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Thursday, February 26, 1998

Fanning the flames

FILM: Joe Ezsterhas' new mockumentary of the film industry, 'Burn Hollywood Burn,' may be even truer to life than the screenwriter himself would like to admit

By Matthew Schmid

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

From the ashes of the most heavily criticized film of the decade was born a movie lashing out to burn the film industry in a way that no other Hollywood production has done in recent years.

Writer Joe Ezsterhas began working on his latest project, "An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn" while faced with the aftermath of his now infamous movie "Showgirls."

"I had such welts on my back and 'Showgirls' had been chainsawed to death," Ezsterhas told a UCLA Extension film class earlier this month. "I was reading all of these reviews but I thought it was time to have some fun with my writing life."

Looking to do something more flippant and free-spirited, the notorious writer of "Basic Instinct" and "Jade" started work on his latest film.

"Burn Hollywood Burn" is a mockumentary which explains a little-known La-la Land tidbit. The Directors Guild of America has dedicated a pseudonym to be used by movie directors who no longer wish to be associated with projects that they have started: Alan Smithee.

Projects which have used the pseudonym include the horror flick "Stitches" (1985) and the TV pilot for "McGyver" (1985).

"Burn Hollywood Burn" features an eager director (Eric Idle) who is selected by the fictitious movie studio Challenger Films more for his passive temperament than for his directing capabilities.

Having lost creative control of the film to studio president Jerry Glover (Richard Jeni) and egotistical producer James Edmunds (Ryan O'Neal), the director decides that he simply cannot put his name on a movie which is no longer representative of his work.

Unfortunately for the director, his name actually is Alan Smithee.

"I thought it would be fun to depict a director whose name really is Alan Smithee, with the irony being that he could never truly remove his name from any of his films," Ezsterhas says.

Left with no out, Smithee steals the film's final negative, now the most expensive in motion picture history, and instigates the greatest Hollywood scandal ever.

"People who like it really like it, and people who don't really don't," Ezsterhas says.

Ezsterhas says that the movie is "the greatest scam I ever pulled in my life in Hollywood." That may not be far from the truth.

At first, not even his agent, Arnold Rifkin, would back him.

Ezsterhas' wife Naomi, who was involved in the making of the film from its earliest stages, recalls, "(Rifkin) said 'I think you should put this in a draw and forget about it because it's bad for your career and it's bad for my career. You don't want to make this movie.'" Rifkin refused to comment.

Ever persistent, Ezsterhas was determined to make a go of his film, later marketed as "The movie Hollywood doesn't want you to see." He and producer Ben Myron made hundreds of copies of the script, distributing them to everyone.

"If we sent this to enough people, it couldn't be stopped," Ezsterhas says. It seems to have paid off, because industry response was overwhelmingly positive.

Once the town's verdict came in, the screenwriter's agent became committed to making the movie happen. Incidentally, Ezsterhas now has a new agent.

"There was no shortage of people wanting to be in the film," Myron says. "People were calling almost on a daily basis saying 'I want to be in the film,'"

The film features a diverse cast, including Coolio, Chuck D and Sandra Bernhard. And the list of cameos looks like the guest list to a congressional funeral. Most notable are Sylvester Stallone, Jackie Chan and Whoopi Goldberg, who play themselves. Subtitles identify them as the rocket scientist, the linguist and the Ted Danson fan, respectively. Even Lt. Gov. Gray Davis agreed to shoot a cameo, although it was ultimately left on the cutting room floor.

If anybody was going to get this movie made his own way, it was Ezsterhas. In an industry where screenwriters are typically dismissed after selling off the rights to their initial work, only to hope the producers and directors will portray it the way they would have it portrayed, Ezsterhas has clout. He is one of the most outspoken - and highly paid - screenwriters around.

In fact, when he and director Arthur Hiller disagreed about the final editing, the studio backed the screenwriter over the director.

"That's virtually unheard of in Hollywood," says Stephen Farber, moderator of the UCLA Extension class "Contemporary Films and Filmmakers."

Hiller chose to walk out of film.

That's right, Ezsterhas' film about a Smithee film is, in fact, a Smithee film. But it wasn't the producers and studio execs who forced him out.

Hiller left because of a disagreement with the man who is supposed to be the littlest of little guys in Hollywood - the screenwriter.

Ezsterhas did choose to include in the final edit, which was left to his discretion, what turns out to be the most ironic scene in the movie.

It is a scene in which both Ezsterhas and Hiller make cameos, and Hiller tells Ezsterhas, "The last thing any director needs is you of all people to stick up for us."

FILM: "An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn" opens in theaters on Friday.

Photos by Buena Vista Pictures

(Left) Director Alan Smithee (Eric Idle), distraught at the way his film has turned out, ponders whether to burn the master negative. (Below) Coolio (left) and Chuck D (right) star as Dion and Leon Brothers, respectively, independent filmmakers who help Smithee (Idle, center), run away with his master negative.

Buena Vista Pictures

Director Alan Smithee (Eric Idle), distraught at the way his film has turned out, ponders whether to burn the master negative.

Screenwriter Joe Ezsterhas satirizes pricey films.

Screenwriter Joe Ezsterhas satirizes pricey films.

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