For Steve Martin’s Birthday today, I decided to blog about an odd moment in the iconic comic actor’s career: his brief, almost creative relationship with Director Stanley Kubrick.
Ever since I first heard about it decades ago, I’ve been highly amused that reportedly one of famous filmmaker Stanley Kubrick’s favorite films was THE JERK. Apparently, Carl Reiner’s 1979 comedy, which featured the feature length film debut of the legendary comedian Steve Martin tickled Kubrick’s funny bone, and even inspired him to try to cast Martin as the lead in his last feature, 1999’s erotic thriller EYES WIDE SHUT. Of course, this didn’t happen – Tom Cruise got the role in the end – but the fact that it could have happened is pretty insane.
But, as Martin relayed on an episode of Charlie Rose, it was actually a British broadcast of his stand-up act in 1980 that made Kubrick call the comic up for a meeting.
Martin: “It might have been before 1980, because I don’t think THE JERK was out, but I came to London to do my stand-up act on television. Then I got a call from Stanley Kubrick the next day saying, ‘I’d like to meet with you.’ So I went to his estate, and he pitched me what became EYES WIDE SHUT.”
Rose: “That was ’80, it wasn’t made until 1999.”
Martin: “Right. It was based on a book by Schnitzler, and I think the book was called ‘Rhapsody’ – it had different titles and translations. And it was an enigmatic book, a beautiful, beautiful book. And then, of course, it never happened.”
It should be noted that Kubrick also considered Bill Murray, Woody Allen, Dustin Hoffman and Tom Hanks for the lead. Funny that had comic actors in mind for the part that wound up being played by Cruise.
After sorting through a lot of interviews and articles about Kubrick, I’ve come to the conclusion that the tales of Kubrick’s love for THE JERK may have been a bit overblown. Many internet posts mention that it was one of his favorites but no quotes or other citations are given.
But it did make lists Kubrick made of his favorite movies, but then so did WHITE MEN CAN’T JUMP, so it was certainly a favorite.
This quote from Kubrick’s right-hand man, Jan Harlan, maybe summed it up best: “He didn’t think THE JERK was such a good film, but it is true that he considered Steve Martin as an actor. Early days!”
Early days indeed. Marin has proven in a few films, like David Mamet’s THE SPANISH PRISONER, that he has dramatic chops, so I would love to see his version of EYES WIDE SHUT. Maybe he would’ve been miscast as the doctor who goes deep into New York’s sexual underground because his wife told him she almost cheated on him, but I think he could’ve pulled it off.
More later...
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