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Decent Quality Since 1847

Getting Out of a Rut

1/19/2015

3 Comments

 
I've been basically enjoying Galavant.  It's a bit more thin than I'd prefer, but done with a lot of exuberance, and some of it is quite funny.  The songs, while nothing memorable, have been generally witty and tuneful. And so it was with interesting on Sunday when they introduced the evil king's even more evil older brother.  I looked at the screen and though, "Oh, yipes, that's Rutger Hauer."

You may recall the actor, who first became known in the U.S in the Dutch film, Soldier of Orange, and then got Hollywood attention in Blade Runner.  I haven't seen seen him in films for a long while, which is actually okay, since we had worked together many years ago on The Hitcher and...well, let's just say we didn't get along.  To be fair, it was more one-sided.  I got along pretty well with the fellow, and quite liked him up until it became clear that he seemed to hate me and everything I did and stood for in life.  At that point, I must admit my opinion changed.

I thought we'd gotten on fine.  I was the unit publicist on the film, and Rutger played the demonic murderous title character.  During the course of filming, I had became friendly with a couple of guys on the production, one was Rutger's stand-in, and the other his assistant (or videographer, keeping a recorded journal) he'd brought over from Holland.  We'd do things on our days off, and occasionally Rutger would join us.  It was a nice, fun group -- until it wasn't.  (I did stay on very friendly terms with the other two.)

Without getting into too many details, the issue seemed to be that I liked joking around with people, and apparently Rutger didn't like to get joked around with all that much.  Or didn't like my jokes.  One day I definitely went too far with a silly quip -- and I realized it almost immediately after. and I went up to him the next day and apologized.  I said my joke hadn't come across like it was intended, I had felt terrible about the hard day of filming he'd had, which is what I'd tried to get across, but said it all wrong, and I was sorry.  (For readers of this site who've put up with my treatises on apologies, you can see that this is not just something I write about today, but believe in and have long lived by...)  I thought that my apology was a thoughtful, nice thing to do.  It turned out that an apology wasn't good enough, though.  There was all the joking that had built up during the course of the film, and even though I explained that I joked with all the people in our group, not just him -- and did so specifically because I liked them all, and liked him, and only quipped irreverently with people I liked -- alas, that was no good.  From that point on, I could do no right.

By the way, even at the time, I wracked my brain trying to figure out what on earth other jokes had been bothersome, since, as I said, I had liked him.  But life is whimsical.  So, from the passage of a few decades, I just can't help out there.

Happily, I seemed to get along well with everyone else on the crew.  I wrote about my experiences on the movie a while back here, and though the film was too creepy for my taste, and though we filmed for two months out in the middle of godforsaken nowhere in the California desert, it remains one of my more enjoyable movie sets.  The two months wandering the desert with loooong daily drives included several offbeat shopping excursions with Jennifer Jason Leigh; pleasant chats with the main star C. Thomas Howell and his friendly, talented acting coach who he'd brought along for moral support, Larry Moss, now one of the top coaches for the New York stage; a memorable day-off when a van of us went into Joshua Tree National Monument, and being given a great, floppy outback hat that our wonderful Oscar-winning Australian cinematographer John Seale gave me, simply because I'd said how much I liked it.  (I still have it...)

Several months after the movie ended, I was hired to do the publicity on another film, a modern-day updated film version of a classic TV western, Wanted: Dead or Alive.  They told me about the movie, the logistics and that it would star Rutger Hauer.  I decided to be fair to these good people, and so I explained that it was quite possible that their star might not want to work with me.  I could have kept my mouth shut, but since they'd been nice enough to offer me a job, I didn't want to be the cause of any friction on the set.  They said they'd check into it.  A few days later they called back to say I was right and were sorry but had to hire someone else instead.

His career as a leading Hollywood star didn't last long after our "parting" (cause-and-effect?  It's not for me to say...), but he's had a very long and successful career in supporting roles that's continued over the next 30 years. And so, there he was in the four-part musical Galavant, making his introduction right before the end of episode 3, leading into next week's big finale, as the even-more evil brother of an evil king.

My second thought was, hey, he had a guitar on the set.  I wonder if he'll sing?
3 Comments
Arlene Paige
1/19/2015 03:35:45 am

Rutger once called me all the way from Italy while he was filming "Ladyhawke." I'm sure that you realize that this is a knock-knee experience. He agreed to have his agent read my script. I may have owed it to the publicists on the film, the Seltzers. Or maybe not. I'll never know why but I can imagine some appropriate reasons. Rutger's agent's secretary kept my script in her drawer for a very long time. I don't know why about that either. Her name was Lustbader and there was also a spy novel writer named Eric Lustbader. Robbie Lantz and I met in his office in NY and had contact over the phone for years and years. He insisted that I take $20 for coming to visit him at his office. I told him I would only buy pastries with it, but he wanted me to have it anyway. It was so long ago that he may have wanted to buy lunch but was too busy to take me out. He never said, even in jest. why he gave me a $20 bill. It may have have been a joke on THE COUNTRY GIRL. Grace Kelly and I have the same birthday and I have a remake of that one too. Or maybe it was that nobody ever wasted their time to come and see Lantz. As far as I know, Rutger never read the script that Robbie had. It was a remake of "Bell, Book and Candle" and the development of that notion was a real embarrassment to both Miramax and Disney, happily with my script never being a part of it as far as I know. Acquiring rights was completely messed up by Harvey of Miramax. That was because I had checked with SONY/Columbia and the copyright had lapsed. I informed Miramax so Owen Laster, of New York's William Morris, purchased from estate for Harvey. Since I had talked to the studio lawyer, however, SONY/Columbia had decided to renew their copyright without informing me and neither did they bother about anyone involved with the project. Since I queried Miramax first about development, and they went and listed in Variety as a development project to be written and directed by John Patrick Shanley, I was delighted by their big mistake and spent many a happy moment making phone calls to undermine assorted efforts on Bell that went on for easily 10 years, including the last sorry mess that went to Alicia Cook (her real name... same as Dick Cook at Disney, then a participant). He was eventually fired. As far as I know, Bell is on a back burner in development hell. I will make every effort to keep it there unless it becomes mine as long as there's breath in my body. Rutger was charming and seemed available over the phone, though I doubt he's ever gotten involved. Who knows, though. I've never met him. We're both old now. I love Rutger Hauer. :-)

Reply
Douglass Abramson
1/19/2015 12:16:59 pm

You mean you missed his award winning leading role in Hobo With A Shotgun? (This is a real film that he starred in. It actually wasn't as bad as the title sounds. Trash, but watchable; if screen violence doesn't bother you.)

Reply
Robert Elisberg
1/19/2015 03:22:27 pm

I'm not sure if any movie called, "Hobo with a Shotgun," could be as bad as the title sounds.

Reply



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    Robert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. 

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