Richard LaGravenese: The Ladies' Man

"I heard that Meryl Streep agreed to do the movie because your script was so great."

"That's what I heard, too. I read it in the paper. But don't write that..."

"Get over it," I say. "She should be bowing down before you. Remember, the movie she did before Bridges was The River Wild!"

"But I loved The River Wild. She's one of our true heroines. You know, I didn't meet her until the premiere of Bridges. I was nervous, because I'm such a huge fan. I went over and started telling her all this, and she was so sweet. Then she said. 'Write me another script.' That would be my dream."

"Unstrung Heroes has an unbelievably moving performance by Andie MacDowell, and she's not an actress known for her range ..."

"Oh, I think she's fabulous. I believe her responses when I see her on the screen, and I believe her emotions. The character was a strong, loving woman, and Andie really brought all that together. She was pregnant during the filming, so she was so full of love and life."

"Did you work with her during the shoot?"

"No, again I didn't because I had spent a lot of time with [director] Diane Keaton working out the problems. By the time they shot it, the script was in pretty good shape and they didn't need me. Some directors like to have the writer around, some don't."

"How is it possible that the person who wrote The Ref, which is screamingly funny, also wrote A Little Princess, which was so sweet, or Bridges, which is so full of melancholy, or The Fisher King, which was wild and smart?"

"Just like any actor or director, you have different pans of yourself that you tap to create certain projects. There's a part of me that's very dark and cynical, and once I realized that was the tone of The Ref, I got to get a lot of my frustrations out. I also produced The Ref so I got to see it through. And when we cast Judy Davis, that was fantastic, because she brought intelligence and a wonderful sense of danger to the role. A lot of the rewrites I did with her, because whatever didn't ring true for her, she wouldn't say. She won't talk shit. And that just forced me to go to the plate more."

"Who else would you like to write for?"

"I couldn't say, because if I left someone out I couldn't stand it."

"Oh come on."

"I'm frightened by this, because I don't want to miss that rare great, like Mary McDonnell. But definitely Geena Davis, Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Lange, Anjelica Huston, Sally Field..."

I stop him before he goes through the entire rosier of SAG. "How about some of the younger actresses?" I ask hopefully.

"Elisabeth Shue, Jeanne Tripplehorn. Julianne Moore, who I think is terrific, Robin Wright, who I've loved since State of Grace. Gwyneth Paltrow, Holly Hunter. Marisa Tomei..." I think I may fall asleep before he gets to the end of the alphabet.

"Aren't you in the process of writing Honey West?"

"Yes. Do you remember the show on television as a kid? I remember seeing this scene of Honey West in this tight black cat suit, and she was beating the shit out of this guy. It stuck with me. I got this two-picture deal at Danny DeVito's company (Jersey Films), and this sounded like a good, commercial idea. Believe me, I don't have too many commercial ideas. We watched some of the old shows--it was only on one year, from '65 to '66--and we thought it could be a lot of fun."

"Who played Honey West?"

"Anne Francis. She drove me wild. She had this pet ocelot, and she used to karate-chop men in these sequin gowns with slits up to her belly and these high heels. Really sexy."

"Anyone who thinks Anne Francis is sexy might not be too reliable on the subject," I say.

"What? She's not? Don't break my heart now. You didn't even like her beauty mark?"

"Who do you imagine as Honey West in the film?" Personally, I'm thinking Patrick Swayze.

"I couldn't say. I wouldn't want to hurt anyone's feelings."

"Look, Richard," I tell him, "just let your imagination go wild."

"No," he chastises me. "I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, especially actresses.

They get their feelings hurt enough. We have to protect people with souls. The rest don't matter, because there's nothing inside of them anyway."

I roll my eyes. "And then you're going to direct a film ..."

"Yes, it's called The Kiss, and I'm working on it now. I'm still searching for the story. It's inspired by these two Chekhov short stories, in the same way that The Fisher King was inspired by the myth of the Holy Grail. It's modem. It's about a woman in her late 40s who was married for over 20 years. And her husband leaves her when he makes a younger woman pregnant. It's sort of inspired by someone I know, who was this wonderful free spirit when she was young. And then she got married and went into a coma! And their marriage fell apart seven years later. She's younger than the woman I'm writing about, but I'm more interested in women in their 40s--I just think their journeys have more weight. And this story is about not being a victim, about taking responsibility and not abandoning yourself when you marry someone. As soon as I started writing this, it started happening to women all around me. So I think I'm on to something good."

"Have you ever directed anything?" I ask.

"No," he says with a shrug. "But I had never written a screenplay before The Fisher King. I'm writing this role because I cannot wait to see an actress dig her teeth into it. It's going to be great. And if I make mistakes? Fuck it...I'm not afraid. If I can make a living as a writer, I can do anything."

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Martha Frankel interviewed Matt LeBlanc for the March issue of Movieline.

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