Then something went terribly wrong. Bogdanovich's reportedly enormous ego, a very public breakup with his wife, financial problems, and a couple of irredeemable box office bombs starring his semi-talented new squeeze, Cybil Shepherd, all helped turn the boy genius into a laughingstock within the film community. A major round of industry schadenfreude ensued. It was something of a shock, then, when Bogdanovich scored a critical and commercial hit with a 1985 tear-jerker called Mask. The film may have done well at the box office, and it may have helped solidify Cher's standing as a legitimate screen actress, but it was far from a breeze for Bogdanovich to make. In fact, by the time it was completed, he had alienated an entire film studio, and Cher was willing to tell anyone within earshot that she hated his guts. His resurgence would turn out to be short-lived.
Mask is based on the true story of Rocky Dennis (Eric Stoltz), an exceptionally kind, sensitive teenager who suffers from craniodiaphyseal dysplasia, a condition in which calcium forms on the skull and causes it to grow to an unsightly, abnormal size. Rocky's mother, Rusty, is a classic drug-abusing "biker chick" who hangs out with a bunch of motorcyclists led by Gar (Sam Elliott). When Rocky isn't busy watching after his selfish mother, he attempts to live a normal life. One of Rocky's goals in life is to meet a girl who will fall in love with him despite his disfigurement, and he gets the chance when he meets Diana (Laura Dern), a beautiful blind girl. This character study is especially successful when you consider that Stoltz, who is covered in facial prosthetics, has to convey his emotions via his eyes. He and Cher both give beautifully measured performances.
Screenwriter Anna Hamilton Phelan claimed to have written the original version of Mask's script with an 8 x 10 photograph of Cher on the wall for inspiration, so it's fortuitous that Cher eventually wanted to play Rusty. She later recalled her initial, highly emotional reaction to Phelan's screenplay: "I got the script along with this really wonderful letter from (producer) Marty Starger saying that they (Starger and Bogdanovich) wanted me for the movie and they hoped I liked the script as much as they did. So I went upstairs and started to read it and when I was halfway through I was so upset that I went right to the ending, and I was a mess. Then I went back to the middle, finished it, and I mean, I was hysterical. I cried and I cried. From the moment I read it, it just seemed very real." Bogdanovich felt Cher was perfect for the part. "(Rusty) had to be free, outspoken, tough," he later said, "but also a lot more vulnerable than she lets on, which I think is also true of Cher."
Bogdanovich may have seen a connection between his star and the character she was going to play, but that still didn't stop him from trying to choreograph her every move. Cher claimed that the director would go into great detail over how she should play every scene, then she'd simply ignore him and do it her way. "Peter Bogdanovich was my worst," she said years later, while discussing the directors she's worked with. "At the time, I was so unsure of myself, and he wasn't very nice. One day he said, 'Just remember, this movie isn't about the woman. It's about a boy. I can cut you out.' I thought, 'I'm going to take that information and just stash it, and get real, real tough.' And I did."
That wasn't the only Mask-related struggle Bogdanovich had to endure. The real-life Rocky Dennis was a huge Bruce Springsteen fan, as is Bogdanovich, and the director badly wanted to use several of the Boss's songs on the soundtrack. But Universal Pictures and Columbia Records couldn't come to an agreement on how much the songs would cost, so some Bob Seger tunes were inserted instead. Bogdanovich was furious. He quickly began to badmouth his own movie to the press, stating that the exclusion of Springsteen's tunes, and the studio's removal of a couple of scenes without his consent, botched the entire enterprise. (Springsteen is certainly a far more gifted and powerful performer than Seger is, but, frankly, music doesn't play a very significant role in the movie.) Cher couldn't have disagreed more with Bogdanovich, and was happy to say so - on the record . "I'm not surprised Peter would serve his own interests before serving the picture's," she said when the movie was released. "He asked me (not to promote it) and boycott everything. I said, 'You should get down on your knees and thank your lucky stars that I'm doing this, because one of us has to. This is a good movie.'" As for the missing scenes: "The one scene he keeps talking about is my scene. If I can live without it, he should be able to live without it." Bogdanovich made a few big-screen pictures after Mask, although they all bombed. He's better known these days for a recurring role as a psychoanalyst on The Sopranos. His most recent directorial effort is Hustle (2004), a poorly-received Pete Rose biopic that he made for ESPN. Cher isn't in it.
Director: Peter Bogdanovich
Screenplay: Anna Hamilton Phelan
Producer: Martin Starger, Howard Alston
Cinematography: Laszlo Kovacs
Editing: Barbara Ford
Production Design: Norman Newberry
Set Design: Richard J. de Cinces
Makeup: Tom Cole, Zoltan Elek, John M. Elliot, Jr., Michael Westmore
Cast: Cher (Rusty Dennis), Sam Elliott (Gar), Eric Stoltz (Rocky Dennis), Estelle Getty (Evelyn), Richard Dysart (Abe), Laura Dern (Diana), Micole Mercurio (Babe), Harry Carey, Jr. (Red), Dennis Burkley (Dozer), Lawrence Monoson (Ben), Les Dudek (Bone).
C-120m. Letterboxed. Closed captioning.
by Paul Tatara
