To some, De Palma was not the obvious film-maker for this material. Warner Bros promptly secured the rights and hired De Palma to direct. Though Hollywood was cautious about the controversy surrounding Wolfe’s novel, its success showed there was a market for a Wall Street satire. As a result, McCoy is engulfedin a legal battle that threatens to destroy his livelihood. Lamb falls into a coma and his misfortune is taken advantage of by Fallow and Reverend Bacon, a black religious and political figure, who use the Lamb case for their own gain. In it, smarmy Wall Street bond trader Sherman McCoy becomes lost in the Bronx during a rendezvous with his mistress, Maria Ruskin, and runs over a young African American called Henry Lamb. Tom Wolfe published the novel The Bonfire of the Vanities in 1987. If only the same could be said for Brian De Palma’s film. Once a washed-up has-been, Fallow is now admired by those who detested him. His writing is said to be as vital to literature as Anna Karenina.
Through a glorious, unbroken tracking shot, Fallow indulges in the excesses of celebrity while being fawned over by the New York socialite and intellectual scene. (Source: Julie Salamon's book 'The Devil's Candy').I n the opening minutes of the film adaptation of The Bonfire of the Vanities, Bruce Willis’s journalist Peter Fallow arrives in an inebriated state to the launch of his new book.
After the film's release, judge Roberts claimed the movie stank and that he would have portrayed a better judge than Freeman. Morgan Freeman was chosen but, as he was just coming off a second Oscar nomination, his salary demand grew bigger and, after tough negotiations with the studio, he settled for $650,000, a lot more than Arkin would have gotten had the role kept to its origins. Later on, De Palma decided the movie needed a different racial perspective feeling that it was all so negative up to that point and demanded that the judge be played by a black actor. However, Brian De Palma wasn't fully convinced with his casting and decided to go with Walter Matthau, who wanted a million dollar salary, which the studio refused then went to Alan Arkin who accepted the role for $120,000. With high hopes, the real judge auditioned for the role and, despite having no acting experience, almost landed the part.
In the book, the judge is called Myron Kovitsky and, like Roberts, is Jewish. The judge role was based on famous Bronx judge Burton B.
0 kommentar(er)
