Anyone know--is this loosely based on Paramount's attempt to turn 'The Joy of Sex' into a feature film in the early 80s? I know they had pursued John Belushi for it & even courted National Lampoon to present it. Also, Penny Marshall was once attached to direct 'Joy of Sex' & she's in 'Movers & Shakers'.
Curiouser & curiouser...
[deleted]
Somebody has since written a trivia paragraph discussing this, but yes Charles Grodin was sought out to write a movie--any movie--for Paramount as long as it used the title for which they had paid big bucks: The Joy of Sex. Only a movie mogul would do something so stupid, but there it is.
Grodin discusses this at length in his entertaining book "It Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here" which I just finished. If you ever were laboring under the illusion that Hollywood is all glitz and glitter this book will change your mind and leave you wondering how ANY movie ever makes it to the big screen.
Even though Paramount only cared about the title and told Grodin to write whatever movie he wanted, they didn't want what he ended up writing. He had help from his successful theater pals Elaine May and Joe Bologna. I think he must have been so proud to introduce his picture because he went through so much hell just to get it to the screen, regardless of how good he thought it was. It sounded like it was birthin a baby.
It started in the late 1970s and finally shows a release date of 1985 so close to 10 years of shopping it around and getting rejected by all the major studios, even after some of them gave him tacit approval. It's very, very tricky business and I would really have to strongly advise against it as...as an accountant.