Former president of the Paramount of which he was at the head for ten years, from 1974 to 1984, Barry Diller has just released his memories, entitled “Who Knew”. And to deliver some tasty anecdotes. As on the film “Popeye”, with Robin Williams …
For 99.9% of people, the name of Barry Diller will absolutely do not resonate. 83 years old today, he has just published his memoirs in the United States, entitled Who knew. And it is an understatement to say that Diller weighed heavy in the film industry. At 32, in 1974, he was appointed Chairman of the Management Board of Paramount Pictures, and was at the head of the studio for ten years.
It is under his direction that the studio produced major television successes such as Cheers (1982), as well as films like the three days of Condor (1975), La Fuve of Saturday evening (1977), Grease (1978), the adventurers of the Lost Ark (1981) and his Indiana Jones and Le Temple Maudit (1984), Tender Passions (1983), Le Flic de Beverly Hills (1984) …
“Everyone was smashed”
Or Popeye, since it is the film that interests us. Invited to talk about his memoirs, Barry Diller delivers an anecdote (via Entertainment Weekly), concerning the shooting of this film where Robin Williams replied to Shelley Duval, who embodied his wife, Olive. And the least we can say is that Diller does not go there by four paths …
“The most cocked film in the story? Popeye. You couldn't escape it” Diller said about drug use on the set. “At the time, the films were sent in cans. The film boxes were returned to Los Angeles for the daily treatment of film. The film was shot in Malta. We discovered that the film boxes were in fact used to send cocaine on the set. Everyone was smashed”.
“If you watch my film upside down, you will have a script”
It was in 1980 that Robin Williams made his first steps in the cinema, in the adventures of the famous Marin Popeye; A musical directed by Robert Altman. Co -produced by Paramount and Walt Disney Pictures, the film reported $ 60 million in the world. He was therefore profitable, but far from the expectations that the two majors had around a character as iconic as the sailor stuffed with spinach.
Basically, it doesn't matter if the film is generally missed; In any case very far from being the best of Altman or Robin Williams. The latter did not feed a great affection for his character: “If you watch my film upside down, you will have a script” he will say later. With his face with the impressive plasticity and his sense of rhythm, the actor wins despite everything.
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