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Roger Ebert’s X-Rated Russ Meyer! “Russ And Roger Go Beyond!”

By johnrieber on October 8, 2013 • ( 5 )

Deadline.com is reporting that a film is being made “about the unusual relationship between two icons in their respective fields, film critic Roger Ebert and soft core helmer Russ Meyer, as they teamed to make “Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls” at 20th Century Fox!”

“Russ And Roger Go Beyond!”

Here is more of the story from Deadline.com: “Mark Amin’s Sobini Films has partnered with David Permut and Richard Waltzer to acquire Russ & Roger Go Beyond, a script by Emmy-winning Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons scribe Christopher Cluess.”

A Shocking Look At The Sexual Revolution!

The late 60’s were a wild time for Hollywood, and a story about this cult classic will be great! Here is more of Deadline’s story:

“The script focus is the late 1960s, when cheap counterculture films like Easy Rider were minting money, and 20th Century Fox was struggling mightily over a number of big-budget flops. Meyer was already established as the outlaw helmer of soft-core pulp films like Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill, and he wanted the legitimacy of making a studio film. Richard Zanuck, then head of 20th, gave him that opportunity because his profit margins were so high and his costs were miniscule.”

How Meyer Met Ebert!

“Meyer agreed to take on Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls on the condition that the script get written by Ebert, who, as the third-string movie critic of the Chicago Sun Times, had written one of the few positive reviews Meyer had ever received.”

More from Deadline.com: “So obviously he liked Roger’s writing. It was all fun from there, as Meyer brought in his usual buxom brigade and he and Ebert struggled with the studio’s board of directors and the ratings board. Despite being the rare major studio release with an X rating, they were vindicated when Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls was released in 1970 to big box office. Meyer and Ebert remained friends until the former passed away in 2004.”

This is exciting news! Movies about Hollywood’s past are always fascinating…especially when it involves America’s most famous movie critic!

You can get the entire story, plus all of your daily Hollywood fix, by going to Deadline’s website at:

http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/

And now, more about Ebert and the film:

Meyer Meets Ebert!

As Roger Ebert became more and more famous as a film critic and historian, many people forgot – or never knew – that he collaborated with one of film’s most scandalous Directors! First, a bit about my encounter with Ebert:

Roger Ebert At The Cannes Film Festival!

I was lucky enough to interview Roger many times for E!’s Cannes Film Festival specials, and he was always engaging, funny and self-deprecating. And he always LOVED movies – all kinds of movies!

One year, he gave me a great anecdote about Cannes: how the world’s greatest cinema was screened every night at the Grand Lumiere – the festival’s most prestigious theater:

And while those great films were being screened upstairs, downstairs in the basement of the Palais, where the film market was held, he came across a guy who was selling films BY THE POUND

Ebert wrote what is still my favorite book about Cannes:

Two Weeks In The Midday Sun

This is a gem of a book: Film Critic Roger Ebert documented his two weeks at the Cannes Film Festival – one of the most entertaining and chaotic things I ever had the pleasure of attending…

Here is what Amazon says: “Ebert’s journal of the annual two-week movie circus known as the Cannes Film Festival is about as nourishing as a croissant, but like that airy pastry, it’s fun to devour. The book is full of movies; gossip; characters with strange lifestyles, some of them actors, others more prosaically rich; and egos running amok at the 1987 festival (the 40th).”

Ebert was a signature presence at the festival, always at the press conferences, given special seating and the best credential you could have: the legendary white badge…

But one of the most unique aspects of Ebert’s career was his work with Russ Meyer!

Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls – 1970.

Yes, Roger Ebert wrote Russ Meyer’s scandalous sequel to “Valley Of The Dolls!” This is, without a doubt, one of the most unique collaborations in film history!

Here is the plot of “Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls”:

When three female rock’n’rollers travel to Hollywood to claim an inheritance, they meet up with a kinky music promoter who turns them on to a whole new scene. At first, all seems very exciting and the naïve trio becomes submerged in his dangerous tinseltown underworld-before they discover his true motives.

Yes, this is the legendary sequel to – and satire of “Valley Of The Dolls”, scripted by Roger Ebert! And it was X-rated when it was released! The DVD special edition calls it “A rock ‘n’ roll extravaganza of ample proportions!

What a classic idea – take a hit movie “Valley Of The Dolls”, and turn the sequel over to the legendary exploitation king! You can hear Ebert on the DVD’s numerous extra features!

Commentary by screenwriter and film critic Roger Ebert
Commentary by cast members Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers, Harrison Page, John La Zar and Erica Gavin
“Above, Beneath and Beyond the Valley: The Making of a Musical-Horror-Sex-Comedy” documentary
“Look on up at the Bottom: The Music of Dolls” featurette
“The Best of Beyond” featurette
“Sex, Drugs, Music and Murder: Signs of the Times, Baby!” featurette
“Casey and Roxanne: The Love Scene” featurette
Actor screen tests

This special edition DVD is an amazing collection of stuff, but it really makes me eager for a movie version of how the film was made!

This announcement about "Russ And Roger Go Beyond" was just made, so we will see how soon it gets underway, and who will be cast to play Russ Meyer and Roger Ebert…should be fascinating for film buffs!