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David O. Selznick was a demanding producer who often interrupted pitches and then bullied filmmakers once their movies started shooting. I wonder how impresarios of his era — Selznick, Sam Goldwyn or Darryl F. Zanuck — would have coped with the unruly YouTubers, TikTokers, Instagrammers or superstar influencers crowding today’s marketplace.
Or how they’d deal with esteemed filmmakers like Alfonso Cuarón, who today are re-inventing and re-structuring their craft to fit the ecocentrics of streamerville?
In a maze of memos, Selznick told George Cukor, then King Vidor, that they lacked the pizzazz to turn Gone With The Wind into a hit. Would he have instructed Passthatpuss to trim his act or Todd Phillips to pull the tunes from Joker 2?
The bottom line, I suppose, is that pop culture has moved to a new rhythm and only sentimentalists worry about the creative debris along the way.
Cuarón’s confounding seven-part series titled Disclaimer from Apple+ is fomenting debate this week, having been greeted equally with praise and second-guessing. Cuarón mobilized a feature-level cast (Cate Blanchett, Sacha Baron Cohen, Kevin Kline) to star in a flashback-laden, tableau-ridden series that keeps teetering on the brink of its “big theme.”
At the center of the story is a documentary filmmaker (Blanchett) who explores a past tragedy involving a young drowning victim. The mystery is complex, the sex graphic and the motivations confused through its mix of voice-overs. To some viewers the narrative became more tautologous than taut.
One critic suggested that audiences experience Cuarón’s show as they would a college Dostoyevsky class, buttressed with both character notes and CliffsNotes. Still, Disclaimer experienced a very successful premiere at the Venice Film Festival, strongly surviving any hint of a streamer stigma.
Cuarón’s movies have already won a solid fan base on the festival circuit thanks to raucous comedies like Y Tu Mama Tambien or imposing personal dramas like Roma. He’s also won five Oscars along the way and earned applause from critics with his thoughtful analyses of American and Mexican cinema.
He thus seems a likely candidate to bridge the gap between the various auteur genres now struggling for authenticity. Still, would Cuarón or his contemporaries have survived the creative tyranny of the Selznick-Goldwyn-Zanuck era?
Working for Selznick, Cuarón would have been assaulted day by day with memos (not texts) on story and performance. Selznick employed three full-time secretaries to circulate his epiphanies to cast, crew and studio associates.
During production of A Farewell To Arms in 1947, Selznick famously second-guessed director Charles Vidor’s pacing (Vidor quit), Vittorio De Sica’s Italian cigarettes (he tossed them), Ben Hecht’s script (he rewrote it), Rock Hudson’s hair (he trimmed it) and Jennifer Jones’ performance (he married her).
Selznick shocked his crew by once apologizing to King Vidor (no relative of Charles) for whispering into his ear while he was directing a love scene. The producer followed up a day later with a memo criticizing his star for over-stirring the gruel in a breakfast scene. On Gone with the Wind, Selznick replaced George Cukor with Victor Fleming, then with Sam Wood (apparently he’d run out of Vidors).
Given their temperaments, it’s hard to imagine these imperious impresarios coping with the rhythms or personalities of today’s fast-moving creators. Alfonso Cuarón surely would have rebelled against their dictates – or even a hint of them.
On the other hand, the old-line producers knew how to tap into the classic novels of Dickens or Steinbeck to spin out great stories with legendary stars. They were movies that captured vast audiences and never demanded a “disclaimer.”
And now younger filmmakers like Emerald Fennell and Margot Robbie are poised to bring a new point of view to the classic Wuthering Heights – again free from the demands and dictates of a previous generation of producing czars.
The Selznicks, Goldwyns and Zanucks doubtless would have loved to chime in. The memos would be flying.
