Al Weisel
Breakthrough Movies: The Outsiders
By Al Weisel
Premiere, November 1998, p. 130
It's no wonder that after surviving Francis Ford Coppola's grueling audition and rehearsal process, the stars of 1983's The Outsiders went on to become some of the most important actors of their generation.
"Francis held these massive cattle calls," Patrick Swayze says of the process. "I walked into this huge soundstage with about 300 other guys. It was seriously intimidating."
Coppola spent weeks rehearsing. "We did stuff that had nothing to do with the script," Lowe says. The cast prepared meals together and, in marathon improvisation sessions, spent hours acting like a family. They practiced tai chi, took train-hopping lessons from Swayze, and played tackle football.
"Apparently, there were problems with financing, which would explain the world's longest rehearsal," says Rob Lowe, who recalls that during shooting, Coppola was fending off creditors who were trying to repossess his home. "He was on the phone with his wife, saying, 'Don't let them in the gate! Don't—wait, hold on a second—Action!' "
Because Coppola separated the actors playing the lower-class Greasers from those playing the upper-class Socs, the set soon resembled Lord of the Flies. "The Socs were treated like young Princes, and the Greasers the opposite," says Coppola. "Only occasionally did they meet, in a competitive sport, so we could fan their distrust and dislike." Although Tom Cruise has only a minor part in the film, his demeanor made him stand out. "Tom was the most driven actor in the bunch," acknowledges Lowe. "At one point, Francis wanted a subplot that we were gymnasts. I don't know why. And Tom was obsessed with learning a backflip. In the movie you can see Tom run out of the house and do a backflip for no apparent reason.
"Most of us learned our technique from Francis," he adds, "It took me years to get over this experience. I cried like a baby when I said goodbye."■
Breakthrough Movies: The Last Picture Show
By Al Weisel
Premiere, November 1998, p. 134
What a way to start an acting career," says Cybill Shepherd of her debut, in 1971's The Last Picture Show. Shot in stark black and white with a cast of unknowns, the sexually frank tale involving the alienation of youth in small-town Texas revolutionized American cinema. But the turmoil behind the camera rivaled that of the story onscreen. Director Peter Bogdanovich shot the funeral of the movie's father figure, Sam the Lion (Ben Johnson), immediately after returning from his own father's funeral. Bogdanovich's marriage to producer Polly Platt, who was integral to the making of the film and who had recently given birth to their child—collapsed during the shoot, when he fell in love with Shepherd (who'd also had a fling with costar Jeff Bridges). Ironically, Shepherd played Jacy, the movie's icy femme fatale. "Everybody was having affairs.... It gave the film a certain tension," Bogdanovich says.
Although Platt acted as if nothing were happening on the set, inside she was seething. "Cybill was reading The Brothers Karamazov," Platt remembers, laughing about it now. "I hated her for reading that book, because she was so clearly a Memphis cracker, and I was so jealous. I wanted to rip it out of her hands and smash her face in."
Shepherd says Platt wouldn't let her keep the saddle shoes she wore in the film. "Well, I guess I did get her husband," she adds, very Jacy-like. Johnson, who agreed to do the film only after Bogdanovich got legendary director John Ford to plead the case, won an Academy Award, as did Cloris Leachman. The director claims he told the skeptical actress that she would be nominated. "After every scene, she'd ask, 'Is that the Oscar scene?'" he says. "After the one at the end, I said, 'That's the scene.'" It was.■
Al Weisel is the co-author, with Larry Frascella, of Live Fast, Die Young: The Wild Ride of Making Rebel Without a Cause, being published in October 2005.