| Star 80 | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Bob Fosse |
| Screenplay by | Bob Fosse |
| Based on | "Death of a Playmate" byTeresa Carpenter |
| Produced by | Wolfgang Glattes Kenneth Utt |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Sven Nykvist |
| Edited by | Alan Heim |
| Music by | Ralph Burns |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 103 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $12 million |
| Box office | $6.4 million[1] |
Star 80 is a 1983 Americanbiographicaldrama film written and directed byBob Fosse. It was adapted from thePulitzer Prize-winningVillage Voice article "Death of a Playmate" byTeresa Carpenter and is based on CanadianPlayboy modelDorothy Stratten, who was murdered by her husbandPaul Snider in 1980. The film's title is taken from one of Snider'svanity license plates. The film was Fosse's final film before his death in 1987.
The film starsMariel Hemingway as Stratten andEric Roberts as Snider, withCliff Robertson,Carroll Baker,Roger Rees,Stuart Damon,Josh Mostel, andDavid Clennon in supporting roles. The film chronicles Stratten's relationship with Snider, their move toLos Angeles, her success as aPlayboy model, the dissolution of their relationship, and her murder.
Star 80 was filmed on location inVancouver and Los Angeles; the death scene was filmed in the same house in which the real murder-suicide took place. The film was released on November 10, 1983. It initially received mixed reviews from critics, but the performances of Hemingway and Roberts received critical acclaim. The film has been reappraised over the years and has been reviewed positively.
Dorothy Stratten lies dead as her husbandPaul Snider rants to himself about the events that led up to the present moment. The story, told through a series of flashbacks, has a linear narrative but is interspersed by Paul's rants as well as bydocumentary-style interviews with some of the characters.
Snider, a brash small-time scam artist and pimp, first meets Stratten two years earlier while she works at aDairy Queen in her native Vancouver. He woos Stratten with attention and flattery and a romance develops, much to the displeasure of her mother.
Working under thedelusion that he is Dorothy's only path to realization, Paul tries to run her life, uncovering a possessive streak in the process, and insists on being her personal manager. He convinces her to pose nude in Polaroid photographs until she sheds her initial timidity, then hires two professional photographers to take pictures of her.
These pictures make their way toPlayboy magazine founder and publisherHugh Hefner who invites Dorothy toLos Angeles for a photo shoot. When Dorothy's mother refuses to sign the parental consent form, Paul forges her signature. Hefner makes StrattenPlaymate of the Month for the August 1979 issue, provides lodging for her and gives her a job as a bunny at an L.A.Playboy Club.
Despite his constant infidelities, Paul is plagued by jealousy and feelings of inadequacy. He proposes marriage to Dorothy over the phone, flies to Los Angeles and alienates everyone in thePlayboy Mansion with his uncouth and nervously sycophantic demeanor. Against the advice of Hefner and his associates, however, Dorothy decides to go through with the marriage. They share a rented house inRancho Park with another couple and enjoy a large social entourage, but Dorothy becomes increasingly disenchanted by Paul's possessiveness and tacky sleaze.
Dorothy is named 1980'sPlaymate of the Year and starts an acting career thanks to Hefner's contacts. Snider, on the other hand, feels deeply insecure after losing money on failed business ventures and being eclipsed by his wife's success. Still adamant to remain influential on her life, Paul pesters her with constant phone calls that even interrupt herfiming sessions, and becomes a fixture at the Playboy Mansion despite lacking a formal invitation from Hefner. He also uses Dorothy's money to purchase aMercedes with the vanity license plateSTAR 80.
Famous film director Aram Nicholas first discovers Dorothy among the skaters at a Playboy Mansion roller disco party. At Hefner's recommendation, he casts her in his next picture, to be filmed inNew York City. Paul appears to welcome this development, but in reality his jealousy escalates and he hires a private detective to follow Dorothy in New York. The realization that the Playboy Mansion's doors are now closed for him compounds Paul's erratic obsession, unnerving his housemates in the process.
After witnessing Dorothy's unhappiness with the marriage, Aram convinces her to leave Paul and they start an affair. The private detective discovers this and advises Paul to sue Aram for enticement, in effect conflating the marriage with Paul's purported "management" of Dorothy even though the latter was only a verbal contract.
Broke, dejected and increasingly volatile, Paul correctly surmises Aram's influence on Dorothy's shift in decisions and mannerisms, but fails to accept that his marriage is effectively over. Upon her return to Los Angeles, Dorothy admits the affair, but promises Paul financial support. She agrees to meet Paul personally again to discussdivorce proceedings, despite Aram's advice to use an intermediary instead. Somewhere around the same time, Paul purchases a shotgun.
Dorothy and Paul meet at the Rancho Park house. Despite his pleas, she says that their marriage and business ties are over, offers him half of her savings and tries to comfort him. Paul perceives her attitude as condescending and becomes enraged. A chaotic and reproachful interaction ensues, at the end of which Paulrapes Dorothy, shoots her in the head with the shotgun and then proceeds to violate her corpse on asex contraption of his own design. Paul then turns the gun on himself, and ominously proclaims his future fame before pulling the trigger. The screen turns to black with the gunshot.
The idea for the project began whenBob Fosse's friendPaddy Chayefsky recommended aPulitzer Prize-winning article about Stratten written byTeresa Carpenter that had appeared inThe Village Voice. In May 1981, it was announced that Fosse was developing a screenplay, originally titledThe Dorothy Stratten Story.[3] The film was dedicated to Chayefsky who died shortly after Fosse announced the film.
Mariel Hemingway believed she was ideal for the part and campaigned for it vigorously with letters, telephone messages and visits to Fosse's home. She eventually won the role after four auditions, and her casting was announced in March 1982.[3] Some in the media reported that Hemingway had undergone breast augmentation surgery to secure the part.[4] In the 2020 documentarySkin: A History of Nudity in the Movies, Hemingway admits she did indeed have a breast-enlargement procedure before being cast, but says "I did it for me. I wouldn't have done that because of a movie."[5] Nude photographs of Hemingway posing as Stratten appeared in the January 1984 issue ofPlayboy magazine.[3]
According to Fosse, he had to persuadeEric Roberts to play the role ofPaul Snider, a character whom Roberts considered unlikeable. Early media speculation suggested thatHarry Dean Stanton might be cast asPlayboy publisherHugh Hefner, butCliff Robertson was reported to be researching the role by visitingHefner's mansion. Hefner disliked his depiction in the film and sued its producers, but the suit was later dismissed. Years later in a 1998 interview, Hefner had let off on some of his dislike of the film, saying that it did not capture Stratten's essence but he did praise Eric Roberts for "an excellent portrayal of the sick man who murdered her". The film wasCarroll Baker's first Hollywood production since her 1967 return from Europe.[3] In accordance with the Stratten family's wishes, Stratten's mother never is mentioned by name in the film, and the names of her sister and brother were changed.
DirectorPeter Bogdanovich, Stratten's boyfriend at the time of her murder, expressed opposition to the project, arguing that Fosse "didn't know the true story." Fosse acknowledged this statement to be true but countered that the film was about Snider. Bogdanovich refused to allow his name to be used in the film and threatened to sue if he found the character of Aram Nicholas to be objectionable. He provided his opinions of the film in his 1984 biography of StrattenThe Killing of the Unicorn: Dorothy Stratten, 1960-1980, but he did not pursue legal action.[3][6]
Preproduction began in Stratten's hometown of Vancouver in January 1982. Sets were created to represent Stratten's bedroom, high-school gymnasium and theDairy Queen where she had met Snider. After Hefner refused to allow filming at his estate, an unoccupied mansion in Pasadena, California was renovated to resemble Hefner's mansion. After the film's release, Hefner expressed disappointment, describing it as "too shallow." The film's party scenes show actualPlayboy models.[3]
Principal photography began on July 6, 1982 in Vancouver and continued for four months, including four weeks in Vancouver and 12 weeks in Los Angeles, and finished three days ahead of schedule.[3]
Star 80 is the second film based on the murder of Stratten, preceded by the 1981 television filmDeath of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story, withJamie Lee Curtis as Stratten andBruce Weitz as Snider.[7]
The film opened in 16 theaters in major cities on November 10, 1983,[8] grossing $233,313 on its opening weekend. Warner Bros. planned to release the film to more theaters for the Christmas season and to give it a wide release in time for the nextAcademy Awards ceremony. Eventually, the film grossed $6,472,990 in the U.S. and was shown at a peak of 502 theaters in early 1984.[9]Star 80 has an 81% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 16 reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10.[10] On Metacritic, it has a score 63%, based on reviews from 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[11]
Critical reception to the film was generally mixed,[3] but it was praised for Hemingway's and Roberts's performances. The film has been reappraised over the years and has been reviewed positively. Roberts won theBoston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor and was nominated for theGolden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama.[12] Fosse was nominated for theGolden Bear award at theBerlin Film Festival.[13]Star 80 marked Fosse's final film as director before his death in 1987.
The film was screened out of competition at the34th Berlin International Film Festival.[13]The Washington Post called it "Bob Fosse's latest stylish stinker".[citation needed] Gene Siskel ofThe Chicago Tribune placed the film on his list of the 10 best films of 1983, but acknowledged that the film was very unpleasant.[14]
Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert awarded the film four out of four stars and deemed it an "important movie".[15] Appearing with Siskel on an October 1986 edition ofThe Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, Ebert said that Roberts should have been nominated for anOscar for his work onStar 80. Ebert coined the phrase "Star 80 syndrome" after claiming thatGary Oldman's performance asSid Vicious inSid and Nancy was snubbed for the same reason as was Roberts': "Hollywood will not nominate an actor for portraying a creep, no matter how good the performance is."[16]
| Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berlin International Film Festival | Golden Bear | Bob Fosse | Nominated | [13] |
| Boston Society of Film Critics Awards | Best Actor | Eric Roberts | Won | [17] |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama | Nominated | [12] | |
| New York Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Actor | 3rd Place | [18] |
I tell you who definitely won't be [Oscar] nominated – and should be, and that's a young British actor named Gary Oldman, who plays Sid Vicious – the punk rocker – inSid and Nancy. And he's going to fall prey to theStar 80 syndrome, which is why Eric Roberts wasn't nominated: Hollywood will not nominate an actor for portraying a creep, no matter how good the performance is...He [Roberts] should have been nominated.