One from the Heart: The Jack Singer Story
From 1975 to 1979, director Francis Ford Coppola was deeply engaged in the creation of his Vietnam war epic Apocalypse Now. At a cost of $45 million, the production left the esteemed filmmaker exhausted, depressed, and with his marriage in serious jeopardy.
To ensure his next film would not suffer from the same chaos, Coppola decided on a project that would be shot entirely on soundstages in Hollywood. In order to achieve his desired level of creative control, he purchased the General Service Studios production lot, rechristening it Zoetrope Studios. He wished to replicate the classic Hollywood studio system in miniature, with his film being planned, shot, and edited all on the same lot and all by American Zoetrope personnel under Coppola's employ.
Francis Ford Coopola on the set of Apocalypse Now (1979)
In developing subject matter appropriate for the stagebound shoot, Coppola decided on a modern update of the classic Hollywood romantic musicals of the 1950s, with their highly artificial but beautiful sets and painted backdrops. The ambition of the project swelled, and what was supposed to have been a simple $15 million movie ballooned to a cost of $26 million.
Rising costs led to Coppola needing to cut employee salaries, and finally investors pulling out of the project.
Meanwhile, Calgarian real estate mogul Jack Singer was golfing with a friend in Palm Springs who told him he could get them a tour of Coppola's studio. Singer had always loved the arts and entertainment industries and was excited to get Coppola's autograph. Upon arriving he found that Coppola's film was about to shut down production if it could not secure completion financing.
One from the Heart (1981)
Singer agreed to loan Coppola $8 million, with the cash-strapped director putting up his studio lot as collateral. One from the Heart screened poorly at test screenings throughout 1981 leading distributor Paramount Pictures to pull out from their deal with Coppola. When the picture finally debuted in February of 1982 through Columbia Pictures it only made $637 thousand against its $26 million budget.
The financial disaster led to Coppola losing his studio to Jack Singer, who took control of the facility in 1984 after a lawsuit and an additional $12 million paid to Coppola. Singer then undertook a massive refurbishment of the studio, spending $20 million on transforming it into a cutting edge HD-capable soundstage with editing suites, control rooms for television broadcast, and a virtual stage as well as traditional stages.
Jack Singer
The renamed Hollywood Center Studio would also be equipped with solar power and attract the production of music videos, commercials, and television productions who would rent the facility from the Singers over the next thirty years. In recognition of Singer's efforts in revitalizing the Hollywood district, the LA City Council issued a proclamation thanking the Calgarian businessman for his contributions, stating that Singer "came for an autograph and ended up saving the community."
Jack Singer is best known in his native Calgary for the impact his business and real estate dealings made upon the city, and for the beautiful concert hall which bears his name. But in Los Angeles, he is known as the man who saved a vital studio space after Francis Ford Coppola's reach exceeded his grasp.
The Calgary Cinematheque is pleased to present the recently restored and re-editing version of Coppola's first major flop - One from the Heart: Redux, on December 5 at the Globe Cinema.