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Make no mistake, some test audiences missed the wink.
And one thats so bad?
At that point, six weeks into its platform release, it had only grossed $1.3 million.
Nobody will get rich, Aljean Harmetz predicted.
Its quite a run for a film that began with an overheard conversation in a hotel lobby.
This went on for a good 20 minutes, Guest toldRolling Stone.
Reiner played Wolfman Jack in the sketch, which spoofed the late-night music program The Midnight Special.
The actors improvised most of their dialogue.
But the scripts improvisational nature meant the filmmaking crew couldnt shop it around to fund-raise their budget.
Columbia, MGM, Twentieth, Orion.
They just didnt feel it had any appeal.
She bought the pitch on the spot.
He was the right guy for the job, according to Reiner.
He kept saying to me, I dont understand, whats funny about this?
the director told the Tribeca audience.
This is exactly what they do!
The improvisation also meant they had to set aside more money for film stock than your average movie.
We shot each scene three or four times, Reiner told theTimes.
The first time, Id just turn on the camera and see what happened.
The second time, we added things or changed focus.
The third time was to get variations, and the fourth time was for cutaway shots.
We knew we had something good, Reiner said.
What we didnt know was whether anyone else would like it.
The audiences who loved it,reallyloved it.
Itsbest lineshave become catchphrases and its scenes have become shorthand for discussing the state of rock music.
And that didnt take any time at all.
My favorite thing was, we had this idea with Stonehenge, Reiner said Saturday.
And they werefuriousat us!
His verdict after all this time: Still pretty good!
Thereisa fine line between stupid and clever, he explained, and hopefully, we hit it.
