- One of my closest friends - and biggest enemies - died
last weekend.
-
- Whenever I think of him, I don't think of his name but
of the title he gave himself. So it seems fitting to me to call him that
here.
-
- Starmaker.
-
- That's right. We're talking about a Hollywood type. The
subject of uncountable stories and at least two fictionalized films, Starmaker's
career was based on "discovering" unknown actors and actresses
and molding them into stars.
-
- "I pick the least-talented people I can find,"
Starmaker said to me once as we sat on the deck of his Malibu Beach home.
"That way, when they make it, everybody knows it's because of my talent,
not theirs."
-
- As you can see, modesty wasn't one of Starmaker's virtues.
Neither was honesty. In fact, his success was based on the fact that he
was the best liar any of us will ever meet in our lives.
-
- Know how most people lie by taking a little kernel of
truth and then exaggerating it? As unethical as that kind of thing is,
those of us hearing the lies often can form a judgment about their basis
in reality just by knowing a little something about the subject at hand.
-
- With Starmaker, though, that didn't work. He created
his lies out of whole cloth. "He's the most gifted actor since Al
Pacino" not only didn't mean, "He's the most gifted actor since
Al Pacino," it didn't even mean, "Hey, he went to acting school."
It meant, "I don't know a thing about this guy, and I don't care.
I just want you to believe he's a genius."
-
- So if you automatically adjusted for exaggeration and
thought to yourself, "He went to acting school," you still were
buying into a lie.
-
- In showbiz, this gave Starmaker a very big edge.
-
- Working for Starmaker was like working for a grizzly
bear with mange. His life itched him uncontrollably, and his way of scratching
was to lash out at every employee. The year I went to work for him on a
television series, I was the sixth producer in four months. He'd fired
three of them. The other two had walked off the job after threatening his
life.
-
- When I didn't do what he wanted exactly the way he wanted,
he fired me, too. But first he called the head of the network and told
him, "I'm firing this guy because he's having an affair with your
wife." Who, for the record, I didn't know. Had never met. (And I didn't
really know the head of the network, either.)
-
- Starmaker made the call in front me as I sat stunned.
When he was finished, he smiled. "You're a talented man. I know that
all you want is your piece of the pie. But any piece you get is one less
for me. So, I just made sure you'll never work at this network again."
-
- That's exactly what happened, too.
-
- Now that I've explained the "biggest enemy"
part you may be wondering about the "closest friend" side of
the coin. I wondered about it, too. I wondered why, for years after this,
Starmaker would invite my family to parties and premieres. Why he messengered
over the biggest wreath in history when my father died. Why he would call
in the middle of the night and tell me his deepest, darkest fears.
-
- I wondered, too, why I always listened. And gave sincerely
meant advice. Why in the world was I helping him?
-
- Yesterday, while Brannigan the Contractor and I were
walking through the Paradise town square, I told him about Starmaker and
how surprised I was that a man who destroyed people's lives as handily
as he created their careers was dead, and I wasn't celebrating.
-
- "That's 'cause he loved you!" Brannigan roared.
"It's as clear as that tick crawling up your arm. Of all the people
who've taken a swing at me, the ones who hit hardest were my ex-wives.
On account of they loved me and were so disappointed at how badly I loved
them back. How can you be happy when somebody who loves you dies?"
-
- I'm not sure about the love, but it could be Brannigan's
on the right track.
-
- Starmaker was rich. Famous. And also the loneliest man
I've ever known. He was always disappointed. About everything. How can
I feel anything but sorrow for a man who wasted his life demanding so much
more than anyone could ever give?
-
- *****
-
- Copyright C 2006 by Larry Brody. For permission to reprint
this column, please write to LarryBrody@cloudcreek.org.
-
- ******
-
- Author Larry Brody's weekly column, LIVE! FROM PARADISE!
appears on his website, www.larrybrody.com. He has written thousands of
hours of network television, and is the author of "Television Writing
from the Inside Out" and "Turning Points in Television."
Brody is Creative Director of The Cloud Creek Institute for the Arts, the
world's first in-residence media colony. More about his activities can
be seen on www.tvwriter.com and www.cloudcreek.org. He welcomes your comments
and feedback at LarryBrody@cloudcreek.org. Brody, his wife and their dogs,
cats, horses and chickens live in Marion County, Arkansas. The other residents
of the mythical town of Paradise reside in his imagination.
|
