Francis Ford Coppola directing, Mario Puzo writing the script and Robert Evans as a producer, how can a film with this team fail? This is the same team behind the Godfather 1 and 2, two of the best movies of all time. The Cotton Club was going to be the next big thing for them, right? Not so much. It was a movie plagued with many problems.
The thinking behind the Cotton Club was good. Robert Evans hoped the film would bring public attention to the Harlem Renaissance era of African American history. The movie got some bad news early on when Paramount pulled out of the movie in 1981. Then, the film was delayed because Robert Evans had to produce anti-drugs public service advertisements. These ads resulted from a Plea Bargain, Evans struck because of a drug conviction.
We move to 1983, where Evans asks Coppola and William Kennedy to rewrite Puzo’s script. Evans was initially planning to direct the movie, but then turned around and asked Coppola to direct it. Coppola and Evans had bad blood from their skirmishes during the Godfather movies production, but both were broke and needed each other. By the time of this decision, they had already committed $13 million dollars to the screenplay, its rewrite and the hiring of Coppola.
Because of Paramount dropping the film, Evans had to secure outside funding for the movie. Evans got funding from a various cast of characters, from casino owners, Arab arms dealers and a Vaudeville promoter. Roy Radin (the Vaudeville promoter), ends up murdered. The killers later alleged that Karen Greenberger, an acquittance of Evans and Radin, had hired them. Greenberger brought Evans and Radin together to agree on financing for the film, and felt she deserved a percentage of the film’s profits. Radin thought otherwise, and Greenberger took street justice to settle the dispute. They later convicted Greenberger of second degree murder.
The initial budget of the film was between $20 -$47 million, but this figure would prove to be a myth more than a realistic goal. Evans tried to cast Al Pacino, Sylvester Stallone and Harrison Ford for the lead role, all passed on the part. Finally, Richard Gere agreed to play the part. Evans also tried to cast Richard Pryor in the movie. Pryor purposefully asked for more money than Evans could afford to pay, and he was out.
Puzo was the original screenwriter, but was replaced by Kennedy. During filming of the movie, Kennedy estimates they made between 30 and 40 scripts. Five scripts were written during all nighter weekend writing session.
Finally, the movie production began, and the movie production cost $250,000 a day. Within several weeks of filming, the film was already over budget. Coppola walked off the set because of Evans cutting his pay, only returning when Evans agreed to his full pay. Twice during filming, there were payment delays or non-payment to staff causing filming shutdowns.
The film costs kept soaring, and the financial partners weren’t happy. The casino backers hired a noted gangster, Joseph Cusumano, to intimidate Evans into giving up his share of the partnership. Cusumano got credited as a line producer in the movie instead. The film budget was now at an estimated $67 million and filming wasn’t even half over.
Coppola stated he felt pressure to cut down on the African American story line and scene time because the foreign distributors felt the story featured “too many black people, too much tap dancing and too long.”
Finally, the film was released on December 14, 1984. It grossed $2.9 million on its opening weekend and came in fifth place behind Beverly Hills Cop, Dune, City Heat and 2010. The film was a commercial failure, grossing $26 million against $67 million costs. Orion Pictures stock took a drop after the release of the movie.
Critics loved the movie, but the general audience didn’t. The behind-the-scenes drama was more appealing than the actual on scene product. Cotton Club took 5 years to make and ended up with a resounding dud.
In 2019, Coppola released a revised version of the film called The Cotton Club Encore. This version was 25 minutes longer and Coppola spent $500,000 of his own money to edit and restore the film. The Encore version got high approval and ratings from such publications as The Film Stage and Rolling Stone.
Murder for hire, extortion, over spending, shady financiers, tenuous partnerships and racism. The behind the scenes of The Cotton Club movie, can be a movie in its on right. Too bad the audiences didn’t love the final product or didn’t get to see Coppola’s authentic version of the movie until 35 years later.
