Guessing time!

[serai]

.
Okay, everyone. Who is this?





Nice outfit, what? So do you recognize this ravishing creature?




This, my dears, is BURT. FUCKING. LANCASTER...





...coiffed and painted and gowned for the lead role in...


...wait for it...


...Kiss of the Spider Woman.


That's right. Burt was the original choice to play the character of Luis Molina, the aging queen who shares a jail cell with Communist revolutionary Valentin Arregui, played by Raul Julia. He was very enthusiastic about playing the part, but his conception of the role clashed rather violently with the ideas that...well, everybody else had. His rewrite of the script pretty much put the nail in the coffin ("gay soap opera" is the way it was referred to by production personnel), and then he had heart surgery and was out, opening the door to William Hurt and his immense, subtle, incredible performance.

What a thing, eh?

Comments

[serai1.livejournal.com]

Oh, I do respect him. He'd just had a comeback with Atlantic City, and it was damn ballsy of him to jump so enthusiastically at a role that could easily have sunk him permanently. I just don't think it could have ended any way but badly!

[elderberrywine.livejournal.com]

give him some respect

Heh - that was meant in an ONTD sort of way ;)

This was after his role in Atlantic City, then? That was pretty ballsy then, because I remember him having a sort of renaissance after that movie.

But Local Hero? Oh, now that was so perfect for him. Damn, I love that movie.

[serai1.livejournal.com]

Wasn't it the sweetest thing? And with Mark Knopfler's lovely music. His themes always put a tear in my eye.