RIP Richard Donner

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Bad behavior was often a badge of honor in the 80's and 90's.
Yup, and its epicenter was an ugly office at the back of the Warners lot with a Predator in the waiting area inhabited by one Joel Silver.

Rivaled by fellow a-hole-lister Arnold Kopelson (who up-close looked like he combed in sepia shoe polish instead of using hair dye, and had an attention span of 30 seconds) who had that stupid animatronic alligator from "Eraser" in his office - situated near the top of the "Die Hard" building no less.

Scott Rudin completed the trifecta of 80s/90s a-hole producers, but never had any dealings with that guy.
 
No mention of Weintraub? If its the late 80's you have to mention Weintraub.

I have some great Joel Silver stories since he frequented Bar One which was in the building I worked in in the late 80's. I also grew up with his wife, Karen Fields.
 
Yeah. I guess he wasn't a screamer so much as a bully, more like Robert Evans.

Joel Silver was famous for his tantrums. I was actually surprised when he showed up as the director in the opening of Roger Rabbit with that bad Baby (who was more like Joel than the part Joel was playing). I never figured Spielberg and Zemeckis would work with someone like Joel Silver. Different parties so to speak.

Talibane's description of Arnold Kopelson is spot on with the shoe polish color. :lol
 
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No mention of Weintraub? If its the late 80's you have to mention Weintraub.

I have some great Joel Silver stories since he frequented Bar One which was in the building I worked in in the late 80's. I also grew up with his wife, Karen Fields.
Speaking of "similar" producers, she isn't related to Adam Fields (Jon Peters' majordomo for a while in mid 90s) is she? I once met with Robert Downey Jr's wife Susan (Levin) when she worked at Silver, before she married him.

I only ever saw Weintraub once, he wasn't quite as top-drawer in the 90s versus the 80s. Bruckheimer was the reverse and had super nice exposed-brick offices in Santa Monica, though I only ever met there, not close to his level. Near those Carolco/Cinergi offices with the hipster graffitti.

John Davis (downstairs from Kopelson in that Die Hard/Fox exec building) seemed to inherit the mantle from guys like Weintraub by the late 90s in terms of the material he did.
 
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The film industry sounds disgusting. It kills the magic to know it's full of perverted people.
It's something you don't want to stay in for too long - like the song Hotel California. In the good column that type of person knows how to go to places that make you uncomfortable - that's good drama. In the bad column they are one of the reasons we are where we are today socially.

One of weirder things to get used to in Hollywood is you have to hug people you just met in business meetings. :lol
 
Speaking of "similar" producers, she isn't related to Adam Fields (Jon Peters' majordomo for a while in mid 90s) is she? I once met with Robert Downey Jr's wife Susan (Levin) when she worked at Silver, before she married him.

I only ever saw Weintraub once, he wasn't quite as top-drawer in the 90s versus the 80s. Bruckheimer was the reverse and had super nice exposed-brick offices in Santa Monica, though I only ever met there, not close to his level. Near those Carolco/Cinergi offices with the hipster graffitti.

John Davis (downstairs from Kopelson in that Die Hard/Fox exec building) seemed to inherit the mantle from guys like Weintraub by the late 90s in terms of the material he did.

Regarding Adam Fields, I don't know. Karen had a large family but I only really knew her and her brother Todd Fields -- I was good friends with her cousin, Wendy. I never met Susan but I did know Riley Ellis from that office (who didn't back then) as well as a very young Nina Jacobson.

So many connections went through Joel Silver back then. My boss was good friends with Larry Gordon who would stop by often to say hi because his shrink was also in our building. He's the one that told me to slam two big titles together for a pitch -- he said he sold Predator as "Rambo meets Alien" and Die Hard as "Rambo meets Towering Inferno". They really liked Rambo. I never asked how Joel sold Xanadu. :lol

All this talk takes me back. It's so funny that we traveled much of the same turf I think, although I'm envious that I never worked with Cameron, only met him a few times casually. A good friend of mine worked at Digital Domain for many years.
 
Regarding Adam Fields, I don't know. Karen had a large family but I only really knew her and her brother Todd Fields -- I was good friends with her cousin, Wendy. I never met Susan but I did know Riley Ellis from that office (who didn't back then) as well as a very young Nina Jacobson.

So many connections went through Joel Silver back then. My boss was good friends with Larry Gordon who would stop by often to say hi because his shrink was also in our building. He's the one that told me to slam two big titles together for a pitch -- he said he sold Predator as "Rambo meets Alien" and Die Hard as "Rambo meets Towering Inferno". They really liked Rambo. I never asked how Joel sold Xanadu. :lol

All this talk takes me back. It's so funny that we traveled much of the same turf I think, although I'm envious that I never worked with Cameron, only met him a few times casually. A good friend of mine worked at Digital Domain for many years.

Rambo meets roller skates. 🤩(y)
 
Taking this back to topic, I never did meet Donner but I heard that he had a good workman-like mannerism and liked to joke around on set. That became apparent with every sequel to Lethal Weapon.
 
Well I do love his 2 Superman movies and I guess Omen is good, no Exorcist though, otherwise not a fan of Goonies or LW.

Plenty of mediocre movies.
 
For some reason I'm surprised how old he was. But yeah, he delivered some cherished films. My favourites are probably the Lethal Weapons. An entire series of films that are all canon as far as I'm concerned - there's not many franchises where I say that.
 
For some reason I'm surprised how old he was. But yeah, he delivered some cherished films. My favourites are probably the Lethal Weapons. An entire series of films that are all canon as far as I'm concerned - there's not many franchises where I say that.
I remember loving lethal weapon when it came out I also remember that famous villain line diplomatic immunity I just don’t remember which LW movie that was from and I really wanted to love it when I re-watched it as an adult the action and drama just didn’t resonate with me.

I never even bothered watching the sequels.

if I ever decide to do it at least it will be a new experience.

Goonies is trash lol
 
I remember loving lethal weapon when it came out I also remember that famous villain line diplomatic immunity I just don’t remember which LW movie that was from and I really wanted to love it when I re-watched it as an adult the action and drama just didn’t resonate with me.

I never even bothered watching the sequels.

if I ever decide to do it at least it will be a new experience.

Goonies is trash lol
That line is from the second one. I like the movies and thought the cast had great chemistry. They were fun buddy movies and I watch them every so often.
 
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