How Dennis Hopper set a world record and ruined his career in a single movie
Dennis Hopper is a controversial figure known for his rebellious and haphazard approach to filmmaking, with notorious stories around his unprofessional practices on set and crazed drug habits that led him to become known as a wild card of Hollywood.
From his short-lived marriage to Michelle Phillips, which ended after just eight chaotic days, to his erratic behaviour when directing his own films, Hopper is emblematic of a troublesome period in Hollywood in which powerful men could seemingly do anything they wanted. However, while being known for a range of unpredictable and often damaging actions, he is also known for disorderly career choices that very nearly destroyed his reputation entirely, something that he managed to do with one film.
After building a name for himself through his performances in Apocalypse Now, Blue Velvet and Rebel Without a Cause, Hopper turned his hand towards directing with his 1969 film Easy Rider. The story follows two bikers who complete a drug deal in Southern California and travel cross-country in search of the deeper meaning of life.
Hopper was lauded with acclaim for the film, which undoubtedly inflated his ego to a colossal size that tainted his 1971 film The Last Movie. However, those who rise the highest often fall the hardest, and the aptly titled project marked the beginning of his demise, something that he spurred himself through his awful editing that critics ripped apart. The director had experienced conflict with the studio that led him to continually cut the film, making it feel disjointed and choppy, but not in an artistic or intentional way.
However, as well as the questionable editing, the film was made nearly unbearable through the opening credits, which were a whopping 30 minutes long and broke a record for the longest pre-credit sequence of all time. This is perhaps the most overt display of his delusional ego and creative judgment, becoming so clouded by the validation he received that he could not cut any of his ideas.
Many directors believe that unlimited freedom is needed to fulfil their vision but don’t realise that too many choices can actually ruin a project. Sometimes, the most constructive word a filmmaker can hear is ‘no’, and if no one challenges your ideas or questions your vision, it can become convoluted and messy.
As creatives, many need sounding boards to define and shape ideas. Otherwise, every terrible thought would make it onto the page or screen simply because there was no friction or conflict, which is arguably the most valuable part of the creative process. Directors like Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan have also suffered from this fate, believing that more money is equal to more freedom, while independent filmmakers prove that this isn’t the case due to making more risks and daring choices as a result of working with less.
The Last Movie was a flop because of this, showing that external validation and power can be detrimental to the process of making, and just because you can, it doesn’t mean you should.
