Word: wouk
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...needed a general as much as an artist. They turned to Dan Curtis, 55. Though he had an unimpressive list of credits, including a couple of horror movies and the soap opera Dark Shadows, they felt sure that he had the passion, talent and physical stamina for the job. Wouk was put off by Curtis' record. Only after Paramount sent him two nonhorrific Curtis TV specials did the novelist agree to see him. "He came to my home, but he wasn't wearing the bar mitzvah suit I figured a producer would wear upon meeting the author," says...
Among the major roles, Pug Henry was supposed to be solid and authoritative enough to stand alongside Presidents, Prime Ministers and dictators, yet young enough, 50 or so, to look like a rising naval officer. According to Wouk's book, he should also be shorter than his wife. The choice: the cool, laconic Mitchum, who is 65 and 6 ft. 1 in., but radiates authority with every word he does not speak...
...woman who played Natalie Jastrow was supposed to be about 33, "a big, dark Jewish girl," in Wouk's words. He wanted her so Jewish-looking that her ethnic background would be immediately obvious in several key scenes. The choice: MacGraw, who, though she claims some Jewish ancestry, does not look Jewish. She is honest enough to admit to being 43, but she looks ten years younger...
...making of The Winds of War was almost as full of hazards as a real war, and there were infinite opportunities for things to go wrong. Wouk's script ran 962 pages, contained 1,785 scenes and called for 285 speaking parts, along with thousands of extras. It was shot in 267 locations, in six countries and on two continents, and it took 13 months to film and twelve more to edit. There were about 50,000 costumes, and Mitchum alone had 112 changes. When the cameras stopped, Curtis had 1 million ft., or 185 hrs. of film, which...
...same might be said of Wouk. His plot is sometimes cumbersome and contrived. The wedding of Natalie's Polish relatives, for ex ample, looks as if it had been borrowed from Fiddler on the Roof, and the timing, the night before the German invasion, is ludicrous. His dialogue is often wooden. "Why did you insist on marrying me?" Natalie asks Byron. "We could have made love as much as you wanted. But now you've tied me to you on this rope of burning nerves." Furthermore, in all the hours of script there is scarcely a glint...