A Ship of Foils

Producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind must have felt at times that Christopher Columbus had an easier time finding the New World than they had getting their movie, “Christopher Columbus--The Discovery,” off the ground--make that, into the water. Many industry observers believed that the Salkinds’ film, plagued with numerous problems from the beginning, including the defection of several directors, would never get made let alone released.

But the Salkinds, the father-son producing team behind the first three “Superman” films, who have been trying to get their project made since 1987, have proven them wrong. Their film, to be distributed domestically by Warner Bros. and starring Marlon Brando, Tom Selleck, Rachel Ward and unknown George Corraface sails into theaters Friday. It arrives well ahead of director Ridley Scott’s version of the Columbus tale, “1492,” to be released by Paramount Pictures in October.

“We’re not concerned about the other picture,” says Alexander Salkind. “It doesn’t affect us at all. It’s very different. But I guess it is better to come out first.”

Ironically, the Salkinds had originally approached Scott (“Thelma & Louise,” “Blade Runner”) about directing their film. “He was the first director I talked to about the project,” says Alexander Salkind from Paris, “but we couldn’t get along and couldn’t agree on the tone of the picture.” When Scott subsequently announced plans of his own, the Salkinds filed a lawsuit, which they later dropped. (In 1990, unbeknown to each other, the Salkinds and Scott took out splashy, full-color, two-page ads in the same issue of Daily Variety trumpeting their own projects.) “We thought that maybe he was going to use some of the stuff that we suggested,” Salkind says. “But then we found out his picture would be completely different.”

While Scott’s film will reportedly be a more ambitious, somewhat darker, politically correct look at the man long credited with the “discovery” of America, the Salkinds are taking the heroic high road. Salkind says their film, budgeted at $45 million to $47 million only covers Columbus’ campaign to convince Queen Isabella to back his trip, his first voyage and his triumphant return to Spain. “I would compare our picture to ‘Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,’ ” Salkind says, referring to last year’s swashbuckling success that starred Kevin Costner. “It’s going to be an adventure picture. It’s the adventure of the discovery.”

It was because of that desire for more of an action-adventure film that the Salkinds replaced original screenwriter Mario Puzo (“The Godfather”) with John Briley, an Oscar winner for his “Gandhi” script. “We really weren’t convinced by Puzo’s screenplay,” Salkind says. “We believed we needed more happening, more adventure.”

Once armed with a script that was to their liking, the Salkinds began to play musical chairs with several intended directors and stars. Originally, “Rambo” director George Cosmatos was hired and the plum role of Columbus went to Timothy Dalton. Isabella Rossellini was cast as Queen Isabella. The Salkinds’ biggest coup, however, was landing legendary actor Marlon Brando to play sinister Spanish inquisitor Tomas de Torquemada, a relatively small role. Brando did not come cheap, earning $5 million for 10 days work. To add more international marquee value to the movie--which helps when it comes time to raise money--Tom Selleck was cast as King Ferdinand.

But then, Cosmatos abruptly pulled out and John Glen, a veteran of several James Bond films, including two with Dalton, stepped in. Salkind says that with the announcement of Glen, Dalton, who reportedly doesn’t get along with the director, quit and was replaced by relatively unknown Greek actor George Corraface. Intended-distributor Universal Pictures was reportedly unhappy with this casting and withdrew its support. Subsequently, Rossellini declined her role and was eventually replaced by Rachel Ward. Through all the comings and goings, Brando and Selleck stayed aboard.

Despite the problems, the Salkinds managed to keep their project from sinking. Finally, after months of delays, without a studio or distributor behind them and using money Salkind says he raised himself, production of “Christopher Columbus--The Discovery” literally set sail last August. Salkind even persuaded the Spanish government to lend the production replicas of Columbus’ caravels, the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria. While the ships journeyed across the Atlantic toward the Caribbean, movie crews were aboard filming the action. Doubling for the New World were various locations in the Virgin Islands. Most of the ships’ interior scenes were shot aboard three full-sized replicas of the ships built and set afloat in gigantic water-filled tanks in Malta.

Although Salkind says there were very few difficulties during filming of the action and sea-going scenes, he admits he wasn’t quite so lucky when it came time to film scenes with Brando in Madrid. “The only major problems we had were with Marlon because he wanted to change the script,” Salkind says. “He wanted to show his character very mean. He wanted long fingernails and a frightening face. He also wanted to show a Jewish girl being boiled in oil. This was not the type of film we were making.” According to Salkind, Brando talked Salkind’s son, Ilya, into making changes to the script while he was away. “When I arrived on the set, I had to tell Marlon that we weren’t going to make the changes he wanted,” Salkind says. “We filmed the movie exactly like it was written.”

And while Salkind says there weren’t many problems with the production, others disagree. It was reported several months ago that numerous crew members and employees of the production company had yet to be paid. “There were a couple of people, who I got hired, whose checks bounced,” says Tom Selleck, who worked on the movie for seven days in Madrid. “And I heard rumors about other people not getting paid.”

Salkind insists most of the problems of non-payment stemmed from the difficulty of international bank transmissions, but does admit that certain crew members did get paid late. (Selleck’s makeup artist says he was eventually paid after several checks bounced and he threatened to take out a full-page ad in Variety.)

It was also reported that more than $300,000 was owed to various workers in the Virgin Islands, but Salkind insists the figure was closer to $180,000 and stemmed from a dispute the company had with the Virgin Islands Film Commission.

“They promised us $130,000 for promotional funds,” Salkind said, referring to a behind-the-scenes film to be produced for promotional purposes to draw other production companies to the islands. “We were supposed to use that money to pay the workers down there.” According to Salkind, the uncontested bills totaled less than 1% of the film’s cost. “Now that we’ve made the deal with Warner Bros., we are paying everybody,” he says.

(Payment to the disgruntled creditors did indeed come, but not until L.A. bankruptcy attorney Stephen Chrystie was hired by a group of unpaid workers, and threatened to push the Salkinds and their company into involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Additionally, a second group of unpaid vendors and crew members hired Chrystie in July to try to recoup unpaid bills estimated at more than $300,000. Again, with the bankruptcy threat, the money was paid off by the Salkinds. Reportedly, a third group is now threatening to take action. Chrystie was unavailable for comment about this latest claim.)

And just why did Warner Bros. decide to pick up the Salkinds’ film for distribution, especially in light of Scott’s competing version? “Beginning with the ‘Superman’ films, we’ve had a very successful relationship with the Salkinds,” says Robert G. Friedman, Warners’ president of theatrical worldwide advertising and publicity.

However, despite their past relationship with the Salkinds, the studio does not seem to be enthusiastically promoting their latest film. There are no plans to screen the movie for the press in advance of its opening, which is usually an indication that the studio feels they have a troubled film on their hands. In addition, the pre-release marketing campaign has been almost non-existent.

Because of the various problems involving non-payment, Brando was reportedly considering taking his name off the film’s credits, a threat Salkind never took seriously. “It’s an absurdity that Brando would take his name off the credits,” he says. “How could he take his name off, when everybody would recognize him anyhow? If you are not known, you can take your name away, but if you are known, you can’t.”

So, with Brando’s name still on the credits, “Christopher Columbus--The Discovery” arrives in theaters across the country. And although it looks like a victory for the Salkinds, the big question remains whether or not the film will take the wind out of the sails of “1492,” or whether it will quickly sink, the victim of an apathetic audience not all that interested in the legend of Christopher Columbus.