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'L5lc*sj Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/highconceptdonsi00flem_0 DON SIMPSON AND THE HOLLYWOOD CULTURE OF EXCESS v| DOUBLEDAY NEW YORK LONDON TORONTO SYDNEY AUCKLAND PUBLISHED BY DOUBLEDAY a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. 1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036 Doubleday and the portrayal of an anchor with a dolphin are trademarks of Doubleday, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Book design by Brian Mulligan Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Fleming, Charles. High concept: Don Simpson and the Hollywood culture of excess / Charles Fleming. — 1st ed. p. cm. Includes index. 1. Simpson, Don, 1945-1996. 2. Motion picture producers and directors— United States—Biography. I. Title. PN1998.3.S5358F64 1998 791.43'0232'092—dc21 [B] 97-42067 CIP ISBN 0-385-48694-4 Copyright © 1998 by Charles Fleming All Rights Reserved Printed in the United States of America April 1998 First Edition 13579 10 8642 This book was written under adverse conditions: Don Simpson's family and several of his closest friends opposed the reporting and writing of it. Inquiries and requests for interviews were met with refusals, or silence, from many Simpson acquaintances, colleagues and former em¬ ployees. Some simply were too depressed or disgusted by Simpson to even discuss him. One former employee said of his time with Simpson, "It was the bleakest period of my life and it almost killed me. I just can't go back there." Some of them were silent out of loyalty to Simpson and his family. Others were silent out of fear that they themselves would come under scrutiny. Their peccadilloes and misadventures are chronicled in these pages. Others still were silent for fear of reprisal from the powerful men and women who control their careers. They already occupy the inner circle of hell they deserve. Simpson, who despite everything else was not a coward, would have despised them. To those who did speak, often at risk to themselves, some under the cloak of anonymity, I am grateful. I would also like to thank the many, many people whose help, advice, guidance and encouragement made this book possible. Among them are my agent David Vigliano; my book editors Shawn Coyne, Pat Mulcahy and Charlie Conrad; my former editor Peter Bart and current editor Sue Acknowledgments V Horton; my colleagues John Connolly, Mark Schwed, Michael Fleming, J. Max Robins, John Brodie, Gordon Dillow, Patrick Goldstein, Richard Na- tale, Max Alexander, Jeffrey Ressner and Jeffrey Wells; my research assis¬ tants Jennifer Fox, Linda Lee, Michelle Perone and Chandler Cook; and my friends Mark Gill, Michael Cieply, Howard Brandy, Dr. Steven Woods, Eric and Jennifer Berkowitz, and Tony De Toro. For the editorial education that enabled me to tackle this project I am indebted to Jeff Silverman, Ray Bennett, Clay Felker, Mike Meyer, Stryker Maguire and Doug Stumpf, and for their unwavering personal support I am indebted to Christopher Hall and Bruce MacKenzie. For their great hospitality I thank Connie and Marty Stone. For two decades of guidance and good advice, I thank my friend A. J. Langguth. In the writing and researching of this book I received invaluable infor¬ mation and assistance from the many people whose names appear in these pages. I especially want to thank Paul Schrader, Joe Eszterhas, Lynda Obst, Jay Mclnerney, Steve Roth, Paul Rosenfeld and the film editor Billy Weber, all of whom knew and loved Simpson and were not afraid to say so. I also owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the many journalists who came before I did to some parts of Simpson's story—among them John H. Richardson, Peter Biskind, Shawn Hubler, Chuck Phillips, Maureen Orth, Bernard Weinraub, Nancy Griffin, Kim Masters, Tony Schwartz and Lynn Hirschberg. Their hard work made mine easier, and demonstrates that Hollywood journalism need not be mindless celebrity idolatry. I could not have written this book without the love and support of my father, mother and stepmother, and my two daughters. I could not write at all were it not for the patience of my wife, Julie Singer—to whom this book is dedicated.
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