Leading Man by Benjamin Svetkey

Author:Benjamin Svetkey [Svetkey, Benjamin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-94962-2
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2013-09-03T04:00:00+00:00

In Rome, even the cab drivers have a certain dolce vita pizzazz. The one who picked me up at Leonardo da Vinci Airport wore a white silk scarf that flapped rakishly out the car window as he sped along the E80 toward the city’s center. When we circled the Trevi Fountain near my hotel, I wanted to lean out my own window and shout “Ciao, baby!” to the whole gorgeous town. Visiting Rome always made me feel like Marcello Mastroianni.

On this trip, I’d be interviewing Leonard Cox on the set of The Halo Helix, a religious techno-thriller with a high-concept hook that was getting the actor in trouble with the same critics who would later demand that Tom Hanks be excommunicated for The Da Vinci Code. Leonard was playing a handsome young Vatican priest who discovers a secret plot to resurrect the body of Jesus Christ by cloning fossilized DNA discovered in the recently unearthed Tomb of Talpiot, the burial ground where Jesus’ body is believed to be interred. The experiment goes horribly awry, naturally, and the replicated Christ takes off on a murderous rampage. Not surprisingly, the real Catholic Church had already condemned the film as blasphemy and a boycott was being organized in America, even though nobody outside the production company had yet to see a minute of footage.

“I don’t understand why everyone is so upset, I really don’t,” Leonard said, chain-smoking cigarettes in his trailer at Cinecittà Studios. He was dressed in full priestly regalia, including a clerical cassock and cape, and a black cap with a pom-pom on top. A few of his character’s props—a gold cross, a leather Bible, a vile of Jesus’ chromosomes—were on the coffee table, along with Leonard’s script pages and several empty bottles of Rossa Toro, an Italian energy drink.

Famously brainy, Leonard had dropped out of Harvard Law School to pursue an acting career, and succeeded brilliantly. But when it came to people skills, he was considered to be kind of an imbecile. He not only waged creative battles with his directors and producers, but also with set designers and costumers and even the craft services caterers. Screenwriters particularly hated his guts—along with rewriting his own lines, Leonard would take it upon himself to rewrite everyone else’s, too. His meddling added months to production schedules and millions to budgets. But his movies usually made money, and were always critically applauded. Journalists loved the guy. You could turn on your recorder, go out for a cup of coffee, and when you returned an hour later you’d have a tape full of killer material. “These Catholic protesters,” Leonard went on, “what’s their beef? We’re making a movie here. Just a movie. But they’re acting like we’re molesting baby Jesus, for Christ’s sake. Like we’re finger-fucking the Virgin Mary …”

After the interview, I took a long stroll through Rome, making stops at the usual tourist traps. The Colosseum. The Pantheon. The Spanish Steps. The ancientness of the city put me in a pensive mood.

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