Half a century of the Paper Moon
On April 9, 1973, Peter Bogdanovich's film "Paper Moon" premiered in Hollywood. The plot of the picture is based on the novel "Addie Pray" by American front-line writer Joe David Brown, published in 1971.
The film adaptations of Joe David Brown's previous two novels were quite successful: in 1950 a film based on his novel "Stars in My Crown" was released, and in 1958 a film based on the novel "Kings Go Forth". So when his third novel, "Addie Pray", about the adventures of two "brilliant swindlers" was released, based on the writer's impressions received when he first began his literary career as a crime reporter for the Birmingham Post, Paramount Pictures had no doubts in the expediency of the film adaptation of this novel.
Initially, it was assumed that the film adaptation of Brown's novel would be carried out by John Huston. Houston planned to take Paul Newman and his daughter Nell Potts to the main roles in the film, who had recently successfully played in her father's film "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds". However, for unknown reasons, John Huston dropped out of the project. It can be assumed that he, as well as Paul Newman, found the project "The MacKintosh Man" more interesting. In addition, Paul Newman was already preparing for one of his star roles in Roy George Hill's film "The Sting".
Instead of Huston, Peter Bogdanovich was appointed to the position of director of the film based on Brown's book. A few words about this not very well-known director. He was born in the USA in July 1939, just a few days after his parents, who had fled Europe from Nazism, arrived in America. Peter's father, Borislav Bogdanovich, is an ethnic Serb, was an artist and a pianist. Peter's mother, Herma (née Robinson), came from a wealthy family of Austrian Jews. Since childhood, Peter has been an avid moviegoer, since the age of 16 playing in amateur productions and on television.
In the early 60s, Peter Bogdanovich gained fame as a film theorist thanks to his film reviews and publications on the work of many filmmakers, in particular, Orson Welles, John Ford, Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock and others. In addition to purely theoretical works, Bogdanovich published his own scripts, one of which attracted the attention of the famous director and producer Roger Corman. With the support of Roger Corman, in 1968 Peter Bogdanovich released his first feature film Targets. Fortunately, Bogdanovich soon managed to free himself from Corman's "guardianship", which allowed him to completely independently make the film "The Last Picture Show" in 1971, which brought him worldwide fame and financial success. In the wake of this success, Peter Bogdanovich, along with Francis Ford Coppola and William Friedkin ("The French Connection"), and with the participation of Paramount Pictures, created the film company "The Directors Company", which was entrusted with the film adaptation of the novel by Joe David Brown.
Having assumed the duties of the director of the film based on Brown's book, Peter Bogdanovich replaced the main actors with Ryan O'Neal and his daughter Tatum. Unlike Nell Potts, 9-year-old Tatum O'Neal had no cinematic experience. In addition, Bogdanovich made other changes in the plan previously outlined by Huston. In particular, he decided to change the name of the future film. Instead of "Addie Pray", by association with the extremely popular song "It's just a paper moon" in the early 30s, he decided to use this name. The main authority for Bogdanovich - Orson Welles - approved this decision. But in addition to this approval, Welles advised Bogdanovich to make the film in black and white. To strengthen the associative line with the times of the Great Depression. Some other changes were also made, mainly due to the fact that the age of the main character had to be reduced to 9 from the age of 12.
A month after the premiere in Hollywood, the film "Paper Moon" was released in US cinemas and very quickly became very popular with American moviegoers. Thanks to this, with a budget of $ 2.5 million, the film collected almost $ 31 million, or the film paid off more than 12 times.
In September 1973, the film "Paper Moon" took part in the International Film Festival in San Sebastian, Spain, where Peter Bogdanovich was awarded the Silver Seashell (together with Melvin Frank, director of the British film "A Touch of Class", and Andrzej Wajda, director of the Polish film "Wesele (The Wedding)"). In early 1974, the film "Paper Moon" received 6 nominations from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. But the Golden Globe was awarded only in one nomination - the Most Promising Newcomer - Female. This prize was awarded to the 10-year-old by that time Tatum O'Neal. In the nomination for Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical, "Paper Moon" lost to George Lucas's film "American Graffiti", and the nomination for Best Director - Motion Picture was given preference to William Friedkin, director of the film "The Exorcist".
A little later, in the same 1974, Peter Bogdanovich's film "Paper Moon" received 4 Oscar nominations and again won only one - Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Once again, Tatum O'Neal was declared the winner. According to the memoirs of both Tatum herself and Vivian Kubrick, the daughter of Stanley Kubrick, at the time of the announcement of the Oscar winners, dad and daughter O'Neals were visiting the Kubricks - Ryan was filming "Barry Lyndon" at that time. Ryan was so annoyed that Tatum won an Oscar when he wasn't even nominated that he hit his daughter hard. Oh, those acting habits!
Peter Bogdanovich, and some critics following him, expressed the opinion that the Academy's decision was unfair, that Tatum O'Neal received an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, that she should have been nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role, since her role in the film was no less important than her father's. Moreover, the film was based on a book originally named after the heroine played by Tatum. On the one hand, it is. But on the other hand, if Tatum were nominated for Best Leading Actress, her competitors would be Barbra Streisand, Ellen Burstyn, Joan Woodward and Glenda Jackson, who won the nomination. It is unlikely that a 9-year-old girl without acting experience could have won such a competition. And in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role nomination, there was no such strong competition. Which allowed Tatum to become the youngest Oscar winner (Shirley Temple received an Oscar at the age of 6, but not for a specific role, but, so to speak, for the totality of her merits.) By the way, a little later, in the same 1974, the Italian Film Academy awarded its David di Donatello Barbra Streisand and Tatum O'Neal as Best Foreign Actress.
Over the years since the release of the film on the screens, the sympathy for him from moviegoers has not decreased at all. 72% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users rated the picture from 8 to 10. Taking into account this indicator and the above, the rating of Peter Bogdanovich's film "Paper Moon" according to FilmGourmand was 8.49, which allowed it to take 327th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
