I finally did some research and the 3 main characters--Blake, Albert, and Lucy are all based on the 1970s scandal of Cybill Shepherd, Peter Bogdonovich, and Polly Platt. VERY interesting stuff here!
Professional Jayne Mansfield fanatic/lover™ since 1980.
[deleted]
ryan o neal's character is, as is now known, peter bogdonavitch.
shelly long on his first wife/collaborator polly platt.
sharon stone is cybill shepard.
and sam wanamaker's 'david kessler' character is roger corman.
now, the films of o'neal's character... the fictional films in this movie are:
AN AMERICAN ROMANCE, which is O'Neal's first movie that puts him 'on the map', is based on TARGETS. TARGETS and AN AMERICAN ROMANCE are both stories centering on 'an old man at the end of his rope', as it were. also, the Kessler/Corman character gives ONeal's character the oppurtunity to make this film "because I couldnt make it work"; as Corman gave Bogdonavitch the same oppurtunity with TARGETS, simply because Boris Karloff owed him a week's worth of shooting. and most importantly, Polly Platt co-wrote TARGETS with Bog, same as Shelly Long's character does with AMERICAN ROMANCE.
ONeal's second movie is GABRIELLE, and this makes him a big star. and he discovers Sharon Stone, and then they marry. GABRIELLE is based on THE LAST PICTURE SHOW. bogdonavitch met Cybill Shepard on this film. Polly Platt also worked on this film: as production designer.
then, the last film ONeal makes before bottoming out in hollywood is called ATLANTA. it's a time period movie and starring Sharon Stone's character. the movie totally bombs. this is based on the Bogdonavitch/Shepard film DAISY MILLER, which bombed big time, and Bog never did do a classic movie since.
also, Sharon Stone goes naked in GABRIELLE after ONeal asks her; same with Cybil Shepard in LAST PICTURE SHOW.
also, before making AN AMERICAN ROMANCE, when Kessler/Corman hires ONeal, ONeal's character is a film teacher. Bog was a film critic. Kessler hires ONeal to 'help' with his films. Corman hired Bogdonavitch (years before TARGET) to help with films such as THE WILD ANGELS and THE TERROR (which Bog later used peices of in TARGETS).
also, ONeal's character quotes Orson Welles. Bog is a big time Orson Welles expert, and was a good friend of the late maverick as well.
ryan o neal, in real life, appeared in several bog films, including PAPER MOON.
and there's a part in the movie where Rex Reed is giving a report on the news, and he says about O Neal's character "He's this generations Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Speilberg" and yes "Peter Bogdonavitch".
hope this helped.
"me winning isn't, you do" ty webb
I wonder if "Atlanta" was a compendium of "At Long Last Love" and "They All Laughed".
In the movie, a geek writer/director discovers that on the Hollywood A-List, very, very beautiful women are very available to you. Bogdanovich swiftly graduated to covergirls and centerfolds and lost all professional judgement in the process.
After the producers put their feet down and demanded that Bogdanovich stop trying to make a star of Cybill Shepherd, Bogdanovich expected his buddies Ryan O'Neal and Burt Reynolds to join him in demanding that it's Cybill in "Nickleoden" or they don't make the picture. They saw no reason to do so. The friendship and professional relationship ended.
The Ryan O'Neal character put his own money in "Atlanta" and lost every dime when it flopped. Kessler sized him up as blonde crazy and lost all confidence in his judgement. A blonde crazy Bogdanovich put all his own money in "They All Laughed" starring his new girlfriend Dorothy Stratten (the Playmate of the Year 1980 who was murdered by her jealous estranged husband shortly before the film premiered) and lost it all when the film flopped.
[deleted]
CS's downfall in the 70's was because her onscreen persona was the the high school queen of the beta girl clique who only dated the captain of the football team. It was a short step from JC in "The Last Picture Girl" to the trophy golden girl in "The Heartbreak Kid".
Frankly, I don't see the waves of talent in the late DS.
[deleted]