Alex Thrawn: Since you have been a successful screenwriter for nearly 30
years what tips can you give to young
screenwriters trying to break into the business?
Alan Ormsby: Write what you care about. Get lucky.
AT: Was a Cat People remake commissioned by Universal?
AO: Yes.
AT: Were you involved with the casting? Did you have anyone in mind when you were
writing the screenplay?
AO: I gave my opinion. I wanted Nick Nolte to play the zookeeper.
AT: How involved were you with the film once it started
shooting? Were you called in for any rewrites?
AO: I did various rewrites as the shoot went on.
AT: When did you first see the completed film and what
were your thoughts?
AO: I don't remember when. I thought it was an interesting exercise in style but I knew it was going to flop.
AT: How close to your final script was the completed film?
AO: I wrote several scripts. Originally Roger Vadim was going to direct, he gave me
his ideas and I incorporated them. He was fired and Schrader came on; I incorporated his changes and ideas.
AT: In the book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls by Peter Biskind
he claims that the director Paul Schrader was using
cocaine and that his affair with Kinski really screwed
him up and hurt the editing of the film. Do you feel
this is true?
AO: Paul Schrader made the film he wanted to make. I don't know about his personal stuff.
AT: Were you familiar with Malcolm McDowell before and what did you
think of his performance?
AO: Malcolm was fine, but I wanted David bowie who ironically ended up doing some of
the music. I knew Malcolm's work from A
Clockwork Orange, if...., etc.
AT: Because I am a Malcolm McDowell fan I look at the film differently than other people might. Since Malcolm spends as much time in the film as a cat as he does a man I feel he is wasted as a character. What is your feeling on this?
AO: Wasted how? he was in the movie as much as he needed to be.
AT: I feel Malcolm/Paul was wasted because as he waited for decades to reunite with Irena and then he runs out and gets turned into a cat in some seedy hotel for most of the film.
AO: I think because you're a Malcolm fan you put too much emphasis on the
character he played. His was a supporting role, the movie was not about him.
AT: If the idea of "let's show it" was in play, how come Malcolm's transformation was barely shown? Was the
length they went to in an "American Werewolf in London" a
concern?
AO: American werewolf in London was good until you saw the werewolf, who looked like
a big teddy bear. I don't remember it being a particular concern.
AT: Do you have a favorite scene in the film that didn't appear in the original
or a cut scene?
AO: It's hard to remember at this late date.
AT: With the tagline "An Erotic Fantasy For The Animal In Us All." It sounds more pornographic than horror. What was the intended market?
AO: Erotic, not pornographic. I think it was perceived to be a horror film.
AT: Do you know what the budget was and the final box office take was?
AO:
18 million? I don't know the take; it was not a success.
AT: What do you attribute its lack of box office success?
AO: Whom the gods would destroy they first make successful in showbiz.
AT: After being involved in a remake would you recommend the
experience to others?
AO: Sometimes they work (the remake of Body Snatchers; or The Thing) sometimes they
don't.
AT: What did you think of the new Cat People DVD?
AO: I haven't watched it.
AT: How come you weren't involved in the 2002 DVD release?
AO: Ask universal. Apparently the director makes the movie all by himself these
days.
AT: If the film was more successful do you think there would've been a sequel
like there was for the
original?
AO: I hear they're going to remake the remake.
AT: If you were asked to remake Cat People today what would you do differently?
AO: I wouldn't bother.
AT: Why did you write Popcorn under the pseudonym Tod Hackett?
AO: Long story.
AT: How come we can't have those William Castle type gimmicks today?
AO: Ask the studios.
AT: Today if a film does poorly in its opening weekend it can be gone in a week. Has this made your job as a writer harder?
AO: Everything makes the writer's job harder these days.
This entire page © 2003-08 Alex D. Thrawn for www.MalcolmMcDowell.net