The movie Jeff Bridges refuses to watch: “It was a terrible thing”
Hal Ashby was one of the unsung heroes of the New Hollywood movement, known for formative masterpieces such as Harold and Maude, Being There and The Last Detail, despite the cruel and abrupt ending to his filmmaking career. At the height of his power, the director worked with everyone from Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Goldie Hawn and Jane Fonda, creating touching and poignant films that masterfully interweaved both dark and light, often with an existentialist and philosophical undertone.
However, the director’s time in the business was equally as loaded as the subject matter in his films, with one of his films being butchered by the studio and eventually becoming completely pushed away from the film industry as a whole, eventually resorting to making television before becoming a recluse. Many people have spoken about his immeasurable talent and the silent tragedy of his directorial demise, with former collaborator Jeff Bridges discussing his own heartbreak at his fateful project with the director and the way it was torn apart by the studio.
Jeff Bridges is one of the most iconic and casually indifferent actors in the business, effortlessly emanating an aura of cool while starring in some of the most influential films of all time. Whether it be his legendary performance in The Big Lebowski, True Grit or The Last Picture Show, the actor has forged a singularly unique career through working with some of the most daring auteurs of his generation, such as Peter Bogdanovich, the Coen Brothers and Terry Gilliam.
However, while the actor has spoken highly about many of his experiences on the big screen, he had many sorrowful words to say about his work with Ashby and their 1986 film Eight Million Ways to Die, which ended up being his very last film.
The story follows a detective called Scudder, who is forced to shoot a suspect during a narcotics raid. However, the incident has a severe psychological impact on him and leads his life to spiral out of control. Famously, the film became the symbol of Ashby’s decline in the industry, with the project being taken away from him by the studio and completely butchered, leading to the director being completely ostracised from the industry and never directing another film again.
When discussing this, Bridges had strong words to say about how Ashby was treated and the final result of the film, saying, “It was a terrible thing, man. Hal Ashby is really a master, the whole deal. You can’t get much better than ‘Being There’ and ‘Coming Home.’ and ‘’The Last Detail.’ And they fired the guy. He finished shooting the film. Then they came in and stole the negative and wouldn’t let him edit the film. And it’s so painful for me to watch. We had these long, elaborate scenes. Hal works in a very gutsy way that’s different from a lot of directors. A lot of it’s improv. The way Hal photographed it, he knew how he was going to cut it. But when you see the finished product, it’s all cut against the grain, trying to make it something that it wasn’t”.
However, the studio executives and producers weren’t kind towards his unconventional yet creative approach, with Bridges saying, “But the way he worked, it made the bankers very nervous. And there came more and more pressure towards the end. And the producer snatched it away from him. Wouldn’t you think that Hal would know better how to cut a picture? The producer felt that it was all cut in the can, all he had to do was paste it together. It happens sometimes. You make the Mona Lisa and they say, ‘Let’s cut it up and make a collage.’ Depressing.”
The story of Hal Ashby is one of the definitive cautionary tales in Hollywood, speaking volumes about a business that favours safe storytelling over anyone who dares to resist the status quo, leading to the all-too-soon demise of a director who had many more stories to share.
