It'd be good to see a special edition dvd / blu-ray release for 'Petulia' (1968), with lots of extras, as it seems to have had an interesting production history.
Robert Altman worked on bringing it to the screen with dancer, actress and screenwriter Barbara Turner. Decades later, Altman directed Turner's daughter Jennifer Jason Leigh in 'Short Cuts' (1993) and 'Kansas City' (1996), whom he once described as a quiet "ghost" on set who became electric in front of the camera. Altman produced Alan Rudolph's biographical drama 'Mrs. Parker And The Vicious Circle' (1994) in which Leigh played poet and writer Dorothy Parker.
Turner wrote Altman's fascinating backstage drama 'The Company' (2003), which she designed with actress Neve Campbell who has a background in ballet. It co-starred Malcolm McDowell who was in one of my favourite Richard Lester films, 'Royal Flash' (1975). Incidentally, McDowell and Leigh worked together on 'Rag Tale' (2005).
Altman's stock company player René Auberjonois is listed as appearing uncredited in 'Petulia', as are comics Peter Bonerz, Carl Gottlieb, Kathryn Ish, Gary Goodrow, Howard Hesseman and Richard Stahl who were members of improvisational comedy troupe the Committee. Also, playwright Austin Pendleton.
“It was really weird. I went to Bob with it, and Bob read it and he thought it was good. So he was going to do it, but just before they were supposed to start shooting, it fell apart … Then Bob read a novel called Me and the Arch Kook Petulia, and he called me and he said : ‘I think you could do Petulia. It reminds me of you.’ So I did that screenplay.”
- Barbara Turner, 'Memory Lane : Barbara Turner, Robert Altman, & Me'
"After a long professional acquaintance that began on an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, director Robert Altman and screenwriter Barbara Turner are about to release their first major collaboration. Their new film The Company will open nationwide on December 25th. Filmed here on location last fall, The Company is a dramatization of life in Chicago’s famous Joffrey Ballet Company. When Altman and Turner first met, she was a New York-trained actress and he was a promising young television director ...
... But, even though it was virtually ignored by theater patrons (grossing a paltry $2,281,585 in domestic box office receipts and $6,415,017 internationally), The Company was my own favorite film of 2003. Richard, my hubby, liked it well enough, but when I took women friends, they loved it as much as I did. I ended up seeing it FOUR times before it disappeared from big screens – even in Chicago! – forever."
- Jan Lisa Huttner, 'Memory Lane : Barbara Turner, Robert Altman, & Me'
Miranda Richardson, Robert Altman & Jennifer Jason Leigh in Cannes, France
Jennifer Jason Leigh & Barbara Turner
You have Nicolas Roeg behind the camera, Antony Gibbs editing, music by John Barry ... a lot of talent involved in the making of 'Petulia'. Wes Craven was a great admirer of Richard Lester, I enjoyed hearing him talk about Lester's work. Both Craven and Lester were in the frame to direct 'Superman IV : The Quest For Peace' (1987), but according to movie legend, Lester declined the offer and Christopher Reeve objected to Craven's involvement. The job went to Sidney Furie.
Lester had previously directed 'Superman II' (1980) and 'Superman III' (1983), as Richard Donner didn't return to the director's chair following the success of 'Superman' (1978).
“She was the perfect living ditz. From losing her keys to her contact lenses to not remembering names of the people working on the film. I just fell in love with Margot (Kidder) for what a wonderful, off the wall, brilliant, loving person she was. She was one in a million.”
- Richard Donner, The Telegraph
“I love Dick Donner with my heart and my soul and I always will.”
- Margot Kidder speaking in 2009, DC Cinema
Neve Campbell & Wes Craven
Wes Craven on Richard Donner's 'The Omen' (1976) : Parts 1 & 2 [SPOILERS!!]
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I might look for the novel, 'Me And The Arch Kook Petulia' (1966), written by German dentist Dr. John Haase. It says online that his family moved to San Francisco during the 1930s. The book was published during what is a favourite period for me for fiction.