Why didn't directors of the new American cinema like Scorsese and Spielberg work with megawatt stars like Elizabeth Taylor?

Because they prefered to work with actresseswho cold actually act OP

Because they preferred to work with actresses who could actually act OP

Why don't you ask why directors of the new American cinema like Scorsese and Spielberg didn't work with megawatt stars like ME OP ?

Spielberg was making movies about killer sharks OP, not killer whales

Spielberg worked with Miss Joan Crawford on an early episode of "Night Gallery" in 1969.

There is also the "New Hollywood" vs. "Old Hollywood". Elizabeth Taylor was an old Hollywood star. The new directors didn't have much interest in old Hollywood stars. Plus films like "Jaws" were a new phenomenon in that no one knew or cared over much who was in them - it was the shark that was the star and the concept. Spielberg would pioneer the concept blockbuster.

Then there is the problem of budget - Scorsese made it big with "Mean Streets" in 1973 and had low budgets and little known actors. His budgets could not accommodate million dollar salaries like Taylor was pulling down. Plus the gritty urban milieu of his films and Taylor's glossy old Hollywood glamor were like oil and water. Taylor started working less and less in the seventies and often was filming in Europe. Scorsese loved filming on the New York streets.

Taylor was not a megawatt star in that era OP, she was a mega Has been. She's redeemed herself through charity work, but after Boom, and secret ceremony, she was a BIG joke, and in the 70's, she was nothing. A sad relic of the past.

Ha!

She was a novelty act by the time they were working and controlling their casts (mostly). They two didn't do farce.

Elizabeth would have been great in Alice doesn't live here anymore.

I have a sense directors of the 'new Hollywood' era didn't quite have the same reverence we have now for these (then) aging stars at the time.

The new cinema was about making movies with good writing and visual storytelling featuring nobodies who wouldn’t get in the way of that.

The old cinema was about stars in overwrought melodramas, with good writing or storytelling not getting in the way of that.

The person who used the term "megawatt stars" as the OP needs to be get a good jolt and sent back to freshman physics and Gay Language 101.

[QUOTE] Elizabeth would have been great in Alice doesn't live here anymore.

YES! AS THE BUS jODIE FOSTER AND THE OTHER 25 KIDS BOARD EVERY MORNING

The only work these stars of Hollywood's bygone era could get were gigs on Love Boat and the prime time soaps. Oh and Angie gave pity on her old cronies and got them work on Murder, She Wrote.

[quote]Elizabeth would have been great in Alice doesn't live here anymore.

& she had all that experience working as a waitress on the way up!

She worked with Mike Nichols in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf".

That was in 1966 and she wasn't even 35 yet R15. She was hardly past her prime at that point.

Just getting Taylor to the set and to have her learn her lines and hit her mark would have been a feat all its own. Thats why you rarely see these old broads in films especially if they havent worked in awhile.

I can’t see Elizabeth Taylor in a Scorsese film. It sounds like something from an SCTV sketch.

As for Spielberg, he’s never demonstrated much interest in adult female characters.

[quote]I can’t see Elizabeth Taylor in a Scorsese film.

She could always play the wealthy broad who gets a pie in the bazoo.

But Nichols was definitely New Hollywood, R16

After Virginia Woolf Taylor for the most part was more interested in doing parts for a paycheck to fund her jet set lifestyle then expanding her artistic horizons.

She was old Hollywood despite being 10-20 years younger then old Hollywood and being close to the same age/not much older than a lot of the actresses that came on the scene in the late 60s early 70s. Natalie Wood fit into this category,

Taylor would have made a great jewish mobster wife like the one in Goodfellas.

Fassbinder would have, had he been American.

^ Yes. Fassbinder had guts.

Does Spielberg still have Joan's Oscar?

Jesus imagine trying to get thru the workday with this.

Elizabeth Taylor started out well enough in early 1960's (Butterfield 8, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf", then came teaming up with Richard Burton for "Taming of the Shrew" in 1967. After that it was a slow decline IMHO. Ms. Taylor mostly began working in Europe an or television.

In 1970 Hollywood teamed Ms. Taylor up with young Warren Beatty for "The Only Game In Town" which was a huge flop.

There was oscar talk for her performance in Ash Wednesday. She earned a Globe Drama nomination for it.

Taylor could act. And had she dropped the glamour more often, like she did in Virginia Woolf, she would have been able to sustain a longer career in movies. She was too young to be put in the same league as Hepburn and Davis, but she unfortunately was.

They wanted Streisand for Alice. If you want to talk about misguided casting choices, start there.

Scorcese did later in his career (Nicholson, Cruise, Newman)...

I think the mega-watt stars are just as much to blame as the directors though. Elizabeth Taylor didn't seem interested in doing interesting work. Even her best work was over-the-top Oscar bait.

R27

While yes, Ms. Taylor was younger than Hepburn or Davis, but by same token she wasn't a spring chicken either. By 1970 as clip from "The Only Game In Town" shows Elizabeth Taylor was dangerously approaching mutton dressed as lamb territory.

Desired body type for females by late 1960's early 1970's had changed from the full figured sort like Ms. Taylor, to something more svelte. The stunning Ann-Margaret was called a "tub of lard" in film "Carnal Knowledge" in 1971.

No doubt about it, Ms. Taylor could act. But so could many other actress and actors in same demographic or a generation ahead at that time who came out of the old studio system. Large problem for the all was finding something that not only suited their talents but looks, age, etc....

We would have, but we needed people who could fit in the frame

[quote] ^ Yes. Fassbinder had guts.

Fassbinder would have because he adored schlock.

By 1970 Elizabeth Taylor was 38 years old, well past age when many other actress long had been sidelined.

As that famous line from song goes; "first your another sloe eyed vamp, then someone's mother, then you're camp".

La Taylor was never going to do mother roles, but again romantic lead roles were going to younger women. Her well known and publized battles with booze, pills and weight meant you never knew which Elizabeth Taylor you were going to get from day to day. As her work in "A Little Night Music" proved, Ms Taylor went from bloated to slim, back to bloated......

I wouldn't say Natalie was in the exact same category, she could have done interesting new Hollywood projects after B&C&T&A, that was a MASSIVE hit, but she decided to retire to raise her brat Gregson. She turned down THE GRADUATE,GOODBYE COLOMBUS, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID,TOWERING INFERNO, and even GATSBY, after that, Hollywood had no time for her and she couldn't finance THE DAY OF WINE AND ROSES, her passion project. Also she became tacky by association with " the faggot" (as per her own mother). People now prefer to swipe that under the carpet, but in the 70's , Taylor was essentially a fundraiser for her repub husband, the senator whatever, husband #26. There's an anecdote that Nat and Liz were invited at a party in the mid 70's, and Liz had been away from HD for years and had become a greaseball. When Nat saw her, she had to leave, and was found crying in the lobby.

[quote] There was oscar talk for her performance in Ash Wednesday.

BY WHOM ??? Richard Burton ??? The 70's commercials for OIL OF OLAY are better than Ash Wednesday

Liz would have been perfect for Paul Sorvino's role in Goodfellas.

Which faggot, R33?

R36 you know which, RJ

Pick any year in decade of 1970's and find one film in top ten or even maybe 15 that "megawatt" old school Hollywood actors like Liz Taylor could find roles.

To combat growing rise of television and to limited extent European imports Hollywood was offerering a different bill of fare by 1970's. Thing with more edge and pushing the envelope that people couldn't get on television.

R38 we could dear

Both Spielberg and Scorsese are notorious for not being able to film women.

really R40?

Yes. They take beautiful women and don’t know how to film them they way they do men. Spielberg has admitted as much himself.

Spielberg can cover Liam Neeson in shit an make him look like a God but give him Audrey Hepburn and he’s helpless.

It is no coincidence most interesting looking woman in a Scorsese movie has been tomboy teenage Jodie Foster. He made Michelle Pfeiffer look like a poodle.

Ellen Burstyn was born the same year as Elizabeth Taylor (1932) and had been a working actress since 1958, an era when Taylor was at the height of her movie stardom. Burstyn went on to become a darling of New Hollywood, working with daring young directors like Scorsese, Bogdanovich, Friedkin, etc., which gave her a fresh, cool, and modern, real woman vibe, whereas Miss Taylor was firmly entrenched in that Old Hollywood fantasy land of glamour and extravagance and conventional moviemaking.

Even older was Gena Rowlands yet she seemed more contemporary than Liz.

Another 50s relic, Doris Day, had the chance to transform her career when she was offered Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate. She turned it down and remained a relic.

Doris playing Mrs Robinson instead of Annie Bancroft rings like Betty Grable playing Scarlett O'hara to me

Warren Beatty turned down "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid".

Paul Newman was in from the start, but it took some work to get other role filled. Jack Lemmon wasn't interested, neither was Steve McQueen nor Marlon Brando. Joanne Woodward put Robert Redford's name forward and later was joined by Paul Newman and a few others to put RR over finish line.

Taylor wanted to play the swimming naked girl who gets eaten at the beginning of "Jzaws," but Spielberg didn't think anyone would believe the shark would ever still be hungry afterwards.

[quote] Another 50s relic, Doris Day, had the chance to transform her career when she was offered Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate. She turned it down and remained a relic.

???

She had a successful sitcom that started the year afterwards and ran for five seasons.

Doris Day would never been sucessful as a cougar on the prowl (Mrs. Robinson). Few would also believe ever so perfect Doris Day got knocked up and thus had to marry "Mr. Robinson...."

Now a 1958, 1959 or 1960 Elizabeth Taylor might have pulled off "Mrs. Robinson", but character would have been totally different.

If "Gloria Wandrous" was going to be a mother (Mrs. Robinson), who would (or could) be cast as her daughter.

[quote] Spielberg worked with Miss Joan Crawford on an early episode of "Night Gallery" in 1969.

That Night Gallery episode was Spielberg's first professional job. Crawford complained to the producers in writing about how upset she was to be assigned an inexperienced director and nearly dropped out. But he went to her apartment to discuss the episode with her and she was so impressed with his knowledge of film history and his technical expertise, both on and off set, that she became one of his earliest Hollywood champions. She talked him up and recommended him often. He himself appreciated her always professional behavior. They remained friends and stayed in contact until her death.

Why didn't Mike Nichols cast Ava Gardener in The Graduate, she was tailor made for the role - his story doesn't hold water, was he intimidated?

"Mike Nichols met with actress Ava Gardner to discuss playing the role of Mrs. Robinson with her. Here’s Nichols recalling the meeting to Vanity Fair:

Mike Nichols went to see Ava Gardner at her suite in the Regency Hotel, in New York, a memory he now treasures, though “it was scary at the time.” When he arrived at two p.m., he was a bit taken aback to find hanging around the suite “a group of men who could only be called lounge lizards: pin-striped suits, smoking in the European way—underhand—with greased-back hair. To my complete horror, Ava Gardner said, ‘Everybody out! I want to talk to my director. Out, out, out!’ ” She then asked for the phone, saying, “I’ve been trying to call Papa all day!”Nichols thought to himself, I can’t do this. I don’t think I can do this whole thing, especially since Ernest “Papa” Hemingway, with whom Gardner had worked and been friendly, had died in 1961.The 44-year-old actress then told Nichols, “The first thing you must know is I don’t take my clothes off for anybody.”“Well, I don’t think that would be required,” replied Nichols.She then confided, “The truth is, you know, I can’t act. I just can’t act! The best have tried.”Nichols answered, “Oh, Miss Gardner, that’s simply not true! I think you’re a great movie actress”…Nonetheless, Nichols quickly recognized the impossibility of working with her and an offer was never made."

[quote] It is no coincidence most interesting looking woman in a Scorsese movie has been tomboy teenage Jodie Foster. He made Michelle Pfeiffer look like a poodle.

Yeah, Scorsese isn't really that good with directing women. I felt Pfeiffer and Ryder were both miscast in The Age of Innocence.

Depends, r52. Scorsese got career bests out of Sharon Stone and Lorraine Bracco.

Scorsese did all right with "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore."

You are right. But as far as directing women, I would put De Palma and Altman above Scorsese. I know not everyone will agree with me, but De Palma knows how to direct even middling talents well.

Alice was a low budget studio movie, Streisands name was likely thrown around with just about every female centered movie script during that time but never a realistic choice. It was so low budget that burstyn was asked if she would take a salary cut for a piece of the back end. She was going through a divorce at the time and needed the money so she got her salary upfront. The back end not only included a piece of the box office but it included a piece of any kind of sequel which in this was the TV show. Had she taken the backend deal she would’ve had a piece of the tv show including syndication profits.

R54

That film "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore was *filth*

Barbara Hershey, Ellen Burstyn, Diane Ladd, Jodie Foster, Cathy Moriarty, Sandra Bernhard, Teri Garr, Catherine O'Hara, Verna Bloom, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Lorraine Bracco, Juliette Lewis, and other women gave performances I love in Scorsese movies.

Spielberg directed Crawford in "The Night Gallery" at twenty-one, in 1969. It was television not film, and his first professional assignment.

Would she have worked with him again, had she lived longer? I think she may have.

Every time they said Diana, Princess of Wales, I thought Elizabeth Taylor would come out!

Coppola worked with Fred Astaire and Marlon Brando.

1. Many actors wouldn't take a role that made them look bad. Robert Redford is famous for this, but I bet many older actors balked at playing losers, alcoholics, petty criminals. Burt Lancaster and Robert Mitchum were big stars willing to play creepy guys and worked into old age.

2. There was some disdain for the Establishment back then. Polly Platt and Bogdanovich heard people ridiculing people like John Ford and other old fogies. They were horrified because those were people they looked up to.

Taylor could act but she could also be very lazy. I think she's quite good in SECRET CEREMONY (the film itself is uneven), but as someone above noted she was more interested in her lifestyle and used to everyone accommodating her when it came to making films. She was rarely on time at the set and thought nothing of it - even Mike Nichols had to contend with her and Burton's extended lunches and not always knowing what time they would arrive for filming. But the film was a critical and commercial hit, so the Burtons figured they could just do as they pleased. It didn't take that long for that to eventually catch up with them. They did continue to work, but neither of them had a real hit film after TAMING OF THE SHREW (and neither of them is good in that film to be honest).

It's hard to imagine the likes of Scorsese, Altman, or Spielberg putting up with them.

One reason THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN was a flop was that Taylor insisted on having it filmed in Paris because Burton was doing another film there.

Spielberg was a producer on The Flintstones starring one Miss Elizabeth Taylor.

At that point, she was lucky to get work and was a little more professional.

Has anyone seen her in the movie “Ash Wednesday”? I’ve always liked the title and the cover where she has the pearls. Was it any good?

"Ash Wednesday"? Yes. Rent it, gurl!!!! It's superior jet-set trash, and Keith Baxter is so cute!!!

They couldn't afford their liquor and food catering request budgets?