Trivia / Revolution (1985)

• Box Office Bomb: Produced on a budget of $28 million, and made barely over $1 million worldwide.
• Creator Killer:
  • Along with the following year's Absolute Beginners, it pretty much destroyed Goldcrest as a force to be reckoned with in film making.
  • Director Hugh Hudson's career was also torpedoed by the failure of the film, only directing three more theatrically released films prior to his death.
• Deleted Role: Frank Windsor is credited as Gen. George Washington in the end titles but is not seen in the film. Somewhat bizarrely, Hugh Hudson blamed the casting of an English actor as the first American president for the vitriolic reaction the film received from American critics and its subsequent spectacular box-office failure.
• Fake American: German Nastassja Kinski as Daisy McConnahay.
• Fake Brit: American Al Pacino as Scottish-born Tom Dobb and Canadian Donald Sutherland as Sgt. Maj. Peasy.
• Genre-Killer: The film was so overwhelmingly despised by American audiences that it basically killed any interest in British-produced films for well over a decade. Only the James Bond franchise, plus films that were made in the UK and with British casts, but largely written, produced and/or directed by Americans (like the Merchant Ivory productions), or UK-made films with Americans in prominent roles (like A Fish Called Wanda) emerged unscathed. It wasn't until the late-90s twofer of Trainspotting and The Full Monty that American audiences started paying any attention to authentic British cinema again. It nearly even bordered on being an Industry Killer, as investors became scared of putting their money into UK films, which in turn caused Margaret Thatcher to pull the plug on virtually all tax reliefs related to the industry.
• Hostility on the Set: Hugh Hudson had severe difficulty working with Al Pacino and Natassja Kinski. Pacino and Hudson constantly argued due to creative differences and Pacino wanting to get involved in the script rewrites, while Hudson's working relationship with Kinski eventually deteriorated to the point where the two stopped speaking with each other.
• Non-Singing Voice: Rather astonishingly, Annie Lennox was dubbed by someone else when her character sings a song near the end of the film.
• Star-Derailing Role:
  • Al Pacino didn't appear in another movie until 1989 after this film bombed. Instead, he went back to theatre.
  • Annie Lennox has since admitted she found the experience very unpleasant and was put off appearing in more films in future.
• Troubled Production: This American Revolutionary War movie proved almost as much of a struggle as America's actual war for independence; fittingly, it also had serious negative consequences for Britain (in this case, its film industry).
  • Producer Irwin Winkler and director Hugh Hudson approached Goldcrest Films, who had produced Hudson's Chariots of Fire, on making a film about the American Revolution. At the time, Goldcrest was in internal turmoil; Its founder, Jake Eberts, had just been ousted in a coup by Sanford Lieberson. Believing a successful mid-budget picture could give Goldcrest much-needed financial security and solidify his control of the studio, Lieberson jumped at the chance to back the film, with Warner Brothers handling certain distribution duties. Others at Goldcrest and Warner were less eager, as they felt the script suffered from an Uncertain Audience, but Goldcrest greenlit the picture over doubts from Warner Bros. COO Terry Semel.
  • Although Goldcrest wanted production started in November 1984, February 1985 came and went without a script in good enough shape to proceed, and pre-production was contending with budget gaps and rain-soaked conditions at King's Lynn, Norfolk. It was allegedly at this point that Hudson suggested the film be pushed out by three months to polish the script, but Goldcrest executives balked as they strove to use awards to superheat their box office. Revolution would have to show select screenings no later than Christmas of 1985 to be eligible, especially as their other films, Absolute Beginners and The Mission, were troubled themselves and being held off so as not to compete against Revolution.
  • As shooting proceeded, Hostility on the Set broke out between the stars and director. Al Pacino, who had been brought on to star, considered the film a vehicle for himself and Nastassja Kinski, with Pacino trying to get involved in the endless script rewrites. Stories circulated that Kinski was an emotional wreck, with paparazzi harassing her over her disintegrating marriage. Things eventually reached the point where she stopped talking to Hudson at all, and her repeated absence from the set cost the film over half a million dollars. Multiple on-set accidents occurred (possibly sabotage from disgruntled locals) with expensive equipment and tents being destroyed. Only Winkler and Donald Sutherland, cast as Sergeant Major Peasy, were keeping any sense of order on the set.
  • On April 15, a Goldcrest executive appeared on set with freelance accountant Bobby Blues to compile "The Blues Report". The findings caused Goldcrest higher-ups to remove associate producer Chris Burt from the set and Lieberson attempted to have Winkler pulled as well, but it was discovered that Warner owned the rights to Revolution due to an earlier in-house deal they'd made with Winkler, while Goldcrest was left paying for the film. Goldcrest's bosses backpedaled on their decision to replace Burt, and Winkler threatened a mass walk-out would take place if he too was ousted. James Lee, leader of the "New Goldcrest Clique", elected not to punish Winkler, and Lieberson began to lose his clout.
  • Filming fell so far behind schedule that multiple scenes were shot in rain to compensate for delays, causing illness to run rampant on the set, and Pacino contracted pneumonia that kept him from performing for a full month. Eventually, James Lee himself went to the set to speak with Winkler, Hudson and Pacino. Despite obtaining a promise in writing, it became clear that Winkler and Hudson were ignoring executive demands. By this point, Lieberson decided to wash his hands of the whole affair by leaving to oversee production on The Mission. Winkler was also continuously flying out of the UK to concentrate on other projects including Rocky IV, meaning nobody with any authority was on hand to mediate on-set issues.
  • Meanwhile, finding that no European or American bank was willing to help them, Goldcrest performed a financial juggling act. Squeezing as much money as they could out of their properties and distribution deals, Goldcrest managed to cut deals with Midland Bank and Credit Lyonnais, receiving a loan of five million pounds to complete the film and a further twenty million to cover their loans with Midland in exchange for certain concessions, while a Norwegian fund agreed to help finance the movie provided some scenes be shot in Norway. This forced production to pack up and move to Norway, and while shooting was completed mostly without incident.
  • But then the money ran out. The Mission and Absolute Beginners were also suffering from delays and bloated budgets, and this caused Credit Lyonnais to activate various clauses in the contract which required immediate renegotiation, slashing the amount of money they had agreed to loan and demanding Midland share the burden in the meantime. As Goldcrest were wrangling with Midland and Credit Lyonnais to find a solution, Lieberson's plans to leave the studio were leaked to the press, and the board discovered Lee planned to combine the roles of Production Chief and CEO so he could occupy both positions. After a very angry board meeting, Lee left Goldcrest and a reluctant Jake Eberts was invited back as CEO.
  • In the end, it was an enormous failure. Mutilated by critics, it made just over a million dollars and was nominated for four Razzies. Hudson's career was effectively torpedoed, while Pacino and Kinski took years-long hiatuses from film. Along with Absolute Beginners, it played a major role in the severe decline of not just Goldcrest Films but set back British cinema by over a decade, as Margaret Thatcher would pull virtually all tax reliefs related to the film industry in part due to the failure of this film.
• What Could Have Been: Robert Duvall, Harrison Ford, Richard Gere, Dustin Hoffman and Sam Shepard were all considered for the role of Tom Dobb.

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