Indecent Proposal stars Demi Moore and Robert Redford had decent onscreen chemistry—well their dynamic was good enough to rake in $250 million at the box office at any rate.
But the lead actors in the 1993 erotic drama, in which Redford’s millionaire playboy character gives $1 million to Moore’s married woman to sleep with her, didn’t always have such a decent relationship during filming, it has now come to light.
Sherry Lansing, CEO of Paramount Pictures during the 1990s, reveals in her new biography that Redford and Moore spectacularly sparred over his unreliability in showing up to the set of the movie which was directed by Adrian Lyne.
The trouble between the stars kicked off when Indecent Proposal started shooting a scene in Watts, the South Los Angeles neighborhood that at the time was blighted by gang warfare. As a result extra security was brought in to oversee filming.
“You needed an escort just to get to your trailer,” said Lansing is quoted in her upcoming biography Leading Lady, written by Hollywood Reporter Executive Editor Stephen Galloway, “and then Redford left the set to go off and do something, and nobody could find him.’ ”
Galloway writes: “Hours passed, and still Redford did not appear. When word spread that he was finally back in his trailer, safe and unharmed and simply late, the cast and crew fumed.
“Demi was so angry, she marched into his trailer and lectured him,” Lansing recalled. “She said, ‘You obviously don’t like working with me.’ He said, ‘What do you mean?’ She said, ‘You’re disrespecting me, the crew and the movie.’ Redford listened, chastened.
“Five minutes later he reemerged, “and from that day on he arrived early, and he was completely charming,” said Lansing. “When we’d break for lunch, I’d shoot him a look and he’d say, ‘Don’t worry, boss, I’ll be back before you know it.’ ”
Leading Lady: Sherry Lansing and the Making of a Hollywood Groundbreaker is published by Crown Archetype on April 25.
