Jon Peters

:"For other uses, see: John Peters."

Jon Pagano Peters (born on 2 June 1945 in Van Nuys, California to Jack Peters and Helen Pagano) is a former hairdresser turned movie producer. He used to be Barbra Streisand's hairdresser, dated her, and eventually entered the movie industry with her help.

Career

Partnered with Peter Guber, he ran Sony Pictures for a time during the 1980s and 1990s.

Criticism

Peters and Superman

In his Q&A/comedy DVD, "An Evening With Kevin Smith", writer/director Kevin Smith relates an anecdote about working with Peters when he was hired to write a script for a new Superman movie, then called "Superman Reborn", and would later be renamed "Superman Lives" [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgYhLIThTvk Kevin Smith talks about Superman] ] . According to Smith, before being hired to draft a screenplay, he had to meet with Peters, the project's producer. During this meeting, Peters expressed disdain for most of Superman iconic characteristics by demanding that Superman was never to fly or appear in his trademark costume, as it was "too faggy". Peters also suggested Sean Penn as ideal for the role, based on his performance as a violent death row inmate in Dead Man Walking. Peters then demanded that if Smith were to write a script, the third act of the film would have to include a scene of Superman fighting a giant spider, which would be unveiled in a scene reminiscent of King Kong's reveal.

After Smith completed an 80 page outline, Smith met with Peters again who forced him to read the entire outline aloud to him. Peter then instructed Smith to include a gay robot sidekick to Brainiac, a fight scene between Brainiac and a pair of polar bears, and a marketable "space dog" pet for Lex Luthor similar to Star Wars character Chewbacca. While Smith, against his own judgment, acquiesced to Peters' demands and inserted them into his script, the project eventually fell through and the script was discarded. Later in the DVD, Smith recalls that he later went to see the much maligned "Wild Wild West", which featured the heroes battling a massive giant mechanical spider, and happened to be produced by Peters. Many fans blamed Peters for the almost two decade long absence of Superman on film, as well as the nearly $50 million loss that Warner Brothers took as a result of several failed attempts to reignite the franchise. In "", Jon Peters admits "the elements that I was focusing on were away from the heart, it was more leaning towards "Star Wars" in a sense, you know. I didn't realize the human part of it, I didn't have that." He subsequently served as Executive Producer for "Superman Returns", the 2006 movie directed by Bryan Singer.

Peters and "The Sandman"

Jon Peters involvement in adapting the critically acclaimed and highly popular Sandman comics has also met with controversy. One draft, reviewed on the Internet at Ain't It Cool News [ [http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=2571 Moriarty takes a look at what Jon Peters has done with Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN property!!! - Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news ] ] , was met with scorn from fans. Sandman creator Neil Gaiman called the last screenplay that Warner Brothers would send him "...not only the worst "Sandman" script I've ever seen, but quite easily the worst script I've ever read." [ [http://www.comics2film.com/Sandman.shtml Comics2Film: Sandman ] ] Gaiman also has said that his dissatisfaction with how his characters were being treated had dissuaded him from writing any more stories involving the Sandman characters, although he has since written "Endless Nights". By 2001 the project had become stranded in development hell.

In a 2005 interview, Gaiman summarized the Peters' approach as follows: "But Sandman movies, they just got increasingly appalling. It was really strange. They started out hiring some really good people and you got Elliott and Rossio and Roger Avary came in and did a draft. They were all solid scripts. And then Jon Peters fired all of them and got in some people who take orders, and who wanted fistfights and all this stuff. It had no sensibility and it was just...they were horrible." [ [http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1109313-4,00.html Interview: Neil Gaiman and Joss Whedon] - TIME Magazine, 2005]

As with other films, Jon Peters insisted on the inclusion of a giant mechanical spider. [ [http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=5661 The "MirrorMask" Interviews: Neil Gaiman & Dave McKean] ]

Personal

Peters has been married to (and divorced from) Marie Zampirella, Lesley Ann Warren, Christine Forsyth, and Mindy Peters. He has a son, Christopher PetersFact|date=August 2008, with Lesley Ann Warren, two daughters, Caleigh Peters and Skye Peters.

Selected filmography as producer and executive producer

* "Superman Returns" (2006)
* "Ali" (2001)
* "Wild Wild West" (1999)
* "Batman & Robin" (1997)
* "Batman Forever" (1995)
* "Money Train" (1995)
* "Batman Returns" (1992)
* "The Bonfire of the Vanities" (1990)
* "Tango & Cash" (1989)
* "Batman" (1989)
* "Rain Man" (1988)
* "Caddyshack II" (1988)
* "The Color Purple" (1985)*
* "Clue" (1985)
* "Flashdance" (1983)
* "An American Werewolf in London" (1981)
* "Caddyshack" (1980)
* "A Star Is Born" (1976)

*Director Steven Spielberg specifically had it written into his contract that Jon Peters not be allowed onto the set.cite book | author = Nancy Griffin; Kim Masters | title = Hit & Run: How Jon Peters and Peter Guber Took Sony For A Ride In Hollywood | publisher = Simon & Schuster | date =1997| location = | pages =| id = ISBN 0-684-80931-1 | chapter = ]

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0005307|name=Jon Peters
* [http://www.showbiznotes.com/showbiznotes/2006/03/sbn_classic_kevin_smith_and_th.php Showbiz Notes] Article critical of Jon Peters Dead link|date=May 2008
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgYhLIThTvk Youtube] Video extract of Kevin Smith's Jon Peters/Superman experience, from "An Evening With Kevin Smith"