Sharing Stories About A Great Hollywood Career!
Sherry Lansing was one of Hollywood’s most powerful Executives, and she has decided to tell some of the wild behind-the-scenes stories from her career!
The Hollywood Reporter’s Stephen Galloway is releasing “Leading Lady”, his biography of Lansing…and THR printed an excerpt to promote the release and it’s a doozy!
This excerpt talks about her run-in with Mike Myers during the planned filming of “Wayne’s World 2.”
Here’s an excerpt from the THR story about the book – when Lansing was in charge of Paramount Studios, and Mike Myers was ready to begin filming the sequel to his massive comedy hit:
“The then-Paramount chairman made an unfortunate discovery weeks before shooting was due to commence: Myers had heavily based the sequel on the 1949 British comedy ‘Passport to Pimlico’ — only nobody had bought the underlying rights.”
“Mike had always wanted to do Passport to Pimlico as the basis of Wayne’s World,” said SNL creator Lorne Michaels, who produced the comedy. “So he went and wrote it. I think he believed the studio understood that, and I think he even believed they had bought the rights to the other movie so that he was free to use it.”
Furious, Lansing summoned Myers to her office and told him exactly that — in much different (and harsher) words. Remembers one participant in the Myers-Lansing meeting: “She said, ‘How dare you? How dare you put us in this position?’ She turned to Mike and said, ‘We’ll sue you. We’ll take your f—ing house. You won’t even own a f—ing home.'”
The story continues:
“The verbal scathing went on, with Lansing adding a special twist, as then-production chief John Goldwyn recalled: “She made up this fabulous story about all of the lawyers sitting with [Paramount Communications executive] Stanley Jaffe. She said, ‘As I’m sitting here with you, there’s a team figuring out how they can take every single thing away from you.'”
Myers believed it, and was so shaken that he curled up in a fetal position on Lansing’s couch.
Said Lansing: “If I were you, Mike, I’d go to Lorne’s office right now and stay there until you come up with a new script. We’ll slide food under the door.”
Wow! She had a reputation for being tough as nails, and I can’t wait to read more stories about her career. Other anecdotes from the book have been released dealing with Mel Gibson’s temper and a real boiled bunny from “Fatal Attraction!”
Here is another book that also has a shocking Mel Gibson story – read about it here – along with MY Mel Gibson encounter:
https://johnrieber.com/2013/08/14/heaven-and-mel-shocking-mel-gibson-book-my-mel-encounter/
Lansing’s book is sure to be a page turner based on the stories teased so far!
She is also married to one of Hollywood’s greatest filmmakers, William Friedkin. Friedkin of course directed such great films as “The Exorcist”, “The French Connection”, “Sorcerer”, “To Live And Die In LA” and most recently “Killer Joe.”
He wrote his autobiography a few years ago – read all about it here:
Of course, one reason that “Wayne’s World” was such a smash hit was their use of the classic Queen song “Bohemian Rhapsody”:
Read all about the creation of that brilliant Queen song here:
Finally, Mike Myers has been largely absent from movies for a few years, but he did direct a terrific documentary:
Shep Gordon was a legend in Hollywood, handling some of the biggest stars of the 70’s and 80’s…see the trailer for this terrific documentary here:
https://johnrieber.com/2015/07/12/rocks-supermensch-mike-myers-brilliant-documentary-on-shep-gordon/
Looking forward to reading this book!
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johnrieber 
She sounds a bit mean to me in the Myers story but I’d love to hear how she dealt with Mel. Billy Friedkin is a cool guy so she’s probably a great lady and you got to be tough in that business.
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Yes, I think it comes across that way – but I really think it’s a “no holds barred” story that shows how tough you have to be in this town!
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That sounds about right.
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‘Passport to Pimlico’ is one of my favourite old British films, John. I had no idea that Myers was trying to ‘steal’ it. Looks like a great book!
Best wishes, Pete.
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Pete, I had never heard that either – yes, it sounds like it is full of great anecdotes…they also leaked a story about Mel Gibson flinging an ashtray against a wall during a “Braveheart” meeting…but he’s an ass, as my story about him shows…
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