December 19, 2017
At some point, you just have to cut your losses and run. That is exactly what this production company/director should have done with this movie, but they didn't. If not for the owner of the production company dumping in a bunch of his own money to get it completed, the company would have gone out of business. As horrible as this movie was and as awful of a working experience for everyone involved, it actually was an Oscar nominee/winner, but maybe not for the category you are thinking.
Much of the movie was filmed outside the country. The star of the movie was someone we shall call TW. At this point in life, TW is permanently A list. At the time, she was A+ list and had an A+ list temper and was an A+ list diva. It took a special person to be able to work with her. The thing is though, she had MJ on her side. MJ was an extremely controlling person and he loved controlling TW. The thing is controlling her came at a price. He paid her well over $1M a year just to say he controlled her. At the same time though, he was scared she would leave him. Usually money would buy control, but with her, it was not just money he had to throw at her but a lot of his time and effort. They would have sex even though she was married at the time. They always had a sexual relationship. Their relationship was also extreme to the point where they had intense fights. Screaming, shouting, violence. It could all erupt in seconds and people knew to stay the hell out of the way.
The director of the movie was foreign born. A list director. Oscar winner/nominee. Produced celebrity offspring. We shall call him JR. Now JR was married to a woman at the time, but while he was out of the country or in the country or anywhere when not actually with his wife he liked men. He liked young men. He liked them as close to barely legal as possible and he was perfectly willing to let whatever man wanted to sleep with him have a part in whatever movie he was directing. He didn't care if the man could act, he just wanted to have the easy access to sex and JR figured any scene shot could end up on the cutting room floor if it was too awful.
The lead actor in the movie we shall call PS. One thing JR and PS had in common was there love of these barely legal men. PS was also married and also took every opportunity to be with men. JR and PS were in a country they loved, far away from home and were sleeping with as many men as possible.
Well, JR fell in love with a local man. Head over heels. He offered the man a part in the movie. A very key scene in the movie. He did this for two reasons. One was he wanted to be with the man as much as possible and being on set would make that happen. The second reason was the scene itself. Our director was really hating TW by this time and in this important scene, TW would be assaulted. JR thought this local man would terrorize TW during the scene and I think TW knew that too so complained to MJ. MJ and JR have a huge fight. Loud and public. The whole crew is watching. JR ends up getting fired.
Who takes over? MJ. This is something he really wanted from the beginning. Now he can control TW 24/7. The thing is though, MJ is having huge problems with the production. Now that he is there, TW asks and asks and asks. The production budget is exploding and 95% of it is because of TW. They get into huge screaming fights about how much she is spending and he is openly yelling at her for not sleeping with him. One night, MJ apparently got drunk and hired an escort and beat her while calling her TW. Lots of anger inside that man.
Meanwhile, PS is barely coming to shoot because he is having so much sex and using so many drugs. He is an incoherent drug addled mess at this point. The movie is a disaster. No one watched it. It was so bad it took two decades to get it on VHS.
A little side note. JR and PS had such a good time together picking up guys that they continued to do so throughout the years. It is also believed they both contracted HIV from the same lover.
Movie: "Mahogany"
TW (actress): Diana Ross (husband Robert Ellis Silberstein)
MJ: Berry Gordy
JR (director): Tony Richardson (Vanessa Redgrave)
Offspring: Natasha and Joely Richardson
PS (lead actor): Anthony Perkins (Berry Berenson)
Oscar nomination/winner: "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going To)"
At some point, you just have to cut your losses and run. That is exactly what this production company/director should have done with this movie, but they didn't. If not for the owner of the production company dumping in a bunch of his own money to get it completed, the company would have gone out of business. As horrible as this movie was and as awful of a working experience for everyone involved, it actually was an Oscar nominee/winner, but maybe not for the category you are thinking.
Much of the movie was filmed outside the country. The star of the movie was someone we shall call TW. At this point in life, TW is permanently A list. At the time, she was A+ list and had an A+ list temper and was an A+ list diva. It took a special person to be able to work with her. The thing is though, she had MJ on her side. MJ was an extremely controlling person and he loved controlling TW. The thing is controlling her came at a price. He paid her well over $1M a year just to say he controlled her. At the same time though, he was scared she would leave him. Usually money would buy control, but with her, it was not just money he had to throw at her but a lot of his time and effort. They would have sex even though she was married at the time. They always had a sexual relationship. Their relationship was also extreme to the point where they had intense fights. Screaming, shouting, violence. It could all erupt in seconds and people knew to stay the hell out of the way.
The director of the movie was foreign born. A list director. Oscar winner/nominee. Produced celebrity offspring. We shall call him JR. Now JR was married to a woman at the time, but while he was out of the country or in the country or anywhere when not actually with his wife he liked men. He liked young men. He liked them as close to barely legal as possible and he was perfectly willing to let whatever man wanted to sleep with him have a part in whatever movie he was directing. He didn't care if the man could act, he just wanted to have the easy access to sex and JR figured any scene shot could end up on the cutting room floor if it was too awful.
The lead actor in the movie we shall call PS. One thing JR and PS had in common was there love of these barely legal men. PS was also married and also took every opportunity to be with men. JR and PS were in a country they loved, far away from home and were sleeping with as many men as possible.
Well, JR fell in love with a local man. Head over heels. He offered the man a part in the movie. A very key scene in the movie. He did this for two reasons. One was he wanted to be with the man as much as possible and being on set would make that happen. The second reason was the scene itself. Our director was really hating TW by this time and in this important scene, TW would be assaulted. JR thought this local man would terrorize TW during the scene and I think TW knew that too so complained to MJ. MJ and JR have a huge fight. Loud and public. The whole crew is watching. JR ends up getting fired.
Who takes over? MJ. This is something he really wanted from the beginning. Now he can control TW 24/7. The thing is though, MJ is having huge problems with the production. Now that he is there, TW asks and asks and asks. The production budget is exploding and 95% of it is because of TW. They get into huge screaming fights about how much she is spending and he is openly yelling at her for not sleeping with him. One night, MJ apparently got drunk and hired an escort and beat her while calling her TW. Lots of anger inside that man.
Meanwhile, PS is barely coming to shoot because he is having so much sex and using so many drugs. He is an incoherent drug addled mess at this point. The movie is a disaster. No one watched it. It was so bad it took two decades to get it on VHS.
A little side note. JR and PS had such a good time together picking up guys that they continued to do so throughout the years. It is also believed they both contracted HIV from the same lover.
Movie: "Mahogany"
TW (actress): Diana Ross (husband Robert Ellis Silberstein)
MJ: Berry Gordy
JR (director): Tony Richardson (Vanessa Redgrave)
Offspring: Natasha and Joely Richardson
PS (lead actor): Anthony Perkins (Berry Berenson)
Oscar nomination/winner: "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going To)"
Can't stand Ross, the only reason she became a stah was bc she was screwing Gordy and had his kid. She's fugly inside and out. The other Supremes who were better looking and could sing better got screwed over, getting cancer and dying on Welfare raising their grandkids. Then the sh*t she said about them later.
ReplyDelete@Andi: wanna dislike her more? Scroll down to the bit about the funeral:
Deletehttp://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/b/Florence%20Ballard/florence_ballard.htm
(Scott who owns the website is a Detroit boy)
How sick is it that the actual MJ idolized Ross? Ugh.
ReplyDeletemy gosh, the people who get these blinds are amazing
ReplyDeleteI got it originally but I thought it was kinda obvious. That said, I'm oooooooooooold.
ReplyDeleteI loved Diana Ross and liked the movie, but it may have been the theme song. I still like her, but cannot stand her daughter
ReplyDeleteI like her daughter and really can't stand MZ. Ross. Motown casting couch.
ReplyDeleteI’ve only seen the daughter on Lip Sync Battle and she seemed like good fun, and likeable. Does she take after her father?
DeleteThis movie has gone on to be a cult classic. It’s on par with Valley of the Dolls in the so bad it’s good category. Also, Diana designed all of the hilariously bad fashions herself. What’s not to love?
ReplyDeleteI loved it too. Right up there with Valley of the Dolls- quality overacting, kitsch and melodrama. Oh yeah.
DeleteDiana Ross was a garbage person. But her thin voice, cosseted by brilliant Motown pros, has produced a dozen ixonic tracks...like "Mahogany"...which will outlast anything that experts in sonic pyrotechnics like Mariah, Cristina, or Celine ever created.
ReplyDelete"iconic" :)
ReplyDelete@AIP, her daughter is the mom on "black-ish." Tracy Ellis Ross. Very funny.
ReplyDeleteI saw a recent Youtube video of Diana Ross hawking her new perfume on a particular home shopping channel. She looks pretty good for 73 years old. Her plastic surgeon's got some serious skills. I've seen that movie Mahogany and I just didn't see where all the money for the budget overruns went. It wasn't a good movie and the production values didn't seem all that rich.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised that Diana Ross went on to have such a successful solo career after she left the Supremes because its obvious that her Hollywood peers don't like her very much. They snub her at every opportunity. Diana Ross is perhaps the artist most nominated for competitive awards yet never wins.
Well done CDAN comment section nailed it the first time around.
ReplyDeleteWhoa.... the Perkins couple had quite the dark cloud. He died in 1992 of AIDS. Family avoided contracting it and then Berry died on one of the 9/11 planes. That's just crazy! Those poor kids.
ReplyDelete