Catchfire (1990)

Interesting facts

• Budget: $10M
• Filmed in: New Mexico

Catchfire is a 1990 American romantic action-thriller film directed by Dennis Hopper and starring Hopper, Jodie Foster, Dean Stockwell, Vincent Price, John Turturro, and Fred Ward, with cameo appearances by several notable actors, including Charlie Sheen, Joe Pesci, Catherine Keener, and Bob Dylan. The film is about an artist on the run from the mob (Foster), who is pursued by a relentless hitman (Hopper) who begins to fall in love with her.

Production

The original screenplay was written by Rachel Kronstadt Mann, then re-written by Ann Louise Bardach, who was hired by Hopper and producer Steven Reuther. During the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike, Hopper hired Alex Cox to do another polish on the script while the film was shooting. Tod Davies also performed uncredited rewrites.

Anne Benton's text-based art in the film is the work of conceptual artist Jenny Holzer.

The production was marred with difficulties between Foster and Hopper. The differences began on the first day of filming of Foster in the shower scene. Foster, dissatisfied with the scene, yelled "cut", which angered Hopper, who told her never to do that again. Later, according to Hopper in an interview with Charlie Rose, Foster warned Meryl Streep by phone several times to avoid Hopper, who was very keen on working with her.

In a 1990 interview, Hopper referred to the film's post-production as "...a vortex of a Vestron cesspool. It was a victim of bankruptcy and greed." Hopper, who was used to having final cut privilege, was removed from editing by the producers. Approximately a half-hour of footage was cut, and most of Michel Colombier's original music was replaced with new score by Curt Sobel.

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