| The Hudsucker Proxy | |
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 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Joel Coen[a] |
| Written by |
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| Produced by | Ethan Coen |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Roger Deakins |
| Edited by | Thom Noble |
| Music by | Carter Burwell |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 111 minutes |
| Countries |
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| Language | English |
| Budget | $25 million[3] |
| Box office | $11 million[4] |
The Hudsucker Proxy is a 1994screwballcomedy film co-written, produced, and directed by theCoen brothers.Sam Raimi co-wrote the script and served assecond unit director. The film starsTim Robbins as a naïve but ambitiousbusiness school graduate who is installed as president of a manufacturing company,Jennifer Jason Leigh as a newspaper reporter, andPaul Newman as a company director who hires the graduate as part of astock scam.
The script was finished in 1985, but production did not start until 1991, whenJoel Silver acquired the script forSilver Pictures.Warner Bros. subsequently agreed to distribute the film, with further financing fromPolyGram Filmed Entertainment andWorking Title Films. Filming at Carolco Studios inWilmington,North Carolina, lasted from November 1992 to March 1993. The New York Cityscale model set was designed byMichael J. McAlister andMark Stetson, with further effects provided byThe Computer Film Company.
Upon its release in March 1994,The Hudsucker Proxy received mixed reviews from critics andbombed at the box office, but has since gained acult following.[5]
In December 1958, Norville Barnes, a business college graduate fromMuncie,Indiana, arrives inNew York City, looking for a job. He struggles due to lack of experience and becomes amailroom clerk at Hudsucker Industries, a large corporation. Soon thereafter, the company's founder and president, Waring Hudsucker, unexpectedly commitssuicide during a business meeting byjumping out of a top-floor window.
Afterward, Sidney J. Mussburger, a ruthless member of the company'sboard of directors, knowing that Hudsucker Industries'bylaws call for Hudsucker's stock shares to be sold to the public, suggests a scheme to buy the controlling interest in the company by temporarily depressing the stock price by hiring a clearly incompetent president to run the business.
In the mailroom, Norville is assigned to deliver a "Blue Letter" to Mussburger. The letter is a top-secret communication from Hudsucker, sent shortly before his death. However, Norville does not deliver the letter; instead, hepitches Mussburger an invention of his (indicated with no other explanation than a simple drawing of a circle and his cryptic explanation, "you know: for kids"). Believing Norville to be an idiot, Mussburger selects him as aproxy for Hudsucker.
Across town, Amy Archer, a brassyPulitzer Prize–winning reporter for theManhattan Argus newspaper, is assigned to write a story about Norville and find out what kind of man he really is. She obtains a job at Hudsucker Industries as hispersonal secretary, pretending to be yet another desperate graduate from hisalma mater in Muncie.
One night, Amy searches the building for clues and meets Moses, who operates the tower's giant clock and knows "just about anything if it concerns Hudsucker". He tells her Mussburger's plot, and she takes the story back to her Chief, but he does not believe it.
The other executives at Hudsucker Industries decide to produce Norville's invention in hopes that it will flop and further depress the company's stock. However, the invention is thehula-hoop, which initially fails in obscurity but then becomes an enormous success.
Norville allows success to go to his head and becomes yet another uncaring tycoon. Amy, who had fallen for his naive charm, is infuriated over Norville's new attitude and leaves him. Buzz, the eager elevator operator, pitches a new invention: the bendy straw, which Buzz calls the "Buzz-sucker." Norville insults the idea and cruelly fires Buzz, ignoring his pleas that he needs the job.
Meanwhile, Aloysius, a Hudsucker janitor, discovers Amy's true identity and informs Mussburger. Mussburger reveals Amy's secret identity to Norville and tells him he will be dismissed as president after the new year. Mussburger also convinces the board that Norville is insane and must be sent to the local psychiatric hospital.
OnNew Year's Eve, Amy finds Norville drunk at abeatnik bar. She apologizes, but he storms out and is chased by an angry mob led by Buzz. Norville escapes to the top floor of the Hudsucker skyscraper and changes back into his mailroom uniform. He climbs out on the ledge, where Aloysius locks him out and watches as he slips and falls off the building at the stroke of midnight.
While Norville plummets, Moses stops the building's giant clock, which freezes time. Waring Hudsucker appears to Norville as an angel and tells him to read the Blue Letter (still in Norville's uniform pocket) that was supposed to be delivered to Mussburger: it contains Hudsucker's instructions to transfer his shares to his immediate successor as president, rather than to the public. This would have been Mussburger, but, unaware of this, he proceeded with his scheme to elect Norville.
Inside the building's giant clock, Moses fights Aloysius, defeating him. Norville descends safely to the ground. He and Amy reconcile. As 1959 progresses, Mussburger, after learning about Hudsucker's instructions, attempts suicide and is sent to an asylum, while Norville develops a new invention for kids: another enigmatic circle that ultimately turns out to be afrisbee.
TheCoen brothers first metSam Raimi when Joel Coen worked as an assistant editor on Raimi'sThe Evil Dead (1981). Together, they began writing the script forThe Hudsucker Proxy in 1981,[6] and continued during the filming ofCrimewave (1985),[7] andpost-production onBlood Simple (1984), during which Joel and Ethan Coen shared a house with Raimi. The Coens and Raimi were inspired by the films ofPreston Sturges, such asChristmas in July (1940) and the Hollywood satireSullivan's Travels (1941).[8] The sentimental tone and decency of ordinary men as heroes was influenced by films ofFrank Capra, likeMr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936),Meet John Doe (1941), andIt's a Wonderful Life (1946).[9] The dialogue is anhomage toHoward Hawks'His Girl Friday (1940), whileJennifer Jason Leigh's performance as fast-talking reporter Amy Archer is reminiscent ofRosalind Russell andKatharine Hepburn, in both the physical and vocal mannerisms.[8] Other movies that observers found references to includeExecutive Suite (1954) andSweet Smell of Success (1957).[10] The brothers had no intention of commenting on or parodying such movies. Instead, as Ethan said, "It's the case where, having seen those movies, we say 'They're really fun - let's do one'; as opposed to 'They're really fun- let's comment upon them.'" Raimi describes the script as "big-business comedy. It's a return to the very large love story comedies they used to make in the forties and early fifties."[11] So the brothers started to pace around their apartment, taking turns on the typewriter, and when they found themselves stuck at a point, Raimi would do all sorts of tricks to get the boys back up. For example, while Ethan is pacing around, he would move things around the apartment so Ethan would be thrown off, he even said he threw firecrackers at them.[11]
One film critic described the numerous influences: "From his infelicitous name to his physical clumsiness, Norville Barnes is a Preston Sturges hero trapped in a Frank Capra story, and never should that twain meet, especially not in a world that seems to have been created byFritz Lang – the mechanistic monstrousness of the mailroom contrasted with theBauhaus gigantism of the corporate offices perfectly matches the boss-labour split inMetropolis (1927)."[12] An interviewer proposed that the characters representcapitalism versuslabour economics. Joel Coen replied: "Maybe the characters do embody those grand themes you mentioned, but that question is independent of whether or not we're interested in them – and we're not."[3]The Hudsucker Proxy presents variousnarrative motifs pertaining to theRota Fortunae andvisual motifs concerning the shape of circles. This includes Moses' monologue at the beginning, the Hudsucker Clock, Mussburger's wristwatch, the inventions of both the hula hoop and frisbee, as well as Norville and Amy's conversation aboutKarma.[10]
The first image the Coens and Raimi conceived was of Norville Barnes about to jump from the window of a skyscraper and then they had to figure out how he got there and how to save him.[13] The inclusion of thehula hoop came as a result of aplot device. Joel remembers, "We had to come up with something that Norville was going to invent that on the face of it was ridiculous. Something that would seem, by any sort of rational measure, to be doomed to failure, but something that on the other hand the audience already knew was going to be a phenomenal success."[12] Ethan said, "The whole circle motif was built into the design of the movie, and that just made it seem more appropriate."[12] Joel: "What grew out of that was the design element which drives the movie. The tension between vertical lines and circles; you have these tall buildings, then these circles everywhere which are echoed in the plot...in the structure of the movie itself. It starts with the end and circles back to the beginning, with a big flashback."[12] It took the Coens and Raimi three months to write the screenplay. As early as 1985, the Coens were quoted as saying that an upcoming project "takes place in the late Fifties in a skyscraper and is aboutBig Business. The characters talk fast and wear sharp clothes."[12]
Despite having finished the script in 1985, Joel explained, "We couldn't makeHudsucker back then because we weren't that popular yet. Plus, the script was too expensive and we had just completedBlood Simple, which was anindependent film."[14] After completingBarton Fink (1991), the Coens were looking forward to doing a more mainstream film.[15]The Hudsucker Proxy was revived and the Coens and Raimi performed a brief rewrite. ProducerJoel Silver, a fan of the Coens' previous films, acquired the script for hisproduction company,Silver Pictures, andpitched the project atWarner Bros. Pictures. Silver also allowed the Coens completeartistic control.[13]
This was the first time the Coen brothers chose big stars to act in one of their films.[16]Joel Silver's first choice for Norville Barnes wasTom Cruise, but the Coens persisted in a desire to castTim Robbins.[17]Jon Cryer auditioned for the lead role of Norville Barnes.[18]Winona Ryder andBridget Fonda were in competition for the role of Amy Archer, beforeJennifer Jason Leigh was cast.[10][19] Leigh had previously auditioned for a role in the Coens'sMiller's Crossing andBarton Fink; her failed auditions prompted the Coens to cast her inThe Hudsucker Proxy.[14] To prepare for her role as Amy Archer, Leigh read the biographies of some of the most substantial ladies of the thirties and forties such asRosalind Russell,Katharine Hepburn, andJean Arthur.[11] When casting the role of Sidney Mussburger, "Warner Bros. suggested all sorts of names," remembered Joel. "A lot of them were comedians who were clearly wrong. Mussburger is the bad guy andPaul Newman brought that character to life."[14] However, the Coens first offered the role toClint Eastwood, but he was forced to turn it down due to scheduling conflicts.[20] The Coens also offered their longtime friendBruce Campbell an audition, but he initially refused, writing that "My history with the Coens spanned more than a decade...I would gladly and willingly accept the role, but these fellows knew my work well enough to spare me the audition." The Coens agreed and Campbell was offered,sans audition, the role of Smitty. Campbell was later effusive in his praise for the professionalism of the production and the other cast members, as well as being in awe that he was chosen to help Paul Newman rehearse before filming began.[21]
Once Newman and Robbins signed on,PolyGram Filmed Entertainment andWorking Title Films agreed to co-finance the film with Warner Bros. and Silver Pictures.[22] The film was shot on fivesound stages at Carolco Studios inWilmington, North Carolina, beginning on November 30, 1992. Raimi served assecond unit director, shooting the hula hoop sequence and Waring Hudsucker's suicide.[14]Production designerDennis Gassner was influenced byfascist architecture, particularly the work ofAlbert Speer, as well asTerry Gilliam'sBrazil (1985),[13]Frank Lloyd Wright and theArt Deco movement.[23] Gassner contemplated using five huge rooms needed to accommodate the sound stages. Gassner noted "You see, we wanted things to be big." He said that the huge 1950s-inspired table up in the boardroom was so long, it had to be built in five sections and later on assembled on the soundstage. The intention for the set sizes was to generate an oppressive feel.[16]Principal photography ended on March 18, 1993.[14]
In addition, numerous sequences were filmed in downtown Chicago, particularly in theMerchandise Mart building for the entrance and lobby to Hudsucker Industries andThe Blackstone Hotel Christmas ballroom.[citation needed]
Thepresses in theNews & Observer building in downtownRaleigh, North Carolina, appeared in the movie.[24]
Thevisual effects supervisor wasMichael J. McAlister (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,Willow) withMark Stetson (Superman Returns,Peter Pan) as miniatures supervisor. Peter Chesney, mechanical effects designer on many Coen brothers films, created a pair of 16-foot angel wings for actorCharles Durning, who portrayed Waring Hudsucker. "I made a complicatedsteel armature with a lot ofelectric motors to time everything so he can fold up his wings, unfold them and flap them about. Then we covered them with real duck and turkey feathers," says Chesney. "We modeled them after photographs of a hoveringdove landing inslow motion."[25] The buildings in the background (designed by McAlister and Stetson) were 1:24scale models, shot separately and merged inpost-production. To lengthen the sequence, the model of the Hudsucker building was the equivalent of 90 stories, not 45.[26]
Despite the New York City setting, additional skyscrapers inChicago, Illinois, provided inspiration for the opening sequence of the skyline, such as theMerchandise Mart andAon Center. Skyscrapers from New York City included theChanin Building, theFred F. French Building andOne Wall Street, Manhattan. "We took all our favorite buildings in New York from where they actually stood and sort of put them into one neighborhood," Gassner continued, "a fantasy vision which adds to the atmosphere and flavor." First of all, a model had to be created based on the fantasy 1950s New York for the opening shot. So a miniature city was created, as McAlister mentioned that the Coens did not want a realistic reproduction of 1950s New York skyline, instead they wanted a more stylized version of it.[16] So Gassner used the bookNew York in The Forties as a reference to create the look for the cityscape. It took three months and 27 crew members to create the miniature city at the scale of 24:1. As for the Hudsucker building, they made it at the scale of 6:1 for closer shots including the long-zoom in of Norville at the beginning. For that scene to be created, it started off with a wide-angle shot, moving closer towards Tim Robbins, who was standing in a full sized set, which they inserted inside the shot of the model clock. "Marrying a live-action image with a painted or miniature element was, of course, nothing new, however, in the case of the zoom-in on Robbins from such a distance, keeping the full-size set locked in with the model building, that was state-of-the-art and the only way to do it was with computers," says McAlister.[16] Most of the buildings were created with two sides only, as they are seen from only the front and the side, and some needed only one side, as they were seen from only the front, while the Hudsucker building was made completely three-dimensional.[16][23] The work ofThe Computer Film Company (supervised byJanek Sirrs) included manipulations of the zoom-in shot of Norville at the beginning, as well asCGI snow and composites of the falling sequences.[23]
To create the two suicide falls, the miniature New York set was hung sideways to allow full movement along the heights of the buildings. McAlister calculated that such a drop would take seven seconds, but for dramatic purposes it was extended to around thirty. Problems occurred when the Coens and cinematographer Roger Deakins decided that these shots would be more effective with a wide-angle lens. "The buildings had been designed for an 18 mm lens, but as we tried a 14 mm lens, and then a 10 mm, we liked the shots more and more."[23] However, the wider amount of vision meant that the edges of the frame went beyond the fringes of the model city, leaving empty spaces with no buildings. In the end, extra buildings were created from putting the one-sided buildings together and placing them at the edges. Charles Durning's fall was shot conventionally, but because Tim Robbins had to stop abruptly at the camera, his was shot in reverse as he was pulled away from the camera.[23]
The skyscraper models created forThe Hudsucker Proxy were re-used forThe Shadow,Batman Forever,Batman & Robin, andGodzilla.[27]
| Original Motion Picture Soundtrack: The Hudsucker Proxy | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | March 15, 1994 | |||
| Genre | Film score | |||
| Length | 29:28 | |||
| Label | Varèse Sarabande | |||
| Coen Brothers film soundtracks chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   link |
Thescore toThe Hudsucker Proxy was written byCarter Burwell, the fifth of his collaborations with the Coen Brothers. "Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia" fromAram Khachaturian's balletSpartacus is the basis of the main theme and additional music from the ballet runs under the Hula-Hoop sequence. The popular music of the time is also reflected in the character of Vic Tenetta (Peter Gallagher), modeled afterDean Martin, who sings "Memories Are Made of This." Additional inspiration comes from Khachaturian'sGayane suite. A section from the ballet is used by Burwell for the scene in which Norville and Amy meet for the first time. Later, in a montage of the introduction of thehula hoop, Burwell's adaptation of Khachaturian's "Dance of the Young Kurds" (fromGayane) is used when sales of the hula hoop are initially slow and when a young boy is the first to try the hula hoop, followed by Burwell's adaptation of Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance" (also fromGayane) when the children get excited and rush to the store, rapidly increasing the sales of the hula hoop.[23]
Warner Bros. heldtest screenings and audience comments were largely mixed. The studio suggested re-shoots, but the Coens, who heldfinal cut privilege, refused because they were very nervous working with their biggest budget to date and were eager for mainstream success. The producers eventually added footage that had been cut and also shot minorpick-ups for the ending.[14]Variety claimed that the pick-ups were done to try to save the film because Warner feared it was going to be abox office bomb. Joel Coen addressed the issue in an interview: "First of all, they weren't reshoots. They were a little bit of additional footage. We wanted to shoot a fight scene at the end of the movie. It was the product of something we discovered editing the movie, not previewing it. We've done additional shooting on every movie, so it's normal."[14]
The film premiered in January 1994 at theSundance Film Festival inPark City, Utah.[28] In addition,The Hudsucker Proxy opened the1994 Cannes Film Festival[29] on May 12, 1994. The film was in competition for thePalme d'Or, but lost toPulp Fiction.[30]The Hudsucker Proxy was released on March 11, 1994, and only grossed $2,816,518 in the United States and Canada.[31] Worldwide, it grossed $11.3 million.[4] The production budget was officially set at$25 million,[14] although, it was reported to have increased to $40 million for marketing and promotion purposes. The film was a box office bomb.[8]
In addition to the film under-performing at the box office,The Hudsucker Proxy opened to mixed reviews from critics. OnRotten Tomatoes 64% of reviews from 53 critics were positive, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The site's consensus states, "Intriguingly strange and visually distinctive,The Hudsucker Proxy is ultimately almost – but not quite – as smart and absorbing as it needs to be."[32]
Roger Ebert praised theproduction design,scale model work,matte paintings,cinematography, and characters. "But the problem with the movie is that it's all surface and no substance," Ebert wrote. "Not even the slightest attempt is made to suggest that the film takes its own story seriously. Everything is style. The performances seem deliberately angled as satire."[33]Desson Thomson ofThe Washington Post describedThe Hudsucker Proxy as being "pointlessly flashy and compulsively overloaded with references to films of the 1930s. Missing in this film's performances is a sense of humanity, the crucial ingredient in the moviesHudsucker is clearly trying to evoke.Hudsucker isn't the real thing at all. It's just a proxy."[34]
John Simon ofNational Review describedThe Hudsucker Proxy as "asinine and insufferable".[35]
Todd McCarthy, writing inVariety, called the film "one of the most inspired and technically stunning pastiches ofold Hollywood pictures ever to come out of theNew Hollywood. But a pastiche it remains, as nearly everything in the Coen brothers' latest and biggest film seems like a wizardly but artificial synthesis, leaving a hole in the middle where some emotion and humanity should be."[36]James Berardinelli gave a largely positive review. "The Hudsucker Proxy skewersBig Business on the same shaft thatRobert Altman ran Hollywood through withThe Player. From theBrazil-like scenes in the cavernous mail room to the convoluted machinations in the board room, this film is pure satire of the nastiest and most enjoyable sort. In this surreal world of 1958 can be found many of the issues confronting large corporations in the 1990s, all twisted to match the filmmakers' vision."[37]
Warner Home Video releasedThe Hudsucker Proxy on DVD on May 18, 1999. Nofeaturettes were included.[38] It was one of the firstBlu-ray Disc titles released through theWarner Archive Collection on February 26, 2013, but it still lacked any featurettes.[39]
Two decades after the film's release, Scout Tafoya ofRogerEbert.com praised the film for its stylistic adventurousness and expansion upon the themes and concepts of the films that inspired it. "Whereas the comedies of the 1930s and '40s could talk quickly and move quickly, they couldn't run at a full gallop like the Coen Brothers. Their camera soars, traveling at the speed of progress, gossip, capitalism itself. Everything races at top speed. The production design, the one thing everyone felt comfortable praising, is a marvel. Every frame doubles as a survey of early modern art, from Art Deco to Futurism."[40]
