Paramount Home Media is prepping a 40th Anniversary edition of auteur director Robert Altman’s Popeye, starring Robin Williams and Shelly Duvall, for the Blu-ray debut (with Digital Copy) on Dec. 1.
One of the legends of Hollywood, the late Robert Evans, who, during his time as the head of Paramount produced such films as Rosemary’s Baby, True Grit, Love Story, Godfather, Godfather: Part II, Chinatown and more, noticed one day — as legend has it — that the theme song spawned by the Popeye cartoons, earned a lot money each year in royalties. Hmmmm. Why not make a live-action movie and take advantage of all that interest??
So, he approached King Features, which owned the Popeye character, and cut a deal for the movie rights. During the next two years just about every director that had worked at Paramount, including Hal Ashby (Harold and Maude) and Mike Nichols (Catch-22) were considered for the film, but it ultimately went to Robert Altman, whose Nashville in 1975 (also at Paramount) had been nominated for Best Picture and Altman for Best Director.
Parallel to this search for the director, were the trade reports that various actors were being considered for the parts of Popeye and Olive Oyl. Lilly Tomlin (from Altman’s Nashville) was a strong contender and Dustin Hoffman was recruited for the lead, but he had a dispute with Robert Evans over the script and was let go.
Hot on ABC television at the time was the Emmy-nominated comedy show, Mork & Mindy (also a Paramount production), which starred a stand-up comedian by the name of Robin Williams. Inspired casting … Robin Williams as Popeye!!
Oops, Lilly Tomlin walks … there goes Olive Oyl. Gilda Radnor was recruited, but conflicts with her Saturday Night Live schedule caused her to drop … there goes another Olive Oyl!! The problem was solved when Shelly Duvall (also of Altman’s Nashville) got the gig.
You’ve got the cast, the director and now shooting the film. It was going to be too expensive to film it in the United States, so Altman found the Island of Malta to be the perfect spot. An elaborate set — the town of “Sweethaven” — was built, which was saved and is now a popular tourist attraction on Malta.
The rest, as they say, is history!!
As to bonus goodies, there are four featurettes included — “Return to Sweethaven: A Look Back with Robin and the Altmans,” “The Popeye Company Players,” “Popeye’s Premiere” and “The Sailor Man Medleys.”
Also added to the release calendar this week from Paramount Home Media is the DVD debut of writer/director Brian Duffield’s film adaptation of Aaron Starmer’s whimsical coming-of-age novel, Spontaneous, which will be available on Nov. 10.
Strange, high school has never been quite like the one that Mara Carlyle (Katherine Langford — Knives Out) attends. Right in the middle of class, BOMB, a fellow student explodes!!
How does one date, explore a possible relationship with a fellow student, in this case, Dylan (Charlie Plummer — Boardwalk Empire, All the Money in the World), if he could explode at any moment? Students are popping here and there … oops, there goes another.
Students are rounded up, hauled off to be examined. The school is shutdown, classes canceled. No senior prom. But it’s high school and life has to go on.
Spontaneous is a wild comedy ride, filled with social commentary and certainly it is like no other high school “coming-of-age” film ever made. Period!! Nov. 10, be sure to check it out when it arrives on DVD from Paramount Home Media.
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