The War of the Roses: “They meet, everything is perfect, the sex is great and then shit goes down the drain”

“I like it when there’s a surprise,” the director of this scathing comedy about divorce told us.

On this Friday evening, France 5 channel is banking on a sure bet: The War of the Rosesof Danny DeVito. Released in cinemas in 1989, this black comedy follows a couple living in complete happiness… until their relationship suddenly turns into a nightmare.

The actor, director and producer filmed it based on an adaptation of Warren Adler's novel by Michael J. Leeson (The Happy Days, Taxi series…) finding for the occasion in front of the camera the flagship actors ofIn pursuit of the green diamond and of Nile Diamond, Michael Douglas And Kathleen Turner.

Met in the summer of 2021, DeVito confided in First within a long career interview. We share below what he detailed about this film in particular, but also about his meeting, and his friendship, with Douglas.

The Penguin, Pulp Fiction and Michael Douglas: Danny DeVito's career interview

“I think I like when things are not what they seem, when there is surprise, duality in the characters, Danny first explains about his comedy. The War of the Roses is the perfect example: they meet, everything is perfect, the sex is great and then at one point, things go down the drain. (Laughs.) I don't know if it's very original, but I do it with my sensitivity. I take a concept that's been around for a long time and put it in a blender. It's still a three-act structure, but you torture your characters a little, you punch them with bamboo at the right time and you watch them get agitated. And there is often a slightly twisted passage that comes to mind: “Matilda should have parents who want to sell her!” » I love that kind of stuff.”

About Michael Douglas, here is the actor who told us:

You look like you're a car tidy person when your life seemed more rock'n'roll in the 70s. Legend has it that you approached Michael Douglas simply by handing him a joint on a beach. Is that how it happened?
(Laughter.) Yeah, pretty much. We were in Waterford, Connecticut, at the Eugene O'Neill Foundation. It's a place where screenwriters have the right to let their imagination express themselves, where they can experiment. In the summer, they call on actors to do readings, perform plays… At that time, they were building an amphitheater and they asked the actors to help with the cement , bricks… One day, someone asks who can go into town to get beers. Obviously, I raise my hand! You have to see that at the time, I was a hippie. Long hair, everything. Michael was there and he had a great bike. The golden opportunity to ask him to take me because I didn't know anyone there with whom I could have shared a joint in the evening. So I look at him, and I'm like, ” For sure, this guy really has a head for smoking weed. » (He smiles.) Let’s just say it took us a while to bring back the beers!

And you make your mark together in Hollywood.
Yes, in a way. We became good friends and he was still in college, at UCSB, in Santa Barbara. He then joined me in New York to do theater. We were sharing an apartment at 89th and Riverside Drive on the Upper West Side. We shared the rent, which I remember was $150 a month. It has increased slightly! (Laughter.) We were young actors, it made good savings. And then Michael broke through with the series The Streets of San Francisco. He left there, but we still shared the rent!

A real friend.
Absolutely, especially after I met my wife Rhea (Perlmann) and she moved into the apartment: Michael still paid half! But we supported each other, we gave each other tips for auditions, we did readings together… We really wanted each other to find work. If only to make him pay the bills! And then there was One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nestwhich Michael was producing, and that changed everything. Well, not exactly. Let's just say it gave me a name in Hollywood. I moved to California and took every small role that came along, including on TV: Sergeant Anderson with Angie Dickinson, Starsky and Hutch…Really little things, I had to work. And then there was On the way to the South which we were talking about earlier, and then the series Taxiin 1978. That’s what got me out of the gutter.

(…)

Coming back to James L. Brooks, he's the one who gets you back on the big screen after Taxiwith Tender passionsin 1983.
Exactly. It was his first feature film and he decided to give me a role alongside Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger. A real chance, he had offered me a golden role on TV and he gave me the opportunity to return to the cinema. But the real transition for me was Chasing the green diamond and its sequel, The Diamond of the Nile. It's Michael Douglas again – he still paid half the rent (laughter) – who was producing and he was truly royal, because he arranged for my name to appear on the poster above the title, along with his and Kathleen Turner's. It doesn't seem like much, but it matters a lot in the industry. I was flattered. So of course, I was already a little known thanks to television, so it's smart of a producer. But it boosted my career.

Note that Olivia Colman And Benedict Cumberbatch prepare rehabilitation of The War of the Rosesheaded by Jay Roach (Austin Powers, Scandal…). Will it become as cult as the 1980s version? At the time, DeVito's film was a hit, grossing $160 million worldwide. In France, it attracted nearly a million spectators in theaters.

Michael Douglas on why he chose Milos Forman to direct One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest