Page 7 - JIMMY REARDON LETTER TO CHICAGO CRITICS

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the job of producing my ilm, the success of which led to his ousting the original

inancier and producer at Island, Cary Brokaw. He removed Brokaw’s Executive

Producer credit while simultaneously selling the picture to Fox. (Later I discov-

ered that Fox also paid Island 750k for his “new” sound track and “new” narra-

tion.)

The letter closed with a quote from legend Sue

Mengers: “In Hollywood you never know who

your enemies are.”

I added that I knew who my enemies were.

Shortly afterward I got a call from Chris

Blackwell, the actual owner of Island Pictures.

In an extraordinary meeting at the Mondrian

Hotel (now gone) on Sunset Blvd. the Island CEO said he was truly sorry that they

were forced to agree to Fox’s changes, but Island was going bankrupt and had no

money for the release of the movie, and besides, the movie was bigger now that

River was becoming a star. He added that if I protested publicly or wrote any more

letters, Fox was prepared to shelve the theatrical release immediately and send the

ilm straight to video, as they now owned the movie and thought my letter was

“confrontational.”

On the other hand, if I agreed to work with Fox, Island would keep my version out

of the Fox contract and see to it that I could release my original cut of the ilm after

5 years.

So I should keep quiet about the original version, he said, adding that River’s agent

agreed that River would not talk about any other version but Fox’s.

It was a Malthusian Trap – I’d made a movie good enough to attract a major studio

with an actor becoming a superstar, only now if I protested their “marketing

changes” I was facing years of litigation I couldn’t afford plus a straight-to-video

release. The studio now owned the movie 100 per cent and couldn’t be bothered if

they had to write it off.

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