Steven Bach | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 29, 1938 United States |
| Died | March 25, 2009(2009-03-25) (aged 70) United States |
| Occupation | Writer, lecturer, studio executive |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | American |
| Citizenship | United States |
Steven Bach (April 29, 1938 – March 25, 2009)[1][2] was an American writer and lecturer on film and a former senior vice-president and head of worldwide productions forUnited Artists studios.
Starting out at Pantheon Films he worked onThe Parallax View and the originalThe Taking of Pelham One Two Three, going on to produceMr. Billion andButch and Sundance: The Early Days. Moving on to United Artists he was responsible for highly successful films likeRaging Bull,The French Lieutenant’s Woman,Stardust Memories,Manhattan,Annie Hall,Eye of the Needle andCutter and Bone.[1][2]
However, he was also closely involved in the troublesome production and release ofHeaven's Gate (1980). He wrote a book about the ordeal, calledFinal Cut: Art, Money, and Ego in the Making of Heaven's Gate, the Film That Sank United Artists, where, according to theLA Times, he "was unsparing about his own failures, and those of Cimino, who, by the end of the first six days of shooting, was five days behind schedule and had spent almost a million dollars on 1 1/2 minutes of film." United Artists was sold toMGM whileHeaven's Gate was being shown at theCannes Film Festival.[3]
His book was made into the 2004 documentaryFinal Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate, featuring interviews with Bach and others involved in the production, as well as archival material.[4] The book received positive reviews from the Los Angeles Times[5] and the New York Times, with the latter calling it "a fascinating and detailed account of the imbroglio that attended the creation of a catastrophically bad movie."[6] The book review site The Pequod rated the book a 9.5 (out of 10.0) and said, "By using a specific case study, Bach has produced one of the best insider accounts of what it is really like to make a movie — how the studio, director, producers, and actors all work together to steer a project from the time of screenwriting through its release."[7]
In 1990, he was a member of the jury at the40th Berlin International Film Festival.[8]
Bach is the author ofThe Life and Legend ofMarlene Dietrich andDazzler: The Life and Times ofMoss Hart. His biography of the Nazi-associated filmmakerLeni: The Life and Work ofLeni Riefenstahl (2007) overturns many of the claims Riefenstahl put forward in her self-defence regarding her contact withHitler's regime, and was named byThe New York Times as one of the best books of 2007.[9][10]
He taughtfilm studies atColumbia University andBennington College.
Bach died of cancer in March 2009. He was survived by his companion, Werner Röhr.[1]
heaven's gate april 16 1979.
