Babies, wives and Hitlers
'Stepford Wives' writer Ira Levin, master of suspense
By Todd Leopold
CNN
 |  Nicole Kidman suspects something's up in "The Stepford Wives." |
| |
| | ON CNN TV |  "Eye on Entertainment" talks about the weekend's happenings on CNN's "Live Today" between 10 a.m. and noon ET Thursday. |
|
(CNN) -- Before there was Stephen King, there was Ira Levin.
Levin may not have sold the number of books King has -- who can? -- but his best sellers have made an impact on pop culture, both as books and in the movies.
"Rosemary's Baby" (published in 1967) was made into a horror classic by Roman Polanski, who turned New York's Dakota apartment building into a creepy version of hell. "The Stepford Wives" (1972) has come to symbolize malevolent artificiality: use "Stepford" as a descriptive term, and people know immediately what you mean. "The Boys from Brazil" (1976) represents out-of-control science and evil; before there was the "gray goo" of nanobots, there were Hitler clones.
Levin is also the author of "A Kiss Before Dying," "Deathtrap" (a huge hit on Broadway, less successful as a film) and the play adaptation that made Andy Griffith a star, "No Time for Sergeants."
His work has many admirers, particularly King himself, who said, "Every novel he has ever written has been a marvel of plotting. He is the Swiss watchmaker of the suspense novel; he makes what the rest of us do look like those five-dollar watches you can buy in the discount drug stores."
"The Stepford Wives" has had a particularly long life. Levin published his novel in 1972; in 1975 it was made into a film starring Katharine Ross and with a screenplay by William Goldman ("Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "All the President's Men").
But the idea of automaton females -- if that, indeed, is what they are (the book is coy) -- didn't want to go away. A TV movie sequel, "Revenge of the Stepford Wives," appeared in 1980; it has since been followed by "The Stepford Children" (1987).
Now comes a new twist on Stepford -- a black comedy starring Nicole Kidman, Bette Midler, Glenn Close, Matthew Broderick and Christopher Walken.
Eye on Entertainment goes robotic.
Eye-opener
The basic plot of "The Stepford Wives" remains the same.
Joanna and Walter Eberhart (in the new movie, Walter's last name is Kresby) move from the big city to the bucolic suburbs of Stepford, Connecticut. Joanna determines that something's fishy with the town's wives, who seem all too subservient to their husbands. Meanwhile, Walter is welcomed into the town's men's cabal, which exercises a creepy control over the women.
A few things have changed since the mid-'70s, however. Now Joanna has her own high-flying career as a television executive. There's a gay couple. And the idea of Stepford is being played for laughs.
Many people involved with the movie aren't laughing, however. Rumors have been flying about on-set tension ever since the new "Stepford Wives" started filming. The filming schedule ran over, scenes were being reshot as recently as a couple months ago, and director Frank Oz and Midler apparently didn't get along.
And black comedy isn't only hard to do well, it's not the most bankable of genres. People who go to comedies generally like their laughs light and fluffy; otherwise, "Dr. Strangelove" and "Brazil" would have made a lot more money.
Still, "The Stepford Wives" has a terrific cast and a capable director (Oz, the former Muppeteer, has done "Little Shop of Horrors," "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" and "Bowfinger"), not to mention indestructible material. For that, they can thank Ira Levin.
"The Stepford Wives" opens Friday.
On screen
If you're the kind of person who finds "Garfield" a stitch, then you'll be pleased with "Garfield: The Movie," which opens Friday and features the voice of Bill Murray as the lasagna-loving cat. The rest of us will wait for "Pearls Before Swine," the movie. Or "Get Fuzzy," the movie. Or even "Mary Worth," the movie. Or pretty much anything else.Vin Diesel, Vin Diesel, what happened to thee, Vin Diesel? You've gone from "Iron Giant," "Pitch Black" and "Boiler Room" to "The Fast and the Furious," "XXX" and "A Man Apart." Successful, yes, but there's so much more. Well, your fans can catch you in "The Chronicles of Riddick," a sci-fi tale about an ex-con who can see in the dark. The movie also stars Colm Feore, Thandie Newton and Judi Dench (!). Opens Friday.On the tube
"Six Feet Under," in all its wonderful dysfunctional glory, has its season premiere 9 p.m. Sunday on HBO. (HBO is a unit of Time Warner, as is CNN.)"The Casino" is the latest show from "Survivor" and "Apprentice" producer Mark Burnett. This time, his fearless cameras (and able editors) go behind the scenes at Las Vegas' Golden Nugget, newly purchased by entrepreneurs Timothy Poster and Thomas Breitling. 9 p.m. Monday on Fox. Sound waves
The Beastie Boys' first album in six years, "To the 5 Boroughs" (Capitol), comes out Tuesday. "Undermind" (Elektra/Asylum), the presumably last album by Phish -- since the band announced its breakup a couple weeks ago -- is out Tuesday.Paging readers
Perhaps the only thing more disturbing than a novel by Chuck Palahniuk is a nonfiction work by Chuck Palahniuk. So prepare to be disturbed: The writer's new book, "Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories" (Doubleday), is out Tuesday.Video center
Oh happy, happy day: Three wonderful DVD compilations are due for release Tuesday. "The Simpsons: The Complete Fourth Season" finds the show hitting several high points, including the "Oh, Streetcar!" "Mr. Plow" and "Marge and the Monorail" episodes. Larry David's sourly hilarious "Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Second Season" is also out, which will give audiences another chance to see Larry deal with house sounds, thong bathing suits and religious conversions. And viewers can study the tics of ace detective Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) in "Monk: The Complete First Season." All three come out on Tuesday.
