30-ODD YEARS LATER, HER RECORDINGS OF DE PALMA, HANKS, GRIFFITH & OTHERS FORM SEASON 2 OF 'THE PLOT THICKENS'
Julie Salamon's book The Devil's Candy, about the making of The Bonfire Of The Vanities, will come to life via her "actual recordings" of Brian De Palma, Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith and others for season two of the TCM podcast The Plot Thickens (see trailer below). The series is hosted by Ben Mankiewicz, and the first episode of this season premieres June 29th. TCM will also be showing De Palma films as the weekly podcast continues for seven episodes. Here's an excerpt from Mike Barnes' Hollywood Reporter article about it:
Meanwhile, season two of The Plot Thickens, “The Devil’s Candy,” which will go behind the scenes of the notorious 1990 Warner Bros. flop The Bonfire of the Vanities, arrives June 29 via a production partnership with Campside Media.The title comes from the best-selling 1991 book written by Julie Salamon, who was a journalist embedded in the production; she’ll co-host the seven-episode podcast with Mankiewicz. The movie, based on the sensational 1987 novel by Tom Wolfe, was directed by Brian De Palma and starred Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith and Bruce Willis.
“There have been plenty of lemons in movie history, but none that have been so meticulously recorded,” Mankiewicz says. “Julie Salamon’s book was a gift to film lovers, film students and perhaps most critically, movie executives. She lays out a blueprint for what will go wrong if you lose your way. We’re thrilled to bring her book and her recordings to life with this season of the podcast.”
The Bonfire of the Vanities will make its TCM premiere July 5, kicking off a selection of De Palma films. It will be followed by Obsession (1976), Sisters (1972), Blow Out (1981) and Body Double (1984).
Here's the description from The Plot Thickens itself:
The Bonfire of the Vanities was one of the best-selling novels of the 1980s and had all the makings for a hit motion picture: a dark comedy with heart and bite, an A-list director and a star-studded cast. So what went wrong? Beginning June 29th, come with us onto the closed set and hear actual recordings of Brian De Palma, Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith and others, as they set about making one of the most anticipated films of its time, only to have it end up a cautionary tale for the ages.