Taglines: Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.
The Paper movie storyline. Henry Hackett is the editor of a New York City tabloid. He is a workaholic who loves his job, but the long hours and low pay are leading to discontent. Also, publisher Bernie White faces financial straits, and has hatchetman Alicia Clark, Henry’s nemesis, impose unpopular cutbacks.
Henry’s wife Martha, a hugely pregnant former reporter of his, is fed up because he has so little time for his family. He is therefore considering an offer from Paul Bladden to edit a paper like the New York Times, which would mean more money, shorter hours, more respectability…but might also be a bit boring for his tastes. But a hot story soon confronts Henry with tough decisions.
The Paper is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Ron Howard and starring Michael Keaton, Glenn Close, Marisa Tomei, Randy Quaid and Robert Duvall. It received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song for “Make Up Your Mind”, which was written and performed by Randy Newman.
The Paper was given a limited release in five theaters on March 18, 1994 where it grossed $175,507 on its opening weekend. It later expanded its release to 1,092 theaters where it made $7 million over that weekend. The film went on to gross $38.8 million in North America and $9.6 million in the rest of the world for a total of $48.4 million worldwide.
About the Production
Screenwriter Stephen Koepp, a senior editor at Time magazine, collaborated on the screenplay with his brother David and together they initially came up with “A Day in the Life of a Paper” as their premise. David said, “We wanted a regular day, though this is far from regular.”
They also wanted to “look at the financial pressures of a paper to get on the street and still tell the truth.” After writing the character of a pregnant reporter married to the metro editor (that Marisa Tomei ended up playing in the film), both of the Koepps’ wives became pregnant. Around this time, Universal Pictures greenlighted the project.
For his next project, Ron Howard was looking to do something on the newspaper industry. Steven Spielberg recommended that he get in touch with David Koepp. Howard intended to pitch an idea to the writer, who instead wanted to talk about how much he loved the script for Parenthood. The filmmaker remembers, “I found that pretty flattering, of course, so I asked about the subject of his work-in-progress.
The answer was music to my ears: 24 hours at a tabloid newspaper.” Howard read their script and remembers, “I liked the fact that it dealt with the behind-the-scenes of headlines. But I also connected with the characters trying to cope during this 24-hour period, desperately trying to find this balance in their personal lives, past and present.”
To prepare for the film, Howard made several visits to the New York Post and Daily News (which would provide the inspiration for the fictional newspaper in the film). He remembers, “You’d hear stuff from columnists and reporters about some jerk they’d worked with … I heard about the scorned female reporter who wound up throwing hot coffee in some guy’s crotch when she found out he was fooling around with someone else.”
It was these kinds of stories that inspired Howard to change the gender of the managing editor that Glenn Close would later play. Howard felt the Koepps’ script featured a newsroom that was too male-dominated.[6] The writers agreed and changed the character’s name from Alan to Alicia but kept the dialogue the same. According to David Koepp, “Anything else would be trying to figure out, ‘How would a woman in power behave?’ And it shouldn’t be about that. It should be about how a person in power behaves, and since that behavior is judged one way when it’s a man, why should it be judged differently if it’s a woman?”
Howard met with some of the top newspapermen in New York, including former Post editor Pete Hamill and columnists Jimmy Breslin and Mike McAlary (who inspired Randy Quaid’s character in the movie). They told the filmmaker how some reporters bypass traffic jams by putting emergency police lights on their cars (a trick used in the movie). Hamill and McAlary also can be seen in cameos.
The Paper (1994)
Directed by: Ron Howard
Starring: Michael Keaton, Glenn Close, Robert Duvall, Marisa Tomei, Randy Quaid, Jason Robards, Spalding Gray, Catherine O’Hara, Roma Maffia, Amelia Campbell
Screenplay by: David Koepp, Stephen Koepp
Production Design by: Todd Hallowell
Cinematography by: John Seale
Film Editing by: Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill
Costume Design by: Rita Ryack
Set Decoration by: Debra Schutt
Art Direction by: Maher Ahmad
Music by: Randy Newman
MPAA Rating: R for strong language.
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: March 25, 1994
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