paramount]. So during that time it was sort of like the Wild West: there were no defined rules. Evans was able to achieve what he did mainly because he slipped through the cracks; if Bob was an executive in the '80s, he could never have achieved what he did. But at the time Bob took over Paramount, Paramount accounted for 5% of Gulf+Western stock. By the time he left the studio, nine years later, it was 75% of Gulf+Western stock. At the beginning, Gulf+Western didn't think much of the studio anyway, they didn't have any hopes for it. So Bob was pretty much left to do his own thing.
This is a man who does everything to the extreme: you screw 3 girls, he screws 30. You make one hit film, he makes a dozen. At the end of his life, Bob can look back and say he got as much out of it as he possibly could, he lived as hard as he could. The last line of the film now is, "Was it worth it?," to which Bob responds, "Damn right it was!" Bob Evans in Hollywood was like Camelot. He's Hollywood royalty, the last of his kind. And he is truly an American original.
NB: From his clothes to his glasses to his house to the movies he chose to make to his love life, everything is totally his own style. There is no copying anyone else. For better or worse…a lot of times it got him into trouble, for being so original. But there's no one like him. And his speech! One of the great things about The Kid Stays in the Picture is Bob's hard-boiled way of speaking - it gives the film its character.
BM: That said, Nanette and I are aware that Bob is a tragic character in many respects, and a flawed person - very flawed. But, for a time, he was Icarus: he flew as high as any man can ever go.
Q: When did you both first become aware of Robert Evans as a film industry figure?
BM: I actually went to school with Bob's son Josh Evans, who is a couple of years younger than me. Growing up in L.A., Bob Evans loomed large over the city landscape. I always knew of him as a sort of iconic figure, probably prior to knowing his credits, but then I ended up going to junior high school and high school with his son - which was during the years Bob was involved in "The Cotton Club." So, at that point, I knew Bob as the sort of -
NB: The "bad boy."
BM: -- the "bad boy." There were rumors: "Josh's dad is possibly involved in a murder." But around that same time, I became more interested in film history, seeing films like "Chinatown," "The Godfather," and "Marathon Man" for the first time. Bob to me was along the lines of Walt Disney - one of those iconic figures who represented Hollywood - and that was what I wanted to do and pursue in my life.
NB: I, on the other hand, did not grow up in Los Angeles. (Laughs) I didn't hear about Bob Evans until a few years ago, when his book came out. I heard mention of him and knew vaguely that he was a producer in Hollywood and some of the movies that he was involved with, but it wasn't until this film project came up that I really understood the magnitude of his work and his life.
Q: When did you both first meet Robert Evans?
BM: The way we got into this project is fascinating. In the fall of 1999, "On the Ropes" our first feature, was released theatrically. Around that time, we received a phone call from a woman named Pam Brady. Pam was the screenwriter of the "South Park" movie and executive producer of the TV series "Just Shoot Me." Pam calls up, and says, "I got your number through a mutual friend who told me I should call you." She launched into this story telling us about how, after "South Park" became a hit, she leveraged her newfound power in the industry to set up a meeting with Bob Evans, because she was in love with Bob. So Pam goes out to lunch with Evans, and they discuss working on a screenplay together. Bob suggested that she move into his screening room for a couple of months to work on the screenplay. Pam said, "Sure, I'd love to do it," but she realized that it could be a pretty interesting situation. So she wanted to find some documentary filmmakers to document this. So she called us up and she told us this story and we immediately flipped and said, "Oh my God, it's 'Sunset Boulevard' as a non-fiction film": a young, successful Hollywood screenwriter moves in with an aging Hollywood maverick to help resuscitate their career. So at that point, after talking to Pam, Nanette and I were like, "We're in. This is the project we want to do next." We went out and raised the initial money about five days. It was the easiest film to raise funding for.
We moved out to Los Angeles three days after finding out that we were nominated for an Academy Award [in February 2000, for "On the Ropes"] to begin work on the film. As soon as we get there - and we'd subleased our apartments in New York, so we have nowhere else to go - Bob tells us that he doesn't really want to be filmed. So we're stuck out in L.A., we have to be there anyway for the Oscars, but we're resilient and we're tenacious and we think we can sweat him out. We basically stayed there for weeks, hanging out with Bob, trying to gain his trust and build a friendship with him. Bob was going back-and-forth about wanting to do this film or not. Finally, he agrees to do it and we plan to begin filming on Monday, March 27th - the day after the Academy Awards.
On Thursday, March 23rd, we get a call from our agent saying, "We just got an interesting call from AMG. Apparently, Graydon Carter has exclusive nonfiction rights to Bob Evans's life." We sort of were in a panic. We called Bob and we said, "Evans! We're supposed to begin production on Monday. What the hell is this? This is a huge problem." And he goes, "Ah, you're right. It's a problem, and we better discuss it, kids." So we go over in the morning and Bob basically tells us that, years earlier, he had told Graydon that he could do an adaptation [of The Kid Stays in the Picture], and that he didn't want to renege on Graydon and that he would have to put our film on hold. So on the Friday before the Oscars, what should have been one of the more exciting days of our lives, Nanette and I are about as defeated and deflated as any filmmakers can be: we had spent months getting this project ready, it was fully financed, we were going to own it, we were going to produce and direct it - everything. We were pretty distraught.
At about four o'clock Friday afternoon, the phone rings, and it's Evans on the line: "How soon can you be here? Graydon's with me, he wants to meet you." We go to Bob's house, we meet Graydon and Evans, and we go into the screening room. We tell Graydon what we wanted to do; Graydon tells us what he wanted to do. We said, "Look, there's no point in making competing Bob Evans films. We'll do both projects: we'll do 'The Kid' as a prequel, and then we'll do Bob today as a sequel."
NB: To make a long story short, basically it became clear that Robert did not want to be filmed today, and we ended up joining forces with Graydon.
BM: Now, at that point in time, Nanette and I had established ourselves as filmmakers doing a cinema vérité film. We never contemplated doing an archives-based film, nor had we any desire to do it. But because Bob's story was so fascinating, we took on the challenge. And "challenge" is the operative word here, because ultimately what we had to do was to try to tell a story visually for 90 minutes with a guy talking off-camera. We had to create visual material that would support our adaptation of Bob's book. This was, for us, as challenging as it could get, because we had no experience whatsoever in that realm.
NB: So, once we'd agreed to do this movie, we stayed out in L.A. for about three to four months, working on the script for the film but spending a great deal of time at Bob's house - both getting to know Bob, because we wanted to know him as much as possible if we were going to make a film about his life, as well as looking at all of his photos that he's saved…basically every single moment of his life has been photographed. All of his archival tapes, TV interviews, movies - literally, we'd just go to Bob's house every single day.
BM: In the world of Bob Evans, you're either the seducer or the seduced. During that period, when it became clear to Evans that we were basically going to be creating his legacy in adapting his book to the screen. Bob, as he's known for, attempted to seduce us, if you will. We were very aware of that, and in turn were trying to seduce him. He was trying to gain our trust, and we were trying to gain his trust. So it was this -
NB: Mutual seduction.
BM: A tango. He knew what we were doing, we knew what he was doing, and we loved it when he was doing it to us. When he would try to put on the charm to try to seduce us, whether it was telling us some great stories that he would never tell to the press, or just charming us by showing a great deal of interest in our lives both professionally and personally - we saw what he was doing. Because that's what our film was about: this guy is a great seducer. When audiences see the film, because Bob is not on-camera a lot, they may think that we didn't embark on any sort of intensive immersion with the subject. But it's quite the opposite. We spent as much time with Evans off-camera during this production as we did with the subjects of "On the Ropes." We wanted to get to a point where we could get Bob to talk about things in the film that he didn't necessarily address in his book. So, for the last two years, we've been in a tango with him.
Q: With the book as a starting point, how did you decide what to keep in and what to leave out?
BM: It was very clear that certain stories could not be visualized. For example, there's the great story of Bob and Princess Soroya where in the middle of the night he gets a call from his neighbor and she says, "The Princess is over here and wants to meet you," and Bob goes over there and…Clearly that was a scene where there was no photo documentation of that moment, and there was no way for us to really visualize it, given the style that we were going to embark on in the film. Even in the editing phase, whenever we felt the visuals for a scene were just sort of holding shots because we had nothing else to show for that, we eliminated the scene.
NB: His book on tape is six hours. If he recorded his whole book, it would be like twelve hours. Our film was going to be an hour-and-a-half, and it wasn't even going to be wall-to-wall voiceover, there would be montages and breaks. So there was quite a bit that had to be eliminated. Bob had this very natural storyline to his life: this great tale of the rise and fall - and rise again. So we looked for every scene to be furthering that plot or contributing to the character. It's a very narrative-driven film: Brett and I, in all of our projects, look for the arc and don't leave anything superfluous in.
BM: The challenge for us in making this film a success for the audience is that Bob's book is anecdotal. And that's the charm of the book: the great stories he tells. While he does it chronologically, there's no connective fabric -
NB: Which is fine for a book, because you can read a chapter and put it down if you want. For a movie, you have to be gripping your audience the whole time and you have to take them on a journey of sorts -
BM: We had to decide whether we were going to do this film anecdotally, non-linear - or as a linear narrative. What we felt was that the narrative of Bob's life was so strong that to not exploit it would be a mistake, that what ultimately we were trying to do was to tell the story of this man's life - in and out of the press. That was our decision - to do it as a narrative.
Ultimately what it is for us is, it's a great American opera. Bob's life provided us with an incredibly rich canvas to explore. There is interpretive, expressionistic photography that is meant to evoke moments in Evans's life. Instead of using actors, we use his house as a character in the film.
NB: It's much more symbolic: Evans's house comes to represent him. His house, Woodland, is as lush and regal as Evans's personality is. That's why he chose it, it was very carefully placed. We use his house to symbolize what he was going through in his life. For it to work, we needed not to show Bob today until the very end of the movie.
BM: Bob's house, which he bought in 1967, is his sanctuary. In fact, when he ran Paramount, he spent most of his time working out of his house. Bob's longest relationship was three years, with Ali MacGraw. He's been married to the house for over 30 years now.
NB: It's the most constant thing in his life - it's the only constant thing in his life.
BM: For Bob, and for someone of Bob's generation in Hollywood, appearance is everything. So the house became the ultimate prop, both as a producer and as a seducer. Woodland is ultimately a reflection of Evans, and how Evans sees himself. At a certain point in his life, Bob started to let the house fall apart. It pretty much coincided with -
BM and NB: His life falling apart -
BM: "The Cotton Club." We didn't want to do re-enactments in this film, but we did feel that his house would serve as a wonderful metaphor for Bob's internal landscape and internal being. We had a production budget to try to do a week's work of 35MM photography, of which every shot was either Steadicam or crane - not an easy task.
Fortunately, we were able to work with John Bailey, who was at the top of our wish list for DPs. I had first learned about John as a kid, and had always dreamt of working with him. We knew he can be expressionistic and romantic - he's been that way throughout his entire career. He could give us the elegance that we needed for the material. For both of us, bringing John Bailey into this project was one of the most satisfying parts of this whole process, and one of the areas that we're most proud of.
Q: Do you each have a favorite Evans story that's in the movie?
BM: I have always been more drawn to his fall than his rise. As a filmmaker, I felt I could be more expressive in that part of his life than I could in the earlier parts. I'm also more interested, as a filmmaker, in pursuing stories of redemption - without the fall, it's a film about a guy on a one-way track. The last third of the film to me was really the most engaging. But if I had to choose my favorite dialogue that's in the film, it's when Bob meets [the already-engaged] Ali for lunch and says, "Never plan, kid. Planning is for the poor. If anything is wrong between you and Blondie between now and post time, take my number - I'm seven digits away." And then I would say my favorite sequence in the film right now is when Ali first comes to Bob's house right afterwards.
NB: My favorite sequence in the movie is "The Godfather." I just find it an incredibly entertaining story, and that's when Bob was at his peak: he had come off of the success of "Love Story," of saving Paramount when the board of directors was going to close down the studio. Bob saved it with "Love Story" and then he comes back with "The Godfather," which - when you hear the behind-the-scenes story of it, you see how it almost wasn't made and could have been a total flop. He just fought everyone, and his bravado in that sequence is so humorous and admirable - it's Bob at his best. I've seen the movie countless times, and I never get bored in that sequence.
BM: It's hard to pick one. "The Sun Also Rises" story is an amazing story.
Q: It's where the book, and the film, takes its title from.
BM and NB: Yes.
BM: When we took on this project, we decided early on that we were going to try to direct the film as if Evans was directing it. What I mean is that we were going to embrace the spirit and the body of the voice that we heard in the book -
NB: Which is very decadent -
BM: -- affected -
NB: -- lush -
BM: -- elegant. We were going to embrace it yet ideally have an ironic distance as well. We took the premise that "there are three sides to every story: my side, your side, and the truth," knowing that we were only going to deal with Bob's side of the story, which we decided to fully embrace cinematically for the audience. Bringing John Bailey in with the crane and the Steadicam - that was really our interpretation of how Evans interpreted these memories. More than us trying to impose our fingerprints on it, we were trying to put the viewer in Bob's head.
Similarly, we asked Bob, "What music were you listening to during that era?" Bob demanded that we open the movie with "What'll I Do?" by Irving Berlin, as his theme. We were sort of -
NB: -- resistant -
BM: -- resistant at first, because we thought it was a bit schmaltzy. Then we put it on over the picture, and we realized, "You know what? It works." And the reason it works is because it's in sync with Bob's voice, and his attitude, and the way he sees himself and the way he doesn't see himself.
NB: The interesting thing about Bob's personality is, when there's a romantic moment he is so romantic - he's romantic to the hilt. When there's a conflict, it's the biggest drama - like World War III happened. Everything is big and large, so we tried to emulate that.
BM: That's why it's an opera: everything, every gesture is larger-than-life. Every moment becomes life or death. Every love affair becomes the greatest love affair ever. Everything is the best or the worst.
NB: He's constantly going to lose his job at the studio. Like, every other day he's going to get fired. You know it's exaggerated. But part of the pleasure of being around him and to make a film about him is, he makes things even more exciting than they really are.
BM: With the idea that Nanette and I were going to try to embrace the operatic approach to the film, there is a subtext that we were very cognizant of from day one: Bob really got everything in his life based on his image, and when that image was tarnished, Bob lost everything.
NB: It is the quintessential Hollywood fable. You are made by your appearances - and you can die by them, too.
BM: This is a man whose life endeavor has been creating illusions, creating images, disseminating dreams. If Bob were a steel magnate, this film and what we've done in it and the story itself would never have worked for us. This is a man who manufactures realities for a living and manufactured his own reality, if you will…He gets discovered to star in his first movie because he looks like Irving Thalberg -
NB: Not even that he looks like him, he's just so confident and good-looking -
BM: -- the presence -
NB: He's not even trying out for the movie, he's hanging out by the pool and he gets his first part in a movie ["Man of a Thousand Faces"].
BM: He gets his second film ["The Sun Also Rises"] because Zanuck sees him and thinks he looks like a matador. He gets his job at Paramount because Charlie Bluhdorn read an article about Bob that presented Bob as this -
NB: -- mover-and-shaker -
BM: -- outside-Hollywood mover-and-shaker. But it was the image that Bluhdorn was purchasing.
NB: And Bob had never even produced a movie before, but he gets hired to be chief of production at Paramount Pictures, just because this article in The New York Times was very flattering about him.
BM: Then, later, how does he save the studio? Most executives go and make a pitch. Bob has Mike Nichols make a movie of him. So it's a visual movie that saves this studio. With the cocaine bust, it wasn't so much the fact that Bob got busted - because, really, he got a very light sentence to do a 30-second PSA. What brought him down was the fact that it was splattered all over the newspapers. Which is why there's such a heavy emphasis in our film on newspaper texts.
NB: It's the same thing with "The Cotton Club": Bob had never been involved in the murder, was never a suspect, and was never charged in any way whatsoever. So, in reality, his own life wasn't affected in that he had to worry about the law. But it was literally labeled "the 'Cotton Club' murder" because Bob Evans, as he says, "makes ink," he makes headlines. So once again his whole life was destroyed because of the press, and he went into near-obscurity.
BM: The reason we decided to open the film with a red curtain was that the image always evokes being on a stage, being on a set, being in an artificial reality. We brought the curtains to Bob's back yard to suggest that Bob's house, his landscape, is a manufactured reality. So everything becomes illusory. Therefore, within the context of the film, the photo animation and visual effects are manufactured reality as well. This isn't a documentary in the pure sense of the word, but a far more subjective experience.
Q: Did you find a lot of open or closed doors in the film industry in terms of cooperation?
BM: Unbelievable access. Everyone that we approached in the industry wanted this film to be made: Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, Universal Music - everyone accommodated us. Out of about 250 SAG requests that we sent out, I think that we were successful on about 242.
NB: What he means by that is: to use any kind of movie clips in another film, you have to get permission from every actor who appears in that clip. So you're going to Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Robert Redford, and getting them to sign off that they're OK with it. There were 250 people of that caliber that we had to get the OK from, and they all said yes.
BM: It was remarkable. We have to give Graydon an enormous amount of credit, in calling in favors from his privileged friends. Part of it is Bob. Most of the money that we had raised initially was from a single source, a former Hollywood studio president. I don't want to name the person, but he wanted this film made.
What was great was because we did the film at USA Films and not at Paramount Pictures, we didn't have to show Paramount in any particular light. There was an enormous amount of access granted to us by Paramount, God bless them. If we had made this film at Paramount - who knows, they might have turned it into a fluff piece. As it stands, we have the autonomy of being at a different studio while still having Paramount's full cooperation. Without that, the film never could have been made.
NB: Licensing film clips is incredibly expensive, but Paramount was very generous to us and very cooperative. You get to see the body of Bob's work, all the different films he made there.
BM: A number of people whom Bob had known at earlier points in his life and doesn't talk to any more, and some people who he said some terrible things about in his book and we feared would never give their permission, gave it to us for some reason. If people don't like this film, they should blame Nanette and I, because we pretty much got all the clips and all the music and all the access we wanted.
NB: Right, we can't really make any excuses.
Q: Unlike the book, the film does not cover all the decades of Robert Evans's life.
BM: We didn't start it in Bob's childhood because we thought that Bob was "baptized" in the Beverly Hills Hotel pool -
NB: In 1956, he was born into Hollywood.
BM: 1991, when he's back to Paramount, was the natural conclusion to Bob's narrative arc, to our story.
Q: How long can this "kid" stay in the picture?
BM: Bob is a survivor. He will continue to go as long as he can go.
NB: He's mortal. As you get older, it's harder to get movies made. It's a business for young people.
BM: Yet he's got one film that's greenlit, and three films that are about to get greenlit, at Paramount - at the age of 71. At some point, the movie's over - Bob's life as we know it, in the public sphere, is going to be over.
NB: I think this movie, for us and for Bob, is about his legacy - not an obituary, but about the impact he's made. Looking at someone who's older, you can really assess the contributions they've made, and the tragic flaws. You can see his life laid out like a great drama.
The Kid Stays in the Picture
Q-and-A with producer Graydon Carter
Q: When did you first become aware of Robert Evans as a film industry figure?
Graydon Carter: I don't think I knew him as an actor - I'd seen perhaps one of his films…Probably when he took over Paramount Pictures. I remember being a kid and thinking, "What an extraordinary character." I think a lot of people felt, "Wow, how did he get this job?," and if you're a kid, you just try to figure out how things happen anyway. If you're somebody like me, growing up in Canada, you have an image in your mind of what a Hollywood producer is: it's somebody like Sam Spiegel or Robert Evans.
Q: Did you follow his progress through the years because you found him so compelling?
GC: No, but I would see his name. I knew he was an incredibly successful producer who went out with glamorous women. I moved to New York in 1978. I didn't know anybody in Hollywood in those days - except for a few unsuccessful screenwriters.
Q: When did you first meet him?
GC: I first met him about 10 years ago, through Peter Bart. We went over to Bob's house, and I found him to be the most gracious and generous of hosts. Bob has one of the more splendid hearts of anybody I know. This doesn't come across in most interviews or in the films he makes, but he is an extraordinary, warm human being. I took to him right away. I remember we went to Mr. Chow's, and this was before Mr. Chow's became hot again - it was just Peter Bart and his wife and my wife and me and Bob, in this almost empty restaurant. We had a wonderful time, and we've stayed in touch since.
Q: The magazines and newspapers you've edited have always evinced a strong insider interest in movies and the film industry. Did you ever think you'd be producing a movie?
GC: No. I liked going to the movies, but I didn't really have that much interest in the movie business. I love being a magazine editor.
I'd gone over to Bob's house one day, and he had had a friend of his, director Hector Babenco, do a 15-minute reel of Bob's life. Bob was very proud of it, and he showed it to me - it was quite wonderful. I never thought much about it, but about six months later, after I'd listened to Bob's book on tape again, I thought, "You know something? This would make a great film." So I called Bob and I said, "Would you be interested in doing this?" He said yes.
About two years ago, when I was out in L.A. for the Oscars, I went over to his place for lunch with a friend of mine, Lisa Eisner, who I knew would really "get" Bob. We went over there, ostensibly to say that I would be interested in making the film, and Brett Morgen and Nanette Burstein were there. Bob said, "They're interested in doing a film as well." I liked the look of Brett and Nanette: I sensed they're very impulsive. I said, "Well, why don't we do the film together?" I think Kate Driver was at the meeting as well. It happened very quickly.
This film was like a labor of love for me. I did it for Bob and because, of all the living people I know, I thought that his life had a very distinct three-act arc to it. You need that in this kind of movie. Hopefully, by the end, it flows like a movie-movie.
Q: To you, how does Robert Evans fit into the film moguls' evolution over the years - is he the generation between Zanuck and the Weinsteins?
GC: Yes, and with a bit of both. He certainly is the perfect bridge. There was a period where Bob was slightly out in the wilderness, and Hollywood can be very cruel unless you are actively working. I think the best thing Bob did was release not just his book, but the book on tape, which became a cult hit with young Hollywood. They became very enamored of Robert Evans. There was a cultural shift; just as Tom Ford capitalized on the early '70s look, young Hollywood adopted Bob for his '60s and '70s style. To me, style is about choosing something that works and staying with it, and Bob has that.
It's funny: I introduced him to Brian Grazer, and now they have dinner almost once a week. Bob's still got great movie taste, and I think Brian runs a lot of things by Bob. When you're his age, it's hard to get all the elements together to produce a movie, but his instincts are still peerless. My generation, and the generation that came after, think Bob is a great icon in Hollywood and the last of a dying breed. Most people who run the studios look like accountants. And Bob does not look like an accountant; he looks like a movie star version of a Hollywood studio chief.
Q: How do you see him in today's Hollywood?
GC: I think he's considered more of an icon than a player, because the producer's role in Hollywood is almost gone. There are only four real producers in Hollywood, people who make a great living making a lot of movies every year: Jerry Bruckheimer, Brian Grazer, Scott Rudin, Joel Silver - and that's pretty much it. I think the producer's role is a really tough one; and they look at Bob as someone to look up to and someone they find amusing - he still can tell a wonderful story.
Q: Do you have a favorite Robert Evans story that's in the movie?
GC: I have a favorite Robert Evans story and it's not in the movie. My favorite Evans stories literally cannot be repeated…(laughs) to anybody. I call the movie a "Bobumentary," because it's in that gray area between fact and fiction. It does have three distinct acts, and it feels like a movie. But it's not a documentary; it's a little bit of performance art, in that he narrates. The star of the movie is his voice, which to me still sounds like oil rolling through a barrel. It's a heavenly voice.
Q: You were familiar with The Kid Stays in the Picture in print and on tape. What was your input on what to leave in and what to take out for The Kid Stays in the Picture?
GC: The book on tape was six hours, and the film had to be 90 minutes. Bob has a wonderful cadence to the way he speaks. A lot of the stories have very funny endings - not punchlines - that take a long time to set up. So some of the best stuff we couldn't put in because it would take three to four minutes to set up. Also, you need to provide footage for everything you're dealing with in a movie.
We tried to leave in all the "Evansisms," the way he speaks: when he tells Ali MacGraw, "I'm only seven digits away." Bob has expressions that are slightly cool, slightly corny, slightly schmaltzy, and ultimately very funny. And I think he knows that - he's very self-aware about that. Whittling it down to 90 minutes was something that Brett and Nanette did, and they did a great job of keeping the parts people loved about the book on tape. I remember when I was listening to it in the car, I'd have to pull off the side of the road a couple of times. It's brilliant; I think it's one of the great books on tape.
Q: Did you find industry figures to be receptive to cooperating on the film?
GC: If you run a studio, you're bound to tick some people off. I'm sure there are still people who harbor grudges that Bob didn't pick up their option or whatever. But by and large, I think we got almost every major clearance we were looking for. There were favors to call in to get the attention of the people at the studios who helped us buy the clearances on certain things. This was a small project. People are naturally inclined not to cooperate on anything; I don't know whether it's because they think they're going to lose their job or whatever. In a way, The Kid Stays in the Picture is a great ad for Hollywood.
The film may be the tail end of a great third act. Anyone who comes out of it will appreciate Bob in the way that I certainly do, and will see him for who he is: a man with a big heart. And I don't know if there are a lot of people like that in Hollywood.
Q: The film ends in 1991. Here we are, in 2002, with Robert Evans headed to Sundance with this film. What do you think the future holds for him?
GC: Increasing iconic status. And he might get a couple of more movies made, I don't know…I don't follow it that closely. But I think that, increasingly, he will be looked on as a Hollywood artifact who should be savored - and appreciated, which is appropriate. Hollywood is too quick to banish people over the age of 45 or 50, but he's not part of the elephants' boneyard. He started the regenerative process of himself with his book on tape, and this film will complete the process. It's hard on him at times, but you come away with a very true picture of the man, with all of his great assets and flaws.
The Kid Stays in the Picture
About the Filmmakers
BRETT MORGEN & NANETTE BURSTEIN (Directors/Producers)
Brett Morgen and Nanette Burstein produced and directed their first feature-length documentary, the critically acclaimed "On the Ropes," in 1998. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature of 1999; and won the 1999 Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary as well as the 1999 IDA (International Documentary Association) Achievement Award for Best Feature Documentary. Mr. Morgen and Ms. Burstein are the youngest directors ever to have been honored with the latter two awards.
"On the Ropes" also earned a Special Jury Award at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival; a Golden Gate Award from the San Francisco Film Festival; and a 1999 Independent Spirit Award nomination.
In 2001, Mr. Morgen and Ms. Burstein directed and produced, in collaboration with Quincy Jones, the five-part VH1 documentary series "Say It Loud: A Celebration of Black Music in America."
They have also produced and directed programming for The Learning Channel, Court TV, Lifetime, VH1, The Sundance Channel, and USA Networks. In addition to their documentary works, they have begun directing commercials for the production company Anonymous Content, recently completing a campaign for Nike and FootLocker.
Prior to directing "On the Ropes," Nanette Burstein wrote and edited several award-winning documentaries, including the Emmy Award-winning "Before You Go" (for HBO) and the feature "In the Name of the Emperor." In 1996, she received a CableACE writing award. The following year, she won an Emmy Award for producing a PBS special about theater auteur Richard Foreman.
Brett Morgen previously worked on "Ollie's Army" (1996), which examined the grass-roots support behind Oliver North's 1994 Virginia Senate campaign. The documentary received honors from the San Francisco Film Festival, IDA, UFVA, and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. In 1997, Mr. Morgen directed the 26-part musical series "On Tour" for PBS.
Both Mr. Morgen and Ms. Burstein received MFAs from New York University's Graduate Film Program.
GRAYDON CARTER (Producer)
Graydon Carter has been editor of Vanity Fair since July 1992 and has won every award a magazine editor can win. In both 1997 and 1999, he was honored with the National Magazine Award for general excellence for magazines with circulation over 1,000,000 - the highest honor in publishing. In 2000, he received two more National Magazine Awards, in the categories of photography and war reporting.
Mr. Carter was named Adweek Magazines' Editor of the Year in 1997 and Advertising Age's Editor of the Year in 1996 (the first editor to be so honored in two consecutive years). In 2000, Columbia Journalism Review named him one of the 10 Best Editors.
Advertising Age named Vanity Fair one of the 5 Best Magazines of 1998, and Adweek Magazines placed Vanity Fair at #3 on its 2001 "Hot List." In 1999, the University of Missouri's School of Journalism rated the magazine as the top monthly magazine in America.
Mr. Carter edited the highly acclaimed and best-selling Vanity Fair's Hollywood (Viking Studio, October 2000). Five years in the making, the book is an incomparable collection of classic images, prose, and caricatures depicting film stars and the motion picture industry - direct from the pages of Vanity Fair.
Prior to joining Vanity Fair, Mr. Carter was editor of The New York Observer from 1991 to 1992. He came to that newspaper from Spy, which he co-founded in 1986. During Mr. Carter's five-year tenure as co-editor, Spy increased its circulation sixfold and received two National Magazine Award nominations.
He worked as a staff writer for Time for five years, covering business, law, and entertainment, before joining Life as a staff writer in 1983.
He lives in Manhattan with his four children.
KATE DRIVER (Co-Producer)
Through her L.A.-based production company Two Drivers, Kate Driver has produced the features "Slow Burn" (directed by Christian Ford), "Uncorked" (a.k.a. "Higher Love" and "At Satchem Farm," directed by John Huddles), and "Beautiful" (directed by Sally Field); and the short film "The Upgrade" (directed by Bill Robinson). Ms. Driver is partnered in Two Drivers with her sister, actress Minnie Driver.
In 2000, the London native established Top Dog, a division of Ridley and Tony Scott's RSA production company. At Top Dog, Ms. Driver recruits top feature film directors to helm television commercials. Among the directors she has brought into the Top Dog fold are Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone, David Lynch, Joel Schumacher, John McTiernan, Renny Harlin, and Alfonso Arau.
CHRIS GARRETT (Co-Producer)
Chris Garrett joined Vanity Fair as managing editor in 1992.
Prior to joining Vanity Fair, Ms. Garrett was launch managing editor of The Independent Newspaper's magazine in Great Britain.
Ms. Garrett began her career as an assistant editor in book publishing in the U.K. Since entering the magazine field, she has worked as writer, editor and story producer for various titles, and managing editor of both Tatler and Condé Nast Traveler.
SARA MARKS (Co-Producer)
For the first decade of her career, Sara Marks ran the London office for The Rolling Stones.
In 1988, Ms. Marks went freelance: styling and casting for stills, commercials, and videos; as well as handling such celebrity events as Nelson Mandela's appearance at Wembley Arena in London.
For the last decade, she has been with Vanity Fair, based in New York. As director of special projects, Ms. Marks is involved with all non-writing projects and events for the magazine, including the annual Academy Awards party in Los Angeles.
JOHN BAILEY, A.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Cinematographer and director John Bailey is member of the board of the ASC (American Society of Cinematographers). He also serves on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
He has been the cinematographer on nearly 50 feature films, among them such noted features as "Ordinary People," "The Big Chill," "The Accidental Tourist," "In the Line of Fire," "Nobody's Fool," "As Good As It Gets," "The Anniversary Party," and the recently wrapped "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood."
Mr. Bailey has directed the features "China Moon" (starring Ed Harris, Madeleine Stowe, and Benicio Del Toro), "Mariette in Ecstasy" (starring Geraldine O'Rawe, Eva Marie Saint, and John Mahoney), and "Via Dolorosa" (on which he was also the cinematographer, and which was written and performed by David Hare); and the IMAX concert film "*NSYNC: Bigger Than Live."
He has written for The New York Times, American Cinematographer, and the magazines of the International Camera Guild and the Directors Guild of America. He was published in the anthologies Screening Violence and Best American Screenwriting 2001.
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