The marquee at the legendary Paris Theater this week said it all about how you celebrate the life of beloved movie producer Edward R. Pressman who died on January 17. A program featuring clips from his astounding film resume plus homages from stars, colleagues, friends and family was both heartfelt and hilarious. His wife Annie Pressman and son Sam Pressman emceed the entertaining memorial, that featured tributes from Jeremy Irons, Willem Dafoe, Christian Bale, Martin Sheen, John Lithgow, David Hare, and Sir Ben Kingsley, and others.
David Byrne was auditioning actors for his upcoming Here Lies Love on Broadway and could not make it, but the Paris was packed with a who’s who of New York film makers and mavens from Barbara Kopple to David Denby to Bonnie Timmerman to Peggy Siegal. Abel Ferrara came in videoed from Rome, and thereafter many marveled that he was still around. That became a running joke. Ed’s brother Jim talked about his inheriting the family toy business While Ed went into film, and their upbringing at the Majestic playing stickball on West 70 Street. As you would imagine the funniest testimonials came from childhood friends and Fieldston classmates; his lawyer, Jim Janowitz talked about their work life. One time, he accompanied Ed to Cannes only to be airlifted by helicopter to an estate in Italy to meet with a potential backer. Balking at the price, the deep-pocketed Italian said, “I knew I was dealing with the producer of American Psycho, but I did not realize I was meeting with two American psychos.”
That landmark film’s director,
Mary Harron, was often called out for her brilliance. Just in case you need to be refreshed on this image: clips of a beautifully buffed Bale working out and competing for best, most expensive business card were screened.
Eric Bogosian spoke about how they succeeded in making
Talk Radio. That movie’s director
Oliver Stone talked about the making of the two
Wall Street movies, with
Kelly McKee of Ed’s company, Pressman Film, reminding everyone later on at dinner at the Harmonie Club that the memorable line, “Greed is good,” was intended to be loathsome. Surprisingly, audiences ate it up, embracing Gordon Gekko’s chilling speech.
Will Janowitz, a young actor and son of Jim, recounted Ed’s encouragement at the idea of making the movie
Bad Lieutenant into a television series. On a night of impersonations, his of the director Abel Ferrara was most “godfather”-like.
Many in the film community talked about how unusual “Eddie” was, soft spoken, not your usual brash and pushy producer; a star quarterback in high school, host of the best “Superbowl” party, he could be counted on to have a skinny rolled joint in his breast pocket. Gee, having known him mostly at his premieres, I missed out on that part of him. The memorial left me pondering, Why is death so final?
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