The book "Easy Riders, Raging Bull" delves into Spielberg's love life, at least a few paragraphs worth. Around the time he directed Jaws he was pretty naive, to say the least. Margot Kidder taught him the ropes, not to be such a dork, wear decent clothes, something besides twinkies in the fridge. Then, this happened: "One day, Spielberg and comedy writer Carl Gottlieb, an old friend, were having lunch in the Universal commissary, when Victoria Principal, then a starlet with a tiny role in Earthquake, plopped down in the seat next to Steven and stuck her chest in his face. According to Gottlieb, she said, “I’d like to get to know you better.” To him, her body language said, “If you want to fuck me you can, if I can be in a movie.” She had reached under the table and grabbed his crotch. (Principal says they were just friends.) “Steven briefly brought out Victoria Principal to the beach, which was a stunner for all of us,” says Kidder. “We prided ourselves on not being bimbos, and here was a bimbo with our beloved Steven. It was like, what? We tried to discourage that.”
I found this tidbit as well: "A female friend of a friend was brought out from L.A. for recreational sex. She slept with him, and left".
Also, legendary director Hal Ashby said "When one's gone, open the window there's another one climbing in"
reply
share
ecarle (14979)
3 years ago
The book "Easy Riders, Raging Bull" delves into Spielberg's love life, at least a few paragraphs worth.
---
That's a good, key book about the movie business in the changing 70s and 80s. As with all such books about Hollywood(a town where "hype is reality"), one has to take the stories with a grain of salt, but the author(Peter Biskind) often got stories to match up, or quotes on the record, so it is as close as we are going to get. The book was also called "ex wives revenge" because the exes and their friends dished away. A famous, proven example: Director Peter Bogdanovich and his wife Polly Platt collaborated on his key films The Last Picture Show and What's Up Doc, but soon Bogdo dumped Platt for his star Cybill Shepard. Documented.
Interestingly, during this time when a lot of young directors and producers had wives for the dumping, Spielberg was still single and rather work-obsessed. He probably NEEDED to have women coming at him.
---
CONT
reply
share
ecarle (14979)
3 years ago
Around the time he directed Jaws he was pretty naive, to say the least. Margot Kidder taught him the ropes, not to be such a dork, wear decent clothes, something besides twinkies in the fridge. Then, this happened: "One day, Spielberg and comedy writer Carl Gottlieb, an old friend, were having lunch in the Universal commissary, when Victoria Principal, then a starlet with a tiny role in Earthquake, plopped down in the seat next to Steven and stuck her chest in his face. According to Gottlieb, she said, “I’d like to get to know you better.” To him, her body language said, “If you want to fuck me you can, if I can be in a movie.” She had reached under the table and grabbed his crotch. (Principal says they were just friends.) “Steven briefly brought out Victoria Principal to the beach, which was a stunner for all of us,” says Kidder. “We prided ourselves on not being bimbos, and here was a bimbo with our beloved Steven. It was like, what? We tried to discourage that.”
--
Ha. You see? Not just an "ex wives" book, but a "platonic girl friend's revenge book." Taking the stories(again) with a grain of salt , we can see that the "casting couch" is/was a flexible piece of furniture. Men wanting women; women offering themselves to men -- or in gay relationships. MeToo has done some good but it seems to be fading as too much of the story gets told.
As a matter of "public record" -- confirmed by the key players -- Victoria Principal is the focus of another early 70's Hollywood tale.
Principal had a small role in the 1972 Paul Newman movie "The LIfe and Times of Judge Roy Bean." Anthony Perkins was in the movie, and evidently a lifelong gay man at that point in time who had never been with a woman. Newman pointed Principal at Perkins for a "little fling," which was had (confirmed by Principal and the late Perkins.) Perkins' first woman. A year or so later, Perkins married a woman and had children with her thereafter.
CONT
reply
share
ecarle (14979)
3 years ago
I found this tidbit as well: "A female friend of a friend was brought out from L.A. for recreational sex. She slept with him, and left".
--
Aha. That's probably where I read it about Spielberg on Jaws.
A number of my posts on moviechat are derived from the books I have read about filmmaking over decades. I'm sort of sharing what I read with those who did not get to read these books.
But its nice to connect with someone else who has read these books..
---
Also, legendary director Hal Ashby said "When one's gone, open the window there's another one climbing in"
---
There's no business like show business.
I've considered this: pretty women are used to be hit upon all the time, but moderately attractive men -- not so much. And yet in Hollywood, moderately attractive men get hit on a LOT. It must blow their minds, and it lasts as long as their power does.
Is all this gossip? Sure, but so linked to the creation of the movies of history, that its part of the deal.
reply
share
ebhaynz (3528)
3 years ago
Biskind's book is a great read, hard to tell what's true but I think he described the 70's Hollywood vibe pretty well. At the very least it didn't pull any punches, I bet Spielberg, Schrader, Marty, Coppola, etc. would love to kill him.
One of my favorite parts of the book was probably something nobody would care about. Hal Ashby did a lot of drugs, got into trouble, lots of fights and burned a lot of bridges. Later, in the 80's he got sick with cancer. On his deathbed some of his estranged Hollywood friends came to visit. As sick as he was he screamed at them for waiting until the very last minute to come see him.
reply
share
ecarle (14979)
3 years ago
Biskind's book is a great read, hard to tell what's true but I think he described the 70's Hollywood vibe pretty well. At the very least it didn't pull any punches, I bet Spielberg, Schrader, Marty, Coppola, etc. would love to kill him.
---
There was a "nastier" book by Julia Phillips, called "You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again." She ratted out a few of those biggies, too -- but with perhaps less fact checking.
Phillips got rich off of co-producing three movies -- The Sting, Taxi Driver, and Close Encounters.
But as she honestly relates in the book, after divorcing her producer husband Michael Phillips and alienating Spielberg, suddenly Phillips had no work, suddenly EVERY SINGLE MOVIE she pitched to studios were turned down. She lost all her power, wrote this revenge book, died young of cancer. (She was a self-confessed big druggie during this time.)
Still, she had some stories to tell...I'm a big Richard Boone fan. She was not. She was against Boone getting the Robert Shaw role in The Sting, but Boone turned it down anyway. She noted "Boone was too drunk to read the script." This from a druggie.
---
One of my favorite parts of the book was probably something nobody would care about. Hal Ashby did a lot of drugs, got into trouble, lots of fights and burned a lot of bridges. Later, in the 80's he got sick with cancer. On his deathbed some of his estranged Hollywood friends came to visit. As sick as he was he screamed at them for waiting until the very last minute to come see him.
---
Yes. Ashby bore Warren Beatty particular animus, because Beatty -- rather an amateur doctor/hypochondriac -- pressed Ashby to see a doctor about something and when Ashby got the bad news...Beatty got the blame.
This was in one of those books, too!
reply
share
ebhaynz (3528)
3 years ago
There's also a book "You'll Never Make Love in This Town Again" where prostitutes tell their inside(haha) stories about Beatty, Don Simpson, George Harrison(hilarious), etc. Don Simpson did some horrible things, very dark side to him. Oh, one hooker brought her young trainee to Robert Evans house. Evans, a notorious horndog, started sweating profusely, licking his lips, in anticipation. Well, the young lady had already taken too many drugs, couldn't perform, and threw up on his carpet. Honestly ALL the hookers in this tell all were way more messed up with their customers, except for Don Simpson he was the worst ever.
reply
share
ecarle (14979)
3 years ago
Hmm...rather a "descent" in "tell all" books about Hollywood. (I started it, I guess)
From the Biskind book (mainly ex-wives dissing)
To the Julia Phillips book (burning her bridges as a once-hot, now failed producer)
To the hooker book(with title amended from the Phillips book.)
One must keep wondering "what is the real story."
I will say this about the hooker book:
For most men so inclined, the services of a top grade call girl will take a hefty part of a month's pay or more to pay for -- and only for one time. So...no go.
For the very rich men of Hollywood -- money's not a problem, so hookers(for some of them) are a way of life.
This is why traditional marriages and family in Hollywood can be virtually unthinkable. Certainly for the Don Simpsons of the world. Indeed, a number of the unattached men in Hollywood have been quoted (anonymously) as saying "I pay the hooker because when we are done, she goes away."
It is at once a "dream of lustful fulfillment" and a recipe for failure as a human being with true connections. You can end up very lonely at the end.
Which is why maybe its better NOT to have enough money to pay for hookers constantly.
reply
share
ebhaynz (3528)
3 years ago
I wonder what's more disastrous; single rich celebrities who only pay for ho's? or married rich celebrities who still choose to pay for ho's?
reply
share