"How Do You Like Being in a $40 million Grossing Movie?" Newman Asked Redford

Here's two stories about Paul Newman and scripts for his movies that "tie together."

Though evidently sometimes actors do NOT know if the movie they are making is going to be a hit, sometimes they do.

Paul Newman was so happy as he made Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, so pleased with the lines and banter that he had with "new star" Robert Redford, that one day Newman said to Redford as they were making the movie: "How do you like being in a $40 million dollar grossing movie?" This, back when $40 million was considered a huge gross. I don't recall what Butch made, but it was the biggest hit of 1969.

Meanwhile, about a less successful Paul Newman movie -- the famous Alfred Hitchcock's OK but dull misfire "Torn Curtain"(1966) Newman reflected later, "We all knew it was a dog while we were working on it..." and "Hitchcock and I could have gotten along better and been friends..but that bad script kept getting in the way."

Elsewhere, Newman said, "If I only wanted to make good scripts, I'd only work every three years."