Rebels on the Backlot by Sharon Waxman

Author:Sharon Waxman [Waxman, Sharon]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-062-03785-5
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2005-11-22T16:00:00+00:00

THIS TIME BOB SHAYE AND MICHAEL LYNNE, IF LESS PASSIONATE than De Luca, were quickly won over to making Magnolia, the main reason being that Anderson had written a key role for Tom Cruise, and Cruise had said yes. Bob Shaye knew this movie might not make much money, but he’d come to take the measure of having an artist in the house. In his mind he was doing with Paul Thomas Anderson what Warner Brothers chieftains Bob Daly and Terry Semel had done with Stanley Kubrick for decades, backing all his films because they believed in his talent, while still making big, Hollywood, star-driven movies most of the time. Kubrick’s films were an exception they rarely made in their starsystem, formulaic way of running Warner Brothers, but it held to the end of Kubrick’s career. Even the super-sensitive Anderson felt the change in Shaye. The entire green-light process took just a few weeks, though Shaye imposed two conditions: that the movie not go over three hours, and Tom Cruise had to be in the cast. (The former went by the wayside; the latter held.) “New Line wanted to keep Paul in the fold,” recalled Sellar. “Magnolia was a big risk for them.”

As to why Cruise said yes to such a high-wire act—Mackey was an odious character who oozed sexism and urged the exploitation of women—that was a mystery to everyone, including Anderson. Sellar was amazed he took the role.

The day it happened, it was front-page news in Variety. “NL Books Cruise: Actor joins ensemble in Anderson pic,” read the headline. Bumble Ward, Anderson’s longtime publicist, framed the October 28, 1998, story by Dan Cox and put it on her wall. “It was a big day for my little Paul,” she said.

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