are you fuckin kiddin me!?


http://portal.telegraph.c...ther11.xml

Schlesinger blamed heart failure on Madonna
By Chris Hastings and Roya Nikkhah
John Schlesinger, the Oscar-winning director of Billy Liar and Midnight Cowboy,
blamed Madonna's
"outrageous" behaviour on the set of a film they were making for contributing to
his heart attack.

His damning comments about the pop singer turned actress are contained in a
collection of letters and
production notes bequeathed to the British Film Institute by the veteran
film-maker after his death in
July 2003.

The papers reveal that Schlesinger, who worked with Madonna in 1999 on his last
film, The Next Best
Thing (released in 2000), became enraged by her attempts to change numerous
scenes. They also show
that Madonna demanded that special effects be used to "beautify" her appearance.

In the film, a comedy, Madonna plays a yoga instructor who becomes pregnant
after a drunken one-
night stand with her homosexual best friend, played by Rupert Everett.

Shortly after completing what was one of the unhappiest shoots of his career,
Schlesinger, then 73,
collapsed on the doorstep of his London home. He was diagnosed with heart
failure and underwent a
quadruple heart bypass operation.

His workload before he was admitted to hospital had been particularly heavy and
he had complained of
being "exhausted" before he left Los Angeles at the end of the film shoot.

In a letter written from the Royal Brompton Hospital on December 2, 1999, to
Andrew Cannava, his
agent, however, Schlesinger put some of the blame for his collapse on Madonna's
collaboration with
Tom Rosenberg, the film's producer, to change the film.

"I am f***ing angry with Tom being influenced by Madonna," Schlesinger wrote.
"We have tried all of
these changes before . . . I do not for one moment think that their behaviour
has not added to the
reasons I have ended up here."

His letters, along with his production notes, complain that Madonna tried to
influence every aspect of
the production, from the music to the final cut.

One unsigned memo suggests that the actress, then 41, wanted producers to
"beautify" 34 shots of her
with computer generated imagery, the special effects technique pioneered in
fantasy epics such as
Jurassic Park and Titanic. It appears that the money was eventually found to
improve just nine of the
scenes.

Surprisingly, the singer, who appeared naked in her controversial 1992 book Sex,
also balked at the
idea of appearing fully nude in the film. An unsigned memo which relates to
production meetings held
in 1998 states: "Madonna doesn't want her bare arse to be seen."

Later, Madonna lobbied for the removal of a pivotal scene which she felt was too
"gay", much to the
disgust of Schlesinger, who was himself homosexual.

These constant demands infuriated the director, who had previously worked with
such actors as Lord
Olivier, Dustin Hoffman and Glenda Jackson. In a letter to Mr Rosenberg on
November 30, 1999,
dictated from his hospital bed, he wrote: "I am outraged that Madonna is
starting to express an opinion
of what works and what doesn't and what is too gay when she wasn't even present
at the previews. In
any case, she is not the director; so far as I am concerned I want the scene to
remain as it is."

He also complained to Sherry Lansing, the head of Paramount, saying: "I am lying
here feeling very
frustrated because the completion of the film is taking place without me and it
seems to me that Tom
Rosenberg is very much listening to Madonna's opinion, which is affecting the
cut and the choice of
music."

One handwritten six-page letter from Madonna, who was also executive producer of
the film's
soundtrack, to Schlesinger in July 1999 reveals that she lobbied hard for the
inclusion of particular
kinds of music in the film itself.

She claims that she does "not mean to be presumptuous" or to "overstep the
bounds", before outlining
the case for more Indian- influenced music in the film. After reminding the
director that she does have
a "lot of experience" in the field of film scores, she urges him to listen to a
selection of tracks that she
has put on a CD.

"Even if you don't like the music perhaps it will inspire you and get your gears
going . . . Please listen in
a quiet place with no interruptions. Turn off the phone, light a candle and
think about the love story of
Robert and Abbie and their world and sadness and the hope. Enjoy. I hope to hear
from you soon." She
signs off: "All My Love, M xxx."

The Next Best Thing, which cost $25 million (£13.5 million) to make, was a
commercial and artistic
disaster, taking just $23 million worldwide. Madonna's performance was savaged
by critics and earned
her a "Golden Raspberry" award for worst actress. Entertainment Weekly said that
she could "barely
muster even the rudiments of human expression" and urged her to "quit while she
is behind".

Schlesinger was discharged from hospital in January, 2000. The following
December he suffered a
debilitating stroke. His condition grew steadily worse until he was admitted to
hospital in Palm Springs
last July. He died a year ago, aged 77.

Liz Rosenberg, Madonna's publicist, said last week that she was surprised by Mr
Schlesinger's remarks:
"People say many, many things about Madonna but no one has ever questioned her
level of professional
behaviour. I know Madonna had great respect for John Schlesinger as a director.
I believe that John
Schlesinger had control over this film and Madonna behaved as a salaried
actress."

A spokesman for Mr Rosenberg said that the producer had found it an "honour to
work with Mr
Schlesinger who he had considered to be one of the greatest directors in the
history of the movie
business".

and now for the denial.....


"Material Girl" Madonna has taken strong exception to reports that her tantrums
resulted in veteran
director John Schlesinger suffering from a heart attack while they were filming
for the comedy 'The Next
Best Thing'.

"People say many, many things about Madonna, but no one has ever questioned her
level of
professional behaviour. I know Madonna had great respect for John Schlesinger as
a director. I believe
he had control over this film and Madonna behaved as a salaried actress," The
Sun quoted the singer's
spokeswoman as saying.

However, according to the Telegraph, Schlesinger held Madonna's antics
responsible for his heart
trouble, as mentioned in a collection of his letters and production notes given
to the British Film
Institute after his death in July 2003.

ya know, come to think of it, she DID look kinda funny in that movie:

Anxiety said:

I thought Guy Ritchie directed that load Not that I payed much attention

Ugh, The Next Best Thing has got to be one of the worst movies ever made and it not even a
"so-bad-but-still-enjoyable" type of movie. It´s just plain awful and Madonna looks and acts terribly

CalhounSq said:

that was swept away. the next best thing really was an awful, awful movie. i liked swept away and i think that one got bad reviews just because of the actress/director pair. regardless of what this man wrote about madonna and tom rosenberg, there was no saving the next best thing. it was a doomed movie from the very beginning. besides, wasn't there another "faghag has one night stand with gay friend and gets pregnant" type of movie just months before? i forget the name...though i saw this in the theatres with purplegypsy...but it starred paul rudd and jennifer aniston, i think.

!!!

Madonna's performance in this film is downright embarassing.That fake British accent she uses during the first half of the film...her stiff acting throughout...and why didn't somebody hand her a hairbrush?? I remember seeing this movie and thinking "Why didn't the director STOP her from making a fool of herself?" LOL.But it looks like poor John Schlesinger was being bullied by his films' star.

garganta said:

I totally agree.Most of Madonna's films are bad,but a few of them still have a certain so-bad-it's good "charm" to them ("Who's That Girl",and even "Body Of Evidence").But "The Next Best Thing" is just awful,with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.