Mad as Hell: The Making of Network and the Fateful Vision of the Angriest Man in Movies (39 page)

“The sudden and untimely passing of Peter Finch has come as a blow”: Illson, “Peter Finch Is Dead on Coast at 60; British Actor on Stage and Screen.”

assembled at the Palm restaurant to pay an impromptu tribute to Finch: Considine,
Mad as Hell
, p. 330.

“If the film industry told the truth, it would admit that deceased 60-year-old actors”: Russell Davies,
Guardian
, Jan. 16, 1977.

An official memorial service for Finch: “Finch Eulogized at Funeral for Professionalism in Film Roles,”
New York Times
, Jan. 19, 1977.

“a black-and-white painting with pen and ink, of this man”: Author interview with Diana Finch-Braley, Aug. 26, 2012.

“a two-hour meat parade”: Tom O’Neil, “1970 Flashback: George C. Scott Slaps Oscar,”
Los Angeles Times
, Feb. 23, 2011.

“the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry”: Sacheen Littlefeather, Academy Awards speech, Mar. 27, 1973,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QUacU0I4yU
.

“I don’t want any nonsense on my show”: Author interview with Howard Gottfried, Mar. 20, 2012.

a dislike of “sentimentality”: Liz Smith (column),
Daily News
(New York), Apr. 5, 1977.

“It was made by the board of governors of the Academy”: William Friedkin, “IAmA Hollywood film director (Killer Joe, The Exorcist, French Connection). I’m William Friedkin. AMA,”
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/u2y5r/iama_hollywood_film_director_killer_joe_the/c4sac3g
.

“I knew that she had a reputation as a bit of a loose cannon”: Author interview with Alan Heim, Apr. 5, 2012.

“People were going to change, and they just didn’t know it”: Author interview with Marlene Warfield, Jan. 16, 2013.

“We agreed that I would tell Friedkin”: Author interview with Howard Gottfried, Mar. 20, 2012.

“Eletha, will attend Oscar ceremonies in case her late husband wins”:
New York Post
, Mar. 17, 1977.

Box 13, Row F, Seat 46: CP, Box 96, Folder 6.

People
published a cover story on Dunaway: Brad Darrach, “Will She Win the Big O?”
People,
Mar. 28, 1977.

“They gave the best supporting actor thing right off the bat”: Author interview with Ned Beatty, Mar. 8, 2012.

“It’s very heavy” … “and I’m the dark horse”: Beatrice Straight, Academy Awards speech, Mar. 28, 1977,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3g7kclmm0I
.

Chayefsky was going to confess his dislike of “modest acceptance speeches”: CP, Box 140, Folder 1.

“it’s time that I acknowledge two people whom I can never really thank”: Paddy Chayefsky, Academy Awards speech, Mar. 28, 1977,
http://collections.oscars.org/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=qbe_query&TN=AAtrans&RF=WebReportOscars&MF=oscarsmsg.ini&NP=255&BU=http://aaspeechesdb.oscars.org/index.asp&QY=find+acceptorlink+%3d049-21
.

“I didn’t expect this to happen quite yet”: Faye Dunaway, Academy Awards speech, Mar. 28, 1977,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePkEsHmwCZE
.

“She was panic-struck”: Author interview with Barry Krost, Mar. 30, 2012.

250 million people watching the ceremony around the world: Jon Nordheimer, “‘Rocky’ Gets Oscar as Top Film; Finch, Dunaway Win for Acting,”
New York Times
, Mar. 29, 1977.

“I want to say thanks to members of the Academy”: Eletha Finch, Academy Awards speech, Mar. 28, 1977,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnL3uE-TzFw
.

“We were sitting with a bunch of executives—accountants, really”: Author interview with Alan Heim, Apr. 5, 2012.

“‘I’ve got this idea for a picture that I wanted to do’”: Author interview with Terry O’Neill, Aug. 15, 2012.

“as Peggy Lee sang, ‘Is that all there is?’”: Dunaway,
Looking for Gatsby
, p. 319.

the Beverly Hills Hotel sent a note to the room: CP, Box 96, Folder 6.

in the possession of Howard and Mary Lynn Gottfried: Author interview with Howard Gottfried, Mar. 31, 2012.

7. Corrupt and Lunatic Energies

news clippings that all … referenced Howard Beale’s combustible catchphrase: CP, Box 96, Folder 7.

the story of Anthony Kiritsis, a failed businessman:
Time
, Feb. 21, 1977.

a
Mad
magazine parody of the movie: Mort Drucker and Stan Hart, “Nutwork,”
Mad
, no. 192, July 1977.

“They shouldn’t have appropriated my idea”: J. A. Trachtenberg, “How Suite It Is,”
Women’s Wear Daily
, Dec. 20, 1978.

“I just made it up”: Brady,
Craft of the Screenwriter
, pp. 69, 70, 78.

“It’s the world that’s gone nuts”: Paddy Chayefsky, interview with Dinah Shore,
Dinah!
, recorded Jan. 19, 1977,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNa019FaNW0
.

a $500,000 offer to write a screenplay about the Israel Defense Forces’: CP, Box 182, Folder 5.

“the subject was simply too painful for me to write about”: Brady,
Craft of the Screenwriter
, pp. 64–65.

“The assassination, of course, was a fraud”: Ray Bradbury, “Second Coming of ‘Network,’”
Los Angeles Times
, Feb. 2, 1977.

“Among other things, it gives us a chance for NETWORK two”: CP, Box 11, Folder 15.

“I was mooching on his opinion”: Author interview with Warren Beatty, Nov. 8, 2012.

“We’ve got a guy who falls in love with his role in history”: CP, Box 135, Folder 7.

“an associate professor in behavioral psychology”: CP, Box 94, Folder 2.

“bipedal, protohuman creature”: Lois Gould, “Special Effects,”
New York Times
, June 18, 1978.

“Paddy decided he wanted a million bucks”: Author interview with Howard Gottfried, July 6, 2012.

traveling to hospitals and universities and meeting with scientific experts: Paddy Chayefsky,
Altered States: A Novel
(New York: Harper and Row, 1978), pp. ix–x.

“a warm return to your mother’s womb”: Considine,
Mad as Hell
, p. 354.

a short, incomplete treatment of his proposed film: CP, Box 185, Folder 2.

“We reached the point where Paddy really has nothing else to say”: Author interview with Howard Gottfried, July 6, 2012.

Chayefsky nonetheless had his million-dollar deal: CP, Box 182, Folder 7.

“At least this proves I’m mortal”: Considine,
Mad as Hell
, pp. 356–57.

“I’ve got two children to raise”: “Eletha Acts,” Page Six (column),
New York Post
, Apr. 6, 1977.

The value of that estate … was placed at $115,000: “Finch’s Widow Hits Will,”
Daily News
(New York), May 16, 1977; “Finch Progeny Challenge 2d Wife,”
Variety
, July 27, 1977.

split from her husband, Peter Wolf, by that summer: Page Six (column),
New York Post
, Aug. 16, 1977.

an affair with Terry O’Neill, the photographer: Page Six (column),
New York Post
, Feb. 3, 1978.

$1 million to star in Irvin Kershner’s thriller
Eyes of Laura Mars
:
Parade
, Aug. 14, 1977.

$750,000 to appear … in a remake of the boxing drama
The Champ
: “Champ to Star Faye Dunaway and Jon Voight,”
New York Times
, Apr. 29, 1978.

“She just didn’t like me” … “and I didn’t like her”: “A List: Art of the Deal,”
W
, Feb. 2006.

the portrait of Dunaway that ran on its cover: “New Mag’s Cover Girl Unmasked,”
New York
, Feb. 27, 1978.

“I have been an actor for 38 years”: Harmetz, “Happy Journey of Holden and Powers.”

The couple sent Christmas cards to Chayefsky: CP, Box 9, Folder 7.

had been told to avoid caffeine, tobacco, and salt and to exercise more: Considine,
Mad as Hell
, p. 357.

“the P.L.O. says Israel has no right to exist”: Display advertisement,
New York Times
, Sept. 21, 1977.

“the only comment you keep hearing is ‘Kill the enemy’”: Richard F. Shepard, “Redgrave Film on P.L.O. Stirs a Controversy,”
New York Times
, Nov. 10, 1977.

“I believe the Palestinian people have been denied the right to be heard”: “Redgrave Defends P.L.O. Film,”
New York Times
, Nov. 11, 1977.

members of the Jewish Defense League from turning out at the 1978 Oscars: Aljean Harmetz, “‘Annie Hall’ Wins 4 Academy Awards,”
New York Times
, Apr. 4, 1978.

a role that Faye Dunaway had turned down: Dunaway,
Looking for Gatsby
, p. 320.

“the threats of a small bunch of Zionist hoodlums”: Vanessa Redgrave, Academy Awards speech, Apr. 3, 1978, archived at the Paley Center for Media, New York, NY.

“Paddy just went nuts after her speech”: Author interview with Mike Medavoy, Mar. 12, 2012.

“everybody ran to Paddy and wanted to say something”: Author interview with Sherry Lansing, Mar. 14, 2012.

“Before I get onto the writing awards, there’s a little matter I’d like to tidy up”: Paddy Chayefsky, Academy Awards speech, Apr. 3, 1978, archived at the Paley Center for Media, New York, NY.

“Arthur didn’t speak to me for five years”: Author interview with Shirley MacLaine, Nov. 16, 2012.

numerous appreciative letters and correspondence that applauded him: CP, Box 19, Folder 17.

“My husband would be proud of you”: CP, Box 96, Folder 7.

“You damned near made me cry with your gutsy but courteous put-down”: CP, Box 19, Folder 17.

“Miss Redgrave’s acceptance speech did not appear as a grandstand play at all”: Ibid.

“the fustian fancies later delivered by Paddy Chayefsky”: Vincent Canby, “In the Afterglow of the Oscars,”
New York Times
, Apr. 16, 1978.

Columbia Pictures tested the project with such names as
The Atavist
: CP, Box 60, Folder 6. Among the titles that were field-tested by Columbia Pictures,
Altered States
was deemed to possess a “critical weakness,” according to a studio memo: “This title conjured up the greatest variety of interpretations—almost all of them bearing no relation to the proposed movie. Brain-washing, war between the states, witchcraft.… A number of people perceived that it would be a movie dealing with drugs, but in the illicit sense rather than the experimental sense. The lack of a clear message produced the lowest degree of interest.”

“all the electronic-spin resonance tests”: Gould, “Special Effects.”

“a few passages of spectacularly bad writing”: Alan Harrington, “Madness in the Deep,”
Saturday Review
, July 1978.

a medical expert who had helped him with the novel was suing him: CP, Box 62, Folder 2.

his lawsuit said was “a substantial contribution” to the screenplay: “St. Vincent M.D. Sues Chayefsky,”
Variety
, May 31, 1978.

requiring Chayefsky to exhaustively inventory every document, draft, and discarded page: As thoroughly catalogued in CP. The case was settled in 1982 after a two-week jury trial, with Lieberman receiving a payment of $40,000.

Melnick had risen to the studio’s presidency: Aljean Harmetz, “Melnick Named President of Columbia Pictures,”
New York Times
, June 2, 1978.

STUNNING, BRILLIANT, BREATHTAKING—BUT WE CAN FIX IT
: CP, Box 19, Folder 17.

“I think you know how sad I am that ‘Altered States’ did not work out”: CP, Box 11, Folder 15.

a “flaming cloud of gasses, hydrogen and helium”: Chayefsky,
The Screenplays Vol. II
, pp. 256–57.

“He was sort of waiting for
us
to do something”: “The Filming of Altered States,”
Cinefantastique
11, no. 2 (Fall 1981).

“He had the power to veto everything”: Considine,
Mad as Hell
, p. 363.

CBS, which paid $5 million for three showings:
Variety
, June 1, 1977.

once contemplated the idea of replacing “bullshit” with “bullsoup”: Val Adams, “Television Hopes to Go ‘Network,’”
Daily News
(New York), Dec. 23, 1976.

“The use of BS is a focal point of the movie”: “Taking Bed and Bawdy out of ‘Network,’”
New York Daily Metro
, Sept. 26, 1978.

Principal photography for
Altered States
began on March 23, 1979: CP, Box 182, Folder 9.

“I was the 27th person they offered it to”: “The Filming of Altered States.”

Melnick helped get
Altered States
reinstated at Warner Bros.: Aljean Harmetz, “Melnick Production Unit Leaves Columbia for Fox,”
New York Times
, Jan. 23, 1980.

“eight voluble academics gabble away”: Chayefsky,
The Screenplays Vol. II
, pp. 248–49.

Almost immediately, Chayefsky and Russell disagreed: “The Filming of Altered States.”

“the point where we have teetered into non-salvageable”: CP, Box 60, Folder 5.

“you will be able to forestall a crisis”: CP, Box 60, Folder 4.

“Paddy said to me, ‘Howard, I can’t work with him’”: Author interview with Howard Gottfried, July 6, 2012.

“the marriage took Hollywood by surprise”: “Actor Peter Finch’s Widow, 41, Weds Young Hollywood Actor, Age 21,”
Jet
, Oct. 18, 1979.

“eventually I fought my way back”: “A New Start,”
Parade
, Nov. 18, 1979.

Chayefsky attempted to send a check for $200 to the Gordonstoun school: CP, Box 96, Folder 7.

“Bill did more in his life, on and off the screen”: Stefanie Powers,
One from the Hart
(New York: Gallery Books, 2010), p. 190; also Linda Charlton, “William Holden Dead at 63; Won Oscar for ‘Stalag 17,’”
New York Times
, Nov. 17, 1981; and Andrew M. Brown, “When Alcoholics Drink Themselves to Death,”
Telegraph
(London), Apr. 7, 2011.

“Faye Dunaway is doing the ‘I want to be alone’ bit”: Page Six (column),
New York Post
, July 20, 1979.

the actress had been dropped from an upcoming cover of
Los Angeles
magazine: Jack Martin, “Faye’s ‘Too Fat’ to Be Magazine’s Cover-girl,”
New York Post,
Aug. 22, 1979.