Robert Towne held such a grudge in opposition to 1984’s Greystoke that he made certain his canine’s identify ended up on the credit.
One of the distinctive honors in all of cinema is the Palm Canine Award, given yearly on the Cannes Movie Pageant to the pooch who left the most important mark on movie that yr. It’s a unusual award given on the most prestigious competition there’s; however there’s nothing like that on the Oscars. May you think about the Academy voters nominating a canine? Effectively, they really did – albeit in identify solely – due to Robert Towne. Within the wake of Towne’s dying this week, let’s check out the time he obtained so pissed off over Greystoke that he ensured his canine could be on the Oscar poll.
Within the ‘70s, Robert Towne was tasked to pen Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, later taking on directing duties at his own insistence. Towne hadn’t directed earlier than so within the time being, he took on Private Greatest, which was partly meant to show to the studio that he was the right man for Greystoke. Sadly for Towne, Private Greatest was plagued with points, together with the 1980 Display Actors Guild strike and a serious conflict with David Geffen (the film being a David Geffen Firm manufacturing) that led to a sticky $110 million lawsuit over fraud, breach of contract and extra. In an effort to salvage Private Greatest, Towne gave up each his screenplay for and shot at directing Greystoke.
Robert Towne disliked the ultimate product of Greystoke – which might find yourself being directed by Chariots of Fireplace’s Hugh Hudson – a lot that he took his identify off of it and as a substitute gave credit score to P.H. Vazak, Towne’s Hungarian sheepdog. And Vazak – or reasonably, Towne – could be nominated for the Academy Award for Greatest Tailored Screenplay, marking the one time a canine was nominated for an Oscar.
Greystoke could be the final time that Robert Towne earned an Academy Award nod, having been nominated for The Final Element and Shampoo and profitable for Chinatown. Simply a few weeks earlier than his dying, Towne stated he had accomplished writing all episodes deliberate for the Chinatown prequel sequence.
In order we bear in mind the large profession of Robert Towne, let’s not overlook the also-late P.H. Vazak, who goes down in historical past as the one “good boy” to bark up an Oscar nomination.
