5/16/2023 0 Comments Pink pather steve martin![]() ![]() Levy and the film’s producer Bob Simonds - who had both worked with Martin on the first “Cheaper by the Dozen” movie in 2003 - acknowledged that the film wasn’t working. “She had a very strong view to make Clouseau a more sympathetic, likable guy versus a lecherous, groping man.”Īt the same time, Pascal wanted the filmmakers to shoot additional scenes that would clarify some confusing plot twists and punch up the film with more broad physical humor, long a strong suit of Martin’s. “Amy immediately saw the potential of the movie and wanted to enhance it,” said Nathanson, who had already identified places the film needed help. Pascal, he remembered, didn’t mince words. Already, MGM had tested the movie and found that audiences were uncomfortable with the new Clouseau, recalled MGM’s former production chief Michael Nathanson. ![]() Last spring, even before the ink was dry on billionaire Kirk Kerkorian’s deal to sell MGM to a group of equity investors including Sony, the movie was screened for Pascal at MGM’s headquarters. Martin co-wrote the script, and when it was shot, it was peppered with references to oral sex and erectile dysfunction. Martin’s Clouseau, as conceived by the comedian himself when the project began at MGM, was more sexually provocative - “a pompous lothario,” according to Levy, the director. In romantic situations, as in investigative ones, he was simply clueless. But Sellers’ Clouseau, whose thick French accent turned a simple word like “room” into an exercise in throat-clearing, was no cad. Edwards, who would go on to direct “10,” among other films, had a ribald sensibility and a love of double entendre. The first film and the several sequels that followed were hardly chaste. The original “Pink Panther,” directed by Blake Edwards, starred Sellers as a trench-coat-clad doofus whose obliviousness somehow never kept him from getting his man. By deciding “to play to our strengths and double down on adults, parents and kids,” domestic marketing chief Valerie Van Galder said, the studio’s campaign appealed both to young Martin fans and older moviegoers who remember the historic franchise. “We were hoping for the widest possible audience, and the PG really gave us an advantage.”Įxit polls showed that the movie drew families, adults without kids and a group the studio hadn’t focused on: teens. “We’re thrilled,” said Jeff Blake, Sony’s chairman of worldwide marketing and distribution. Though facing stiff competition from the teen-friendly horror sequel “Final Destination 3,” and to a lesser extent from the animated feature “Curious George,” the return of the “Panther” series - the first in more than a decade - took in an estimated $21.7 million. The revisions Pascal suggested, as well as a savvy marketing campaign that seeks to exploit Martin’s popularity among kids weaned on his “Cheaper by the Dozen” films, among others, are being credited with helping turn this “Panther” from a potential stinker into the weekend’s box-office leader. ![]()
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