The best piece of advice Jonathan Demme was ever given: “From a fortune-teller”
Often counted among the most important American filmmakers of his generation, Jonathan Demme definitely deserves his place in the pantheon of the greats. Ranging from his beloved action comedy Something Wild to the vital sociopolitical commentary in the Academy Award-winning 1993 drama Philadelphia, Demme proved his versatility across various genres.
The most-talked-about example of his cinematic prowess will always be The Silence of the Lambs, a seminal psychological thriller that set the standard for each and every movie that has tried to follow in its footsteps. Featuring a chilling performance from the great Anthony Hopkins, the 1991 masterpiece remains a vital part of popular culture to this day.
Given the critical acclaim that is associated with Demme’s filmography, it is easy to assume that was always the case for the director. However, that’s far from the case since Demme actually got his start in the B-movie industry. Recruited by Roger Corman to work alongside him on various exploitation flicks, it was through various low-budget pulpy features that the Philadelphia director was introduced to the world of cinema.
Demme collaborated with Corman on multiple occasions throughout the 1970s, but it was only in 1974 that he was allowed to take the director’s chair. Working under the supervision of Corma, Demme made his debut feature, which was called Caged Heat. Revolving around a pretty clichéd exploitation genre, it followed a rebellious woman who tries to bring some anti-authoritarian flavour to the oppressive atmosphere of women’s prison.
During a conversation with BBC, Demme once revealed that he almost had a serious altercation with Corman about narrative decisions related to Caged Heat. However, the timely advice of someone else saved him from committing a major career mistake.
The filmmaker began: “When I was working on the screenplay for the first film that I had the opportunity to direct – which was for Roger Corman – I received a long list of script notes in response to the last draft that I had sent, and the nature of the notes made me very angry.”
In order to properly express his anger, Demme wrote a heated letter addressed to Corman detailing exactly how little he thought of the revisions he had been sent. Interestingly, a fortune teller had advised The Silence of the Lambs director not to get into any arguments with his father in the upcoming days and that prevented him from mailing the letter to Corman’s Los Angeles residence.
Demme added: “Although Roger Corman wasn’t my biological father, he certainly was a father figure to me at that moment in my career, and I remember standing there poised to drop the letter in the slot and thinking, ‘Maybe I’ll wait 24 hours in light of what the fortune-teller said.’ Well, of course I woke up the next day feeling a little better about the notes and wrote a more reasoned response and ultimately got to direct the movie. So there it is; I got good advice from a fortune-teller.”
For fans of Demme’s work who are better acquainted with the more prestigious entries in his filmography, Caged Heat is an interesting watch because it combines exploitation elements with hints of the kind of social commentary Demme would deliver later in his career. Watch the trailer for Caged Heat below.
