“He came back very upset from the exchange with her”: how Steven Spielberg argued with his beloved director

Among the directors who left an indelible mark on Steven Spielberg’s cinephilia, David Lean is at the top. The future director of Jaws was deeply marked by the theatrical discovery of Lin’s powerfully staged works, be it Bridge on the River Kwai, Doctor Zhivago and especially Lawrence of Arabia, among Spielberg’s favorite films.

He also had the pleasure of crossing paths with Leanne when she was to film Empire of the Sun in 1987. Lin was originally slated to direct the film, before the latter suggested that Spielberg be given the job of producing.

The two filmmakers will complete their collaboration on a very ambitious project that remains unfinished, titled Nostromo.. And that left scars in the relationship between the two men…

A film director respected by Spielberg

Nostromo is a project on which a great British film director worked David Lynn. Adapted from Joseph Conrad’s famous non-adaptive work published in 1904. Nostromo, a tale by the sea, Set in a small mining town in fictional South America in the 19th century, the film was to be produced by Warner Bros. and Steven Spielberg.

“I have great respect Nostromo, which is a literary classic. But that respect can lead to a film that is very dated and not very good. On the contrary, I want to use the book as a basis for the development of a more modern story. David Lynn wrote.

And let’s add, quite confidently: “If the movie is successful, everyone who goes to buy the book will put the story down long before the 200 page mark.” That’s exactly what happened. The Seven Pillars of Wisdom , THE Doctor Zhivagoand less Road to India“.

Developed over five years and assisted by four screenwriters, the Nostromo project was intended to come together. Who is he? Cinema that blew you away: Steven Spielberg, David Lean, Peter O’Toole, Marlon Brando, Alan Rickman, Paul Scofield, Dennis Quaid, Christophe Lambert (yes yes!) and Isabella Rossellini.

But trying to reunite it proved impossible for Lin, whose mental and physical health declined as the project progressed. before dying on April 16, 1991, aged 83, just six weeks before filming was scheduled to begin.

Steven Spielberg, a very intrusive producer…

Correspondence of David Lynn submitted British Film Institute It reveals the progress of the Nostromo project to the delight of moviegoers. Leanne sent agents to accompany screenwriter Christopher Hampton to Mexico until Screen tests Debut for the lead role of Nostromo. This is how a young unknown French actor of Greek origin passed the tests: George Koraphas.

It was at this time that Spielberg embarked on an adventure, the one that came out empire of the sun. A friend of Lin’s, Spielberg stayed on top of the script and wrote endless notes about what he thought of the characters and scenes.

“Lynn Meets Spielberg in US”. says Christopher Hampton, “But he came back very upset from the exchange with her, under a pile of notes written by Spielberg. He couldn’t believe it.

David thought that Spielberg’s offer to make his film was done as a courtesy, and he did not think that he would leave his many impressions and claims on the script..

In a memo dated February 12, 1987, filled with all of Spielberg’s notes, he told Len, for example: “I’d like to see Nostromo in scenes like this as a pragmatic hero. It would be a big mistake to have Errol Flynn marching with swords in Conrad’s story (even if it’s funny); but the heroic qualities, subtle but justified, I think, will allow the character to prove himself worthy of his title… “

After a year of working with David Lean, Christopher Hampton felt that the project had made very little progress. or not at all. Desperate to write the screenplay for Les Liaisons Dangereuses when he heard that Miloš Forman was developing a film on the subject, Hampton took a six-month hiatus from the Nostromo project.

“Lin reluctantly agreed” Hampton would say:A few months later, he called me and said he was renting Robert Bolt Writing the script for Nostromo”.

The ship takes on water…

It started going downhill from there. Warner Bros. told David Lean that he didn’t want to finance more than half of the film’s budget, which kept growing: from $30 million to more than $46 million.

Spielberg, for his part, carefully left the project, which resembled a jellyfish stick – officially “Difference of opinion on the script” – and was replaced by Serge Silberman. Work on the screenplay between Robert Bolt and David Lean was unsuccessful.

In the film director’s letter to Bolt dated December 18, 1989He wrote: “Until now, I’ve only been vaguely concerned with the script, not doing justice to many of Joseph Conrad’s wonderful ideas. It’s strange that we have many beautiful scenes that are important but not connected. Just strings.

With Bolt’s health failing, David Lean decided to write the script himself…for a few more years, at the cost of increasingly precarious health. So much so that Warner asked the filmmaker to hire another director in case he was unable to complete the film.

He even signed a $4 million insurance policy for the filmmaker. Major pulled a few names out of the bag, such as Peter Yeats, John Boorman and Arthur Penn. Lin preferred the help of Robert Altman: the filmmaker and Warner finally agreed on the name of Guy Hamilton.

Lin died of throat cancer in 1991, disappointed that he was never able to complete the Nostromo project he had cherished for years.