The Kid Stays in the Picture

The Kid Stays in the Picture
Directed by Nanette Burstein
Brett Morgen
Produced by Nanette Burstein
Brett Morgen[1]
Written by Nanette Burstein
Brett Morgen
Narrated by Robert Evans
Distributed by USA Films
Release dates
 2002
Running time
 93 minutes
Country United States
Language English

The Kid Stays in the Picture is a 1994 autobiography by film producer Robert Evans. A film adaptation of the book was released in 2002.

The title comes from a line attributed to studio head Darryl F. Zanuck, who was defending Evans after some of the actors involved in the film The Sun Also Rises (1957) had recommended he be removed from the cast.

The film adaptation was directed by Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen and released by USA Films. It was screened out of competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.[2]

Synopsis

Book

The book chronicles Evans' rise from childhood to radio star to film star to production chief of Paramount Pictures to independent producer, his marriage to Ali MacGraw, his downfall including his 1980 cocaine bust and implication in the murder of Roy Radin, aka "The Cotton Club Murder", his banishment from Paramount Pictures, and his return to the studio in the early 1990s.

A revised edition of the book, published in 1995, adds several chapters of new material, including material on his projects after his return to Paramount Pictures.

Film

The film version, released in 2002, utilizes Evans' narration interspersed mostly with photographs from Evans' life as well as brief film footage from films such as Love Story, The Sun Also Rises, Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown, and The Godfather, along with interviews to tell the story from his discovery by Norma Shearer for Man of a Thousand Faces (1957) to his return to Paramount Pictures.

According to the commentary by directors Burstein and Morgen on the DVD, many elements from the book, such as Evans' childhood and his other marriages (the film focuses only on his marriage to Ali MacGraw), were dropped because they felt it did not move the story along.

Critical response

The film received mostly positive reviews. As of April 8, 2012, it had a 92% "Certified Fresh" rating on the movie review website Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 7.4 out of 10 on IMDb, based on 4,077 reviews.

Stage production

An adaptation of the book—along with material from a further, unpublished volume of Evans' memoirs—for the Broadway stage was announced in 2010, to be written by Jon Robin Baitz and directed by Richard Eyre,[3] but the production was canceled in 2011.[4]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/kidstays.php
  2. ↑ "Festival de Cannes: The Kid Stays in the Picture". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-11-04.
  3. ↑ Michael Cieply (February 10, 2010). "A Hollywood Player Inspires a Broadway Play". The New York Times. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  4. ↑ Harry Haun (November 18, 2011). "Playbill on Opening Night: Private Lives – Keeping Up with the Chases". Playbill.com. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
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