One night several years ago, Robert Evans ran into Robert Altman at Elaine’s, the New York restaurant. It was an unlikely encounter. Evans is a high-living producer who represents mainstream Hollywood; Altman is a maverick director who spurns the moviemaking establishment. But Evans discovered that night that he had something in common with Altman: back trouble. In fact, Altman was in so much pain, Evans remembers, that he could hardly walk. “I said, ‘Bob, I have a doctor for you.’ And I got him an appointment with my doctor, who had practically saved my life.”
Some time later, the two men met again at Elaine’s, and a grateful Altman said, “I can’t tell you what it means to me. I’m a new man now.” Soon after, a note written on the back of a check arrived at Altman’s table. The note was from Evans, and it read, “You owe me a picture.” Altman wrote back, “I owe you my life.”
Now some three years later, just in time for the holiday season, the results of that unlikely alliance of Hollywood insider and Hollywood outsider will open in theaters around the country. The picture is Popeye, a $20 million musical based on the comic strip created by E. C. Segar. It stars Robin Williams as the spinach-eating sailor and Shelley Duvall as his girl friend, Olive Oyl, and it celebrates the solid virtues of individualism.
That’s an appropriate theme, given the strongly differing personalities of the producer and the director, who somehow managed to cooperate long enough to complete the film. But Popeye brought together other singular types as well, like pop composer Harry Nilsson, who wrote the music and lyrics for the movie, and cartoonist and playwright Jules Feiffer, who wrote the screenplay. (Not to mention an extraordinary coproducing arrangement that brought together Walt Disney Productions and Paramount.)
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