Jon Peters
Encyclopedia
Jon Peters is an American movie producer.
and Italian descent.
in Hollywood where he made many industry connections. Peters first gained national prominence when he began dating superstar singer and actress Barbra Streisand
after designing the short wig Barbra wore for the 1974 comedy For Pete's Sake
. He then produced Streisand's 1974 Butterfly
album, from which two songs, There Won't Be Trumpets/A Quiet Thing and God Bless the Child, were later released on her 'Just For the Record' box set - on the liner notes she stated that 'no one at the record company shared my enthusiasm. They thought the songs didn't belong on a contemporary album like Butterfly'. In 1976 he was given a controversial producing credit on Streisand's remake of A Star Is Born
("Barbra" by Donald Zec and Anthony Fowles, chapter 17). He worked with Peter Guber
for the next ten years. Their hits included The Color Purple
, Flashdance
, Batman
, and Rain Man
. He headed Sony Pictures with Guber for two years until Guber fired him. The pair were the subject of the book Hit and Run: How Jon Peters and Peter Guber Took Sony for a Ride in Hollywood by Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters.
, 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. 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's iconic characteristics by demanding that Superman was never to fly or appear in his trademark costume. He also suggested Sean Penn
as being ideal for the role, based on his performance as a violent death row inmate in Dead Man Walking
saying that Penn had the eyes of a "caged animal, a fucking killer," even though Superman is known for refusing to ever kill. Peters then demanded that if Smith were to write a script, the third act of the film would have to include Superman fighting a giant spider
, to be unveiled in an homage to King Kong
. Peters later produced the 1999 steampunk
western Wild Wild West
, the finale of which features a giant mechanical spider.
Smith says he met with Peters again after finishing an 80-page outline, which Peters asked him to read aloud in its entirety. Peters then instructed him to include a robot sidekick for Brainiac
(who would speak with a stereotypical homosexual lisp), a fight scene between Brainiac and two polar bears, and a marketable
"space dog" pet, 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 was abandoned and the script discarded.
In Look, Up in the Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman
, Jon Peters admitted that the Superman franchise was problematic for him: "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
.
comics for Warner Brothers met with controversy. One draft script commissioned by Peters was reviewed on the Internet at Ain't It Cool News
, and was met with scorn. 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." 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."
, Pamela Anderson
, Nicolette Sheridan, Sharon Stone
, Salma Hayek
and Catherine Zeta-Jones
, among many other celebrities. In 2009 he subsequently withdrew from the HarperCollins
book deal after adverse publicity triggered by the leaking of the proposal and potential lawsuits.
In December 2008, Peters sued his past President and General Counsel, Ronald Wayne Grigg. Peters accused Grigg of a campaign of deceit that included hiring an assistant with the company's money, stealing his computers, and drugging and raping two women on Peters' property.
In August 2011, a Los Angeles jury ordered Jon Peters to pay a former assistant $3 million after finding she was subjected to sexual harassment and a hostile work environment during the production of Superman Returns
.
Early life
Peters was born John H. Peters in Van Nuys, California, the son of Helen (née Pagano), a receptionist, and Jack Peters, a cook. He is of CherokeeCherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
and Italian descent.
Career
Peters went into the family hair styling business and was successful on Rodeo DriveRodeo Drive
Rodeo Drive of Beverly Hills, California is a shopping district known for designer label and haute couture fashion. The name generally refers to a three-block long stretch of boutiques and shops but the street stretches further north and south....
in Hollywood where he made many industry connections. Peters first gained national prominence when he began dating superstar singer and actress Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
after designing the short wig Barbra wore for the 1974 comedy For Pete's Sake
For Pete's Sake (film)
For Pete's Sake is a 1974 American screwball comedy film directed by Peter Yates. The screenplay by Stanley Shapiro and Maurice Richlin chronicles the misadventures of a Brooklyn housewife...
. He then produced Streisand's 1974 Butterfly
ButterFly (Barbra Streisand album)
ButterFly is a studio album by Barbra Streisand, recorded and released in 1974. The credited producer is Streisand's then-boyfriend Jon Peters, with arrangements by Tom Scott. The album contains contemporary material from a diverse selection of writers, as well as interpretations of standards...
album, from which two songs, There Won't Be Trumpets/A Quiet Thing and God Bless the Child, were later released on her 'Just For the Record' box set - on the liner notes she stated that 'no one at the record company shared my enthusiasm. They thought the songs didn't belong on a contemporary album like Butterfly'. In 1976 he was given a controversial producing credit on Streisand's remake of A Star Is Born
A Star Is Born (1976 film)
A Star Is Born is a 1976 American rock music musical film telling the story of a young woman, played by Barbra Streisand who enters show business, and meets and falls in love with an established male star, played by Kris Kristofferson, only to find her career ascending while his goes into decline...
("Barbra" by Donald Zec and Anthony Fowles, chapter 17). He worked with Peter Guber
Peter Guber
Howard Peter Guber is an American film producer and executive and Chairman and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment...
for the next ten years. Their hits included The Color Purple
The Color Purple (film)
The Color Purple is a 1985 American period drama film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Alice Walker. It was Spielberg's eighth film as a director , and was a change from the summer blockbusters for which he had become famous...
, Flashdance
Flashdance
Another song used in the film, "Maniac", was also nominated for an Academy Award. It was written by Michael Sembello and Dennis Matkosky, and was inspired by the 1980 horror film Maniac. The lyrics about a killer on the loose were rewritten so that it could be used in Flashdance...
, Batman
Batman (1989 film)
Batman is a 1989 superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name, directed by Tim Burton. The film stars Michael Keaton in the title role, as well as Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl and Jack Palance...
, and Rain Man
Rain Man
Rain Man is a 1988 drama film written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass and directed by Barry Levinson. It tells the story of an abrasive and selfish yuppie, Charlie Babbitt, who discovers that his estranged father has died and bequeathed all of his multimillion-dollar estate to his other son,...
. He headed Sony Pictures with Guber for two years until Guber fired him. The pair were the subject of the book Hit and Run: How Jon Peters and Peter Guber Took Sony for a Ride in Hollywood by Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters.
Peters and Superman
In his Q&A/comedy DVD, An Evening With Kevin SmithAn Evening with Kevin Smith
An Evening with Kevin Smith is a DVD featuring Question and Answer sessions that the writer and filmmaker Kevin Smith held with his fans at various American colleges in 2001/2002. The colleges were: Clark University, Cornell University, Indiana University, Kent State University and University of...
, writer/director Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith
Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...
relates an anecdote
Anecdote
An anecdote is a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person. It may be as brief as the setting and provocation of a bon mot. An anecdote is always presented as based on a real incident involving actual persons, whether famous or not, usually in an identifiable place...
about working with Peters when he was hired to write a script for a new Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
movie, then called Superman Reborn, and would later be renamed Superman Lives. 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's iconic characteristics by demanding that Superman was never to fly or appear in his trademark costume. He also suggested Sean Penn
Sean Penn
Sean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism...
as being ideal for the role, based on his performance as a violent death row inmate in Dead Man Walking
Dead Man Walking (film)
Dead Man Walking is a 1995 American drama film directed by Tim Robbins, who adapted the screenplay from the non-fiction book of the same name...
saying that Penn had the eyes of a "caged animal, a fucking killer," even though Superman is known for refusing to ever kill. Peters then demanded that if Smith were to write a script, the third act of the film would have to include Superman fighting a giant spider
Spider
Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
, to be unveiled in an homage to King Kong
King Kong
King Kong is a fictional character, a giant movie monster resembling a gorilla, that has appeared in several movies since 1933. These include the groundbreaking 1933 movie, the film remakes of 1976 and 2005, as well as various sequels of the first two films...
. Peters later produced the 1999 steampunk
Steampunk
Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain or "Wild West"-era United...
western Wild Wild West
Wild Wild West
Wild Wild West is a 1999 American steampunk action-comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, and starring Will Smith, Kevin Kline , Kenneth Branagh and Salma Hayek.Similar to the original TV series it was based on, The Wild Wild West, the film features a large amount of gadgetry...
, the finale of which features a giant mechanical spider.
Smith says he met with Peters again after finishing an 80-page outline, which Peters asked him to read aloud in its entirety. Peters then instructed him to include a robot sidekick for Brainiac
Brainiac (comics)
Brainiac is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Action Comics #242 , and was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino....
(who would speak with a stereotypical homosexual lisp), a fight scene between Brainiac and two polar bears, and a marketable
Merchandising
Merchandising is the methods, practices, and operations used to promote and sustain certain categories of commercial activity. In the broadest sense, merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer...
"space dog" pet, similar to Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
character Chewbacca
Chewbacca
Chewbacca, also known as Chewie, is a character in the Star Wars franchise, portrayed by Peter Mayhew. In the series' narrative chronology, he appears in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Episode IV: A New Hope, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi...
. While Smith, against his own judgment, acquiesced to Peters' demands and inserted them into his script, the project eventually was abandoned and the script discarded.
In Look, Up in the Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman
Look, Up in the Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman
Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman is a documentary film from executive producers Bryan Singer and Kevin Burns which details the history of the Superman franchise, from comic book, to television, to the big screen...
, Jon Peters admitted that the Superman franchise was problematic for him: "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
Superman Returns
Superman Returns is a 2006 superhero film directed by Bryan Singer. It is the fifth and final installment in the original Superman film series and serves as a alternate sequel to Superman and Superman II by ignoring the events of Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace .The film stars...
, the 2006
2006 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2006...
movie directed by Bryan Singer
Bryan Singer
Bryan Singer is an American film director and film producer. Singer won critical acclaim for his work on The Usual Suspects, and is especially well-known among fans of the science fiction and superhero genres for his work on the X-Men films and Superman Returns.-Early life:Singer was born in New...
.
Peters and The Sandman
Jon Peters's involvement in producing the adaptation of the SandmanSandman (Vertigo)
The Sandman is a comic book series written by Neil Gaiman and published by DC Comics. Beginning with issue #47, it was placed under the imprint Vertigo. It chronicles the adventures of Dream , who rules over the world of dreams. It ran for 75 issues from January 1989 until March 1996...
comics for Warner Brothers met with controversy. One draft script commissioned by Peters was reviewed on the Internet at Ain't It Cool News
Ain't It Cool News
Ain't It Cool News is a website founded and run by Harry Knowles, dedicated to news, rumors and reviews of upcoming and currently playing films and television projects, with an emphasis on science fiction, fantasy, horror, comic-book and action genres...
, and was met with scorn. Sandman creator Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
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." By 2001, the project had become stranded in development hell
Development hell
In the jargon of the media-industry, "development hell" is a period during which a film or other project is trapped in development...
.
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
Ted Elliott
Ted Elliott is an American screenwriter. Along with his writing partner Terry Rossio, Elliott has written some of the most successful American films of the past 15 years, including Aladdin, Shrek and Pirates of the Caribbean. In 2004, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the Writers Guild...
and Rossio
Terry Rossio
Terry Rossio is an American screenwriter.Rossio was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan. After graduating from Saddleback High School in Santa Ana, California, he went on to study at California State University, Fullerton where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Communications, with an emphasis in radio,...
and Roger Avary
Roger Avary
Roger Avary is a Canadian film and television producer, screenwriter, olive farmer and director in the American mass media industry. He was behind the screenplays of the films Silent Hill and Beowulf...
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."
Book
Nikke Finke's Deadline Hollywood blog reported on a book proposal for the autobiography of Jon Peters, written by him and Los Angeles writer William Stadiem. Peters reportedly intended to write about his life with Streisand and string of other lovers including Kim BasingerKim Basinger
Kimila Ann "Kim" Basinger is an American actress and former fashion model.She is known for her portrayals of Domino Petachi, the Bond girl in Never Say Never Again , and Vicki Vale, the female lead in Batman . Basinger received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture...
, Pamela Anderson
Pamela Anderson
Pamela Denise Anderson is a Canadian-American actress, model, producer, author, activist, and former showgirl, known for her roles on the television series Home Improvement, Baywatch, and V.I.P. She was chosen as a Playmate of the Month for Playboy magazine in February 1990...
, Nicolette Sheridan, Sharon Stone
Sharon Stone
Sharon Vonne Stone is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She achieved international recognition for her role in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct...
, Salma Hayek
Salma Hayek
Salma Valgarma Hayek Jiménez de Pinault is a Mexican film actress, director and producer. She received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her role as Frida Kahlo in the film Frida.-Early life:...
and Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones, CBE, is a British actress. She began her career on stage at an early age. After starring in a number of United Kingdom and United States television films and small roles in films, she came to prominence with roles in Hollywood movies such as the 1998 action film The Mask of...
, among many other celebrities. In 2009 he subsequently withdrew from the HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
book deal after adverse publicity triggered by the leaking of the proposal and potential lawsuits.
Legal issues
In November 2008, Peters was sued for sexual harassment by his Superman: Man of Steel co-producer Brian Quintana.In December 2008, Peters sued his past President and General Counsel, Ronald Wayne Grigg. Peters accused Grigg of a campaign of deceit that included hiring an assistant with the company's money, stealing his computers, and drugging and raping two women on Peters' property.
In August 2011, a Los Angeles jury ordered Jon Peters to pay a former assistant $3 million after finding she was subjected to sexual harassment and a hostile work environment during the production of Superman Returns
Superman Returns
Superman Returns is a 2006 superhero film directed by Bryan Singer. It is the fifth and final installment in the original Superman film series and serves as a alternate sequel to Superman and Superman II by ignoring the events of Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace .The film stars...
.
Selected filmography as producer and executive producer
- A Star Is BornA Star Is Born (1976 film)A Star Is Born is a 1976 American rock music musical film telling the story of a young woman, played by Barbra Streisand who enters show business, and meets and falls in love with an established male star, played by Kris Kristofferson, only to find her career ascending while his goes into decline...
(1976) - CaddyshackCaddyshackCaddyshack is a 1980 American comedy film directed by Harold Ramis and written by Brian Doyle-Murray, Ramis, and Douglas Kenney. It stars Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, Michael O'Keefe, Cindy Morgan, and Bill Murray...
(1980) - An American Werewolf in LondonAn American Werewolf in LondonAn American Werewolf in London is a 1981 British-American horror film, written and directed by John Landis. It stars David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, and Griffin Dunne....
(1981) - FlashdanceFlashdanceAnother song used in the film, "Maniac", was also nominated for an Academy Award. It was written by Michael Sembello and Dennis Matkosky, and was inspired by the 1980 horror film Maniac. The lyrics about a killer on the loose were rewritten so that it could be used in Flashdance...
(1983) - The Color PurpleThe Color PurpleThe Color Purple is an acclaimed 1982 epistolary novel by American author Alice Walker. It received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction...
(1985) - ClueClue (film)Clue is a 1985 comedy mystery film based on the board game of the same name . The film is a murder mystery set in a Gothic Revival mansion, and is styled after Murder by Death and other various murder/dinner parties of mystery...
(1985) - Rain ManRain ManRain Man is a 1988 drama film written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass and directed by Barry Levinson. It tells the story of an abrasive and selfish yuppie, Charlie Babbitt, who discovers that his estranged father has died and bequeathed all of his multimillion-dollar estate to his other son,...
(1988) - Tango & CashTango & CashTango & Cash is a 1989 American buddy cop film starring Sylvester Stallone, Kurt Russell, Jack Palance and Teri Hatcher. It was directed by Andrei Konchalovsky, although Albert Magnoli took over in the later stages of filming....
(1989) - BatmanBatman (1989 film)Batman is a 1989 superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name, directed by Tim Burton. The film stars Michael Keaton in the title role, as well as Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl and Jack Palance...
(1989) - The Bonfire of the VanitiesThe Bonfire of the Vanities (film)The Bonfire of the Vanities is a 1990 American film adaptation of the best-selling novel of the same name by Tom Wolfe. The film was directed by Brian De Palma and stars Tom Hanks as Sherman McCoy, Bruce Willis as Peter Fallow, Melanie Griffith as Maria Ruskin, and Kim Cattrall as Judy McCoy,...
(1990) - Batman ReturnsBatman ReturnsBatman Returns is a 1992 American superhero film directed by Tim Burton. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, it is the sequel to Burton's Batman , and features Michael Keaton reprising the title role, with Danny DeVito as the Penguin and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman.Burton originally did not...
(1992) - Money TrainMoney TrainMoney Train is a 1995 American comedy thriller film starring Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson and Jennifer Lopez as New York City transit cops...
(1995) - My Fellow AmericansMy Fellow AmericansMy Fellow Americans is a 1996 American comedy film starring Jack Lemmon, Dan Aykroyd and James Garner as feuding ex-presidents. Lauren Bacall, Esther Rolle, John Heard, Wilford Brimley, Bradley Whitford and Jeff Yagher also appear in supporting performances...
(1996) - Wild Wild WestWild Wild WestWild Wild West is a 1999 American steampunk action-comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, and starring Will Smith, Kevin Kline , Kenneth Branagh and Salma Hayek.Similar to the original TV series it was based on, The Wild Wild West, the film features a large amount of gadgetry...
(1999) - Superman ReturnsSuperman ReturnsSuperman Returns is a 2006 superhero film directed by Bryan Singer. It is the fifth and final installment in the original Superman film series and serves as a alternate sequel to Superman and Superman II by ignoring the events of Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace .The film stars...
(2006) - A Star Is Born, announced