PLUME: I’m now going to name off your pictures, and I’d like if you could give me whatever reflections come to mind: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels…

OZ: A lot of fun watching nude women on the beach and eating good food and working with Steve (Martin) and Michael (Caine).

PLUME: And you had worked with Steve Martin before…

OZ: I knew him socially before, but as a director it was the second time. I was working with him as a performer on The Muppet Show and also on The Muppet Movie. So I knew him before, but it was less than the relationship between a director and an actor, because the relationship grows. And then there was Michael Caine and Glenne Headly. It was just so much fun, even though any movie is hard work, that particular hard work was really a lot of fun.

PLUME: What About Bob?…

OZ: A tough, tough movie to shoot. The memories of that are that there was a lot of tension on the set, because everybody had their own viewpoint on how to make the movie better. My viewpoint on that is relief that it turned out so well and was liked so much, because there was a lot of tension.

PLUME: Did that tension affect your control on the set?

OZ: I don’t control the set… I kind of hope that, like Jim taught me, I guide. Sometimes you had to get a little hard, but it was a tense time because Bill (Murray)…and the writer and the producer…and Richard Dreyfuss…and me…and Disney ( although less so Disney, I must say they were more supportive)…all had our view on how to make the script better.

It wasn’t out of mean-spiritedness, it was just that everybody felt strongly about how to make the movie better. That caused friction and a lot of tension, and that’s what I remember, but it also caused the movie to be better. It turned out okay, I think.

PLUME: Housesitter…

OZ: Housesitter was a delight. Again, good memories of Goldie (Hawn) and Steve (Martin) and Julie Harris. I remember the people. It was a delight. It was just fun. Any movie was hard work, but again, this hard work was fun.

PLUME: Indian in the Cupboard…

OZ: The toughest movie brainwise that I’ve ever done. It was physically tough to do Little Shop of Horrors, but mentally tough to do Indian in the Cupboard. We had five months of first unit shooting, and then we had the second unit bluescreen for six months at the same time, and I’d go from set to set – in conjunction with my crew.

Again, you can never do things alone – and try to keep all these special effects and eye lines and everything in balance… that was tough. But I remember the people like Hal (Scardino) and my crew. I remember in general that it was a very intimate picture, which is what I wanted, but in truth it was extraordinarily huge to do.

PLUME: A logistical nightmare?

OZ: A logistical nightmare – but I’m very proud of it.

PLUME: What were the complexities involved in getting the rights to the “Jurassic Park” T-Rex, Robocop, Darth Vader, etc. for the toys in “Indian in the Cupboard”

OZ: I don’t know. Somebody else did that. I know I called George’s office and got permission personally through George (Lucas) for Darth Vader, but the other production people got the other stuff.

PLUME: There have been some rumors about difficulties during the post production of “Indian and the Cupboard” – including rumors the film had been taken away from you during the post production process.

OZ: The film was not taken away from me. There was an argument I had…

What I do is, I like to get a movie out in front of an audience two weeks after I shoot it, which is really kind of unusual, but I like to do that. I want civilians. I want people who don’t know me at all.

I wanted to go to New Jersey or New York or someplace, but Sherry Lansing wouldn’t allow it, and this goes back to the Internet. She was scared that an unfinished film that cost that much money would be seen by people and the Internet would start criticizing it not having given it a chance.

I was angry because I needed to have civilians, so we compromised, because I didn’t want just a bunch of friends in a room, so we flew into Los Angeles and did it with civilians where it was protected on the Paramount lot. But it wasn’t taken away from me, no. I’ve never had that happen.

PLUME: Could you comment on this, and on the replacement of Mile’s Goodman’s score with Randy Edelman’s score?

OZ: Bud (Miles Goodman) was one of my closest friends in the world, who’s scored almost all my movies.

It was a situation where I was hesitant hiring my good friend to do something that I had not seen him do before, and Bud and I had a talk about it. He said, “You just don’t want to hire me because you’re concerned about having to fire a friend.” I said, “That’s true.” He said, “Well give me an opportunity,” and I said, “Okay…” because I thought he was brilliantly talented.

So he had the score, and the producers and the writer didn’t think the score was that successful, and in the long run, I had to agree with them – it wasn’t happening. So I had to say to Bud, “Sorry Bud, we have to go with somebody else,” and Randy came in and finished it and did a very good job.

You know, there’s some movies that I can’t direct…that I just can’t hit…and that’s fair enough, but Bud went in as an adult with his eyes open. Fortunately, thank God, before he passed away (which is one of the mortal blows in my life, because he was a good and dear friend) I asked Bud to do the music for In & Out. So he knew everything was fine with us, and he did a great job.

PLUME: In & Out…

OZ: I remember that we all got sick and we had to stop the production because we all got the flu. It was thrilling to be able to work with all of those actors and with Paul Rudnick and Scott Rudin.

I remember that the relationship with my actors was really wonderful, and with Scott and Paul was wonderful. I had a great time with them, but it was very tough, mainly because Scott is very demanding for quality – and I am too – so that was great. I also had a fine line to tread. I had to be very, very watchful that this movie (about homosexuality) was intended to be a screwball comedy – and I had to be very watchful that it didn’t offend and was accepted.

So I had to be very watchful that it was very funny and pointed at the same time, otherwise it would have just gone over the line or it would be pathetic or too mean-spirited. I didn’t want to make a comment on homosexuality, I wanted to have a sense of acceptance of the people involved. I was very much on guard to make sure that the tightrope was walked properly.

PLUME: And it was widely accepted?

OZ: So it seems. I was very pleased about that.

(continued below…)

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Comments: None