Ruddy may have been caught off-guard by Joe’s press conference, but his reaction was among the tamest, with Bludhorn angrily smashing his TV indicative of the fury that was boiling in him. He proceeded to fire anyone in proximity, Barry exempted, and he was not at all happy to hear that three of the four offers had fallen through and the one remaining person wanted to lowball him to take advantage of the situation. Fortunately, things did manage to work out, and some combination of Evans’ speech and seeing the footage actually being filmed inspired him to give the project another chance. Ruddy’s commitment was also notable, showing back up on set even though he had been fired to ensure that Joe would allow things to get moving again, and Bettye proved her worth by going to Joe on behalf of the production even after Ruddy was harsh and spoke down to her. Sinatra not remembering Ruddy was a sign of how far things have come, but Joe’s support will only go so far if Gallo is motivated to respond violently to Joe’s attempt to resolve the situation with a scorched-earth approach. While what we saw of the movie actually being filmed was minimal, there was a certain excitement that it was finally happening, and even though Jack continued to pile on Pacino as a physically small and ineffective performer, Pacino too seemed to feel something. There’s nothing quite as infectious as Francis’ passion, and he seemed ready to forget all the recent obstacles when he saw his vision coming to life.
No comments:
Post a Comment