Bob Evans, Marathon Man, and The Special Gift

The experiences I am sharing on this blog are as much about dealing with the environment of the business and the temperaments, personalities, and egos of talented, driven people as they are about creating, designing, and producing the work itself on these high profile, volatile studio feature films.

Producer Robert Evans in his office

After designing a special gift for Billy Friedkin on The Exorcist, I decided thereafter, to gift the filmmakers I worked with hoping they’d remember me for their next project.  

So, when I finally finished Marathon Man I prepared a gift for director John Schlesinger and producer Robert Evans, as well. When he ran Paramount production he was credited with the success of The Godfather, Rosemary’s Baby, and Love Story, three of the most successful films there had ever been at any studio in town.

I called Evans’ office and asked for an appointment to see him. I arrived at his building nestled under huge shade trees standing there with majesty and importance. This was a standalone stone building about the size of a house that Evans had run Paramount from during his days as studio chief and he had retained it for his tenure as an independent producer. There was a brass plaque mounted on the wall next to the entrance to the building with Bob’s signature, less anyone not know who was ensconced within. I entered the building and was greeted by his secretary sitting at her desk in the reception area.

After a few minutes she directed me to go into Bob’s inner office, which was just across from her desk. As I entered I saw that Bob was at his desk across this absolutely enormous empty space at the far end of the room. He was on the phone but waved me towards his desk and motioned for me to sit down in the chair across the desk right in front of him. As I walked across what seemed like the Sahara Desert, I finally arrived at his desk.

As I sat I began overhearing his conversation with some big shot studio guy, I couldn’t help but notice the bulletin board on the wall behind him. It was filled to overflowing with pictures of Bob Evans with President Nixon, Bob Evans with Charlton Heston, Bob Evans with Marlon Brando, Bob Evans with Francis Ford Coppola, Bob Evans with Ryan O’Neal and Ali McGraw (the stars of Love Story) Bob Evans with Roman Polanski, Bob Evans with Jack Nicholson, and on and on, ad nauseam.

Clearly Bob Evans was a big, important guy and he wanted everyone who entered his office to know it and be intimidated by it. I certainly was.

When he finally got off of the phone he stood up and greeted me. He was wearing his trademark blue-striped, high collared dress shirt under a beautiful navy cashmere sweater. He shook my hand and gushed how happy he was with the work I did on his film and thanked me profusely. He looked at the box I was holding so I quickly held it out for him to take.

The title card from Marathon Man (1976)

He seemed very familiar with receiving gifts and unwrapped it very rapidly and held it up to the light. It was a clear Plexiglas cube like the one I had designed for Friedkin but it had a three-frame strip of film embedded in it that read Marathon Man. He seemed to love it as he raved and said he’d put it right on his desk and use it as a paperweight. He promptly shook my hand again, sat back down in his chair and reached for the phone.

He buzzed his girl in the outer office and asked her to get somebody on the line. Well, clearly the meeting was over. As I got up to leave he winked at me but then waved me off as his party came on the line. Then he barked some orders to the phone as I walked across the great divide from his desk to the door.

As I opened the door and saw his girl at her desk I could see that he was buzzing her again. As I begin walking through the door she looked up at me and said that he wanted to tell me something and I was to return to his desk.

Now, I’m still in his office and all he had to do was call to me, but no, he had to be the movie mogul to the end, so he buzzed for me instead. I walked back across the desert to his desk and he excitedly told me that I would do his next picture. I felt like I had been blessed by the sacraments and anointed by The Pope. I did do his next picture, a film about tennis called Players. It flopped.

More stories and anecdotes like this can be found in my book.