Sunday 10 January 2021

The Goodbye Girl (1977 Herbert Ross)

I wonder what Margaret Booth's contribution as Supervising Editor was. There are lots of long takes. Which take do you use? Do you cut it? How to you go in and come out of your take / scene? And, editing is also about structure. Independent producer Ray Stark (Rastar), who in all made eleven Neil Simon films, was quoted as saying 'Her instincts were remarkable even in her later years, when she saved many a film for me" (my italics).

Never a play, it was originally called Bogart Slept Here, with Robert de Niro as an actor who takes his family to Hollywood but they don't fit in there. Mike Nichols began directing but felt de Niro wasn't right and wanted him recast. Nichols quit the project and Dreyfuss came in, and though the chemistry was right, Simon decided the script needed rewriting (he essentially wrote the prequel - how did the couple get together in the first place). It was a huge box office hit and remains very fresh and funny.



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