Private Parts

Private Parts (1997)

Never before has a man done so much with so little.

The life and career of shock-jock superstar Howard Stern is recounted from his humble beginnings to his view from the top. Possessing a desire to be an on-air personality since childhood, Stern meanders through the radio world, always with his supportive wife, Alison, by his side. Landing a gig in Washington, D.C., Stern meets Robin Quivers, who will become his long-time partner in crime. When the two move to New York, they face the wrath of NBC executives.

Date of release
1997-03-07
TMDB
6.5 / 10 (403)
Runtime
1h 49m
Genres
Comedy, Drama
Director
Betty Thomas

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Based on: Private Parts
  • Filmed in: New York City and New Jersey

Private Parts is a 1997 American biographical comedy film produced by Ivan Reitman and directed by Betty Thomas. The film is an adaptation of the autobiographical chapters from the best-selling 1993 book of the same name by radio personality Howard Stern, developed from a script by Len Blum and Michael Kalesniko. It follows Stern's life from boyhood and his rise to success in radio. Stern and several of his radio show staff star as themselves, including newscaster and co-host Robin Quivers, producers Fred Norris and Gary Dell'Abate, and comedian Jackie Martling. The film also stars Mary McCormack, Allison Janney, Michael Murphy, and Paul Giamatti.

Production

By 1992 Stern had experienced a rise in popularity as a radio and television personality. In July he struck a deal with New Line Cinema to produce a film based on his superhero character Fartman, which he devised in July 1981 when he hosted mornings at WWDC in Washington, D.C. He first announced the film, which Stern claimed "came from nowhere ... top of my head", during an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

A film project remained inactive until the release of Stern's first book, the part memoir and part commentary Private Parts, in October 1993. It became the fastest selling book in publisher Simon & Schuster's history after five days of release. In the following month, Stern's agent had started to contact film studios with the aim of adapting the book into a feature film.

Stern, who had the power of final script approval, went on to reject around 22 subsequent revisions, sometimes from day to day, as he grew dissatisfied with their content. Torokvei estimated he had worked on as many as five redrafts with Stern, adding: "On any given scene we did the day before, [Stern] would say, 'That's old,' or 'That's boring.' He wanted to freshen the scenes every day.

By February 1995, Stern had yet to approve a final script. The studio executives believed Stern rejected so many drafts because he was too afraid to be in a feature film, and so suggested Jeff Goldblum to play as himself. Stern insisted he was not afraid, and felt the idea of someone other than himself playing the role would lead to "the biggest box office bomb in history".

Stern wished for Reitman to direct and produce the film, but Reitman suggested Betty Thomas for the role having worked together on The Late Shift. Thomas was not a fan of Stern's, but her boyfriend was an avid listener and Reitman pushed her to read the script. She thought it was "very interesting", and travelled to New York City to observe Stern doing his radio show. "After a while, Howard came out. When he took my hand, he was shaking.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended