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2007 Movie News Archives

February 5, 2007: Paul Bernbaum Talks “Hollywoodland”

With the DVD release of "Hollywoodland" tomorrow, Paul Bernbaum, screenwriter of the film, spoke with Newsarama.com about the whole process. Here's an excerpt from the interview...

Q: You do have certain things in the film which have been disputed such as the kid pointing a real gun at Reeves and people calling out Superman during the screening of From Here to Eternity. Did you have any thoughts about not putting that stuff in since it might not be true?

A: The kid with the gun is one of those stories that was out there and whether it was true or not, I don't know. I still don't know. Some people say it's a rumor, some people say it didn't happen. The scene in the theatre when everyone was shouting out his name, Jack Larson swears he was in the theatre when it happened and other people say that it didn't happen. It's hard to pin down the exact truth. Reeves has said that he was worried about things like the gun because so many people thought that he was Superman. Even if that was an embellishment, it was something that could have happened. At one point he even stopped appearing as Superman. He would just appear as Clark Kent for that reason. So it's not that far from the truth if it's not the truth.

Q: Did you hear from any George Reeves conspiracy theorists?

A: Oh boy, yeah. There is a whole world out there and if you have Reeves wearing the wrong color tie, you're in trouble.

Q: Have people like Jack Larson told you that Hollywoodland was an accurate portrayal of Reeves?

A: Jack really enjoyed the movie and felt it was very close. Noel Neil who played Lois Lane felt just the opposite. She didn't feel like that was the George that she knew. So I guess it depends on who you talk to.

Read the complete interview at the Newsarama website.

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