Jerry Zucker Celebrates ‘Ghost’ At 30, ‘Airplane!’ At 40 And The Love For ‘Top Secret!’

Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze on the set of ‘Ghost.’
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2020 is a milestone year for two of director Jerry Zuckers biggest box office hits. One of those movies is the Oscar-winning classic, Ghost.
There was a hesitation at the time, yeah. Oddly enough, it was not because it was a different kind of movie but because it was my first one on my own, the director recalled. The only thing I didnt want to do was another satire. I was having lunch with a Paramount executive named Lindsay Doran, and I asked, What do you have? She said, Well, the best script that we have here at the studio, my favorite, is a movie called Ghost, but its not a comedy. When I read it, it turned out it did have some comedy in it, and I just thought it was a terrific script.
Truth be told, she gave me the script, and Im a terrible reader, so I left it on the nightstand for a while. My wife picked it up and read it, and she said, You got to read this right now, explore it. So I did and, and I ended up signing on.
Ghost starred Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, and Whoopi Goldberg, who went on to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. It was nominated for a total of five Academy Awards. Now considered a classic ensemble, things could have been very different.
Oddly enough, they were not red hot at the time. Patrick made a huge splash with Dirty Dancing but then did a few pictures like Road House, which didnt land in the same way, Zucker revealed. Studios were respectful, but he was not on the on every directors hotlist. To be honest, I had a lot of concerns about Patrick, and I had originally not said yes to him. We had a nice meeting, but I still wasnt convinced.
He came in and read for me, and he was at a point in his career where he didnt have to do that, but as he did it, I just saw the movie working in front of me, right there in my office. It was the same with Whoopi. You could look at her resume, and I think she was in a period where her films had not been so successful. Demi was part of the Brat Pack, so she was known, but she hadnt had that breakout film.
The director added, Everyone had done good work, but it wasnt like people said, Oh my God! If we can get this person in it, we get the movie made. Im grateful at Paramount and Sid Ganis, who ran the studio at the time, decided to make the movie with people who were great for the roles and not necessarily worry about whatever the casts last box office numbers were. He got the big picture and believed in the movie.
Ghost hit theaters on Friday, July 13, 1990. It has been re-released on collectible Blu-ray as part of the Paramount Presents series to mark the films 30th anniversary. Ghost grossed $505.7 million at the box office and became the highest-grossing film of 1990. That was a great return on a movie that cost a reported $22 million to make.
When it came to the budget, that seemed like a huge amount of money, Zucker laughed. It was basically the combination of the budget of every other movie I had ever made up to that point combined. In reality, the actual budget might have been more like $30 million, but whatever it was, it seemed like a lot.
Director, producer and writer, Jerry Zucker, poses during a portrait session in Los Angeles, … [+] California, in 1990.
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One of Ghosts most iconic scenes is where Moores character Molly and Swayzes Sam are making pottery. The sequence only ended up in the movie because of a chance encounter during the post-production of another film.
It wasnt in the original script, he revealed. In the original script, Molly was a sculptor. I felt like seeing sculptors in movies that felt like a little bit of a cliche, chopping away, and it felt harsh, taking a hammer and chisel and banging on something. There was something about it that I didnt like. I was doing post on the second The Naked Gun movie, and one of the sound cutters was sitting next to me, and she was reading a trade magazine for pottery.
On the cover was this tall, colorful structure. I asked her what it was, so she showed me, and I had a look through it. Im seeing people at potters wheels, making things with their hands, and it just hit me. It showed it to Bruce Joel Rubin, who wrote the screenplay, and I just said we should think of making Molly a potter, so we did.
He added, I went to a pottery class with Demi, which was kind of fun. She continued and learned how to do it, which took a bit of work. Being with Patrick and Demi practicing that scene. It was during pre-production because thats one of those things you dont want to get to the set and find out youve got problems, they needed to be comfortable with each other, and it needed to be believable. It was kind of sexy.
The moment where the piece kind of falls over was a total accident. Their reactions are real and entirely natural, so I left it in. It was kind of interesting, but I wasnt sure at the time whether wed end up using it or not. Its now a moment that people remember. Even when we were just practicing that day, they were aware of how sexy it was. I dont know what I would call it, but it affected them, I thought, the connection was there on set.
Three decades later, something else Zucker remembers clearly about Ghost is the films opening weekend.
Bruce Joel Rubin, who wrote the movie and got an Oscar for it, his wife Blanche and I remain close friends. They stayed at our house with my wife and me the night that Ghost opened, so we were all together when the calls came in from the studio. It was really exciting, he remembered. It debuted at around $12 million, which is good, but it wasnt an enormous opening weekend number, it was healthy. A lot of movies opened way bigger. The thing about Ghost is that it kept doing the same kind of numbers the next weekend and the weekend after that and so on. It would do maybe $10 million or $11 million for a while, so the excitement from that first night ran for even longer. We just kept playing in theaters. We only opened on a few hundred or about 1,000 theaters, and then they kept adding theaters because of demand. At the time, we knew it was a hit, but we didnt realize how much of a hit it was until much later.
The filmmaker added, Its always great to see lines with people waiting to see your movie and getting in there and seeing a full house. That is an incredible feeling. Going to the theater on opening night, if there arent very many people, is awful.
Along with the Oscar-winning ‘Ghost,’ director Jerry Zucker is behind what are widely considered to … [+] be some of the greatest comedy films of all time.
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2020 is a big year for another of Zuckers classic movies, Airplane!, which celebrates its 40th anniversary and also gets a Paramount Presents Blu-ray re-release to mark the occasion. It landed on theaters on Wednesday, July 2, 1980.
I thought both Ghost and Airplane! would be hits, but nervously. In terms of why they were hits, the only thing I can think of is that both movies had something, an underlying element that resonated, he enthused. I think the biggest thing about Airplane!, obviously its partly all the jokes that people remember, but it does have a sensibility that connects. Also, youve got all these serious actors saying these lines completely straight. If we cast comedians and they said lines like, I am serious and dont call me Shirley, I honestly dont know if it would be remembered in the same way. We grew up with the hard dramas of the 50s and into the 60s, where actors took themselves seriously, and everything was dramatic.
We loved those movies, but we also laughed at all these people taking themselves so seriously. Thats what we were making fun of. With Ghost, I give all the credit Bruce Joel Rubin, the writer. He had been interested in spiritual ideas all of his life; he was immersed in that world. It was like if youre doing a war movie, having a general there. Im not saying he thinks there are ghosts on subways or whatever, but the themes of the movie and the idea of how we think about death and that whole realm struck a note with people.
Airplane! was a massive hit. It grossed $158 million at the box office against a budget of $3.5 million. However, as much joy as the love for Ghost and Airplane! gives the director, its 1984 comedy Top Secret! that Zucker is especially happy still gets love from fans almost 25 years after its release.
I love that movie. I think some of the best jokes weve put on film are in Top Secret! but we forgot to include a story. Its a big lesson, and it was a hard one to learn, he lamented. It was a rough time after that came out, it really did not do business, and we were crushed. Its nice to see it now at least have a cult following and a lot of fans and people who are into that sense of humor. We made a mistake, but it is great that people appreciate it.
Would he like to see the studio give it the red carpet treatment and bestow a Blu-ray release on it when Top Secret! turns 40 in a few years time – if not sooner?
I really would, he agreed. I should ask Paramount about that. Id love to see that happen. I think that would be terrific. I dont know if Paramount sees enough of a market that would justify it. I know there are a lot of big fans of the movie even though its nowhere near what Airplane! or even The Naked Gun has. I think I will broach it with them and see if they have any interest in it.
However, as a director, producer, and writer, one of the things he is most proud of when it comes to Ghost is having others pay comedic homage on film and TV. There is one that Zucker is particularly proud of.
Honestly, one of the greatest moments for me in my career was when Mad magazine did a satire of Ghost. I framed it because I loved it so much, he enthused. Being a satirist, I am not sensitive about people making fun of my work. If anything, it is a big plus. The idea that I did something Mad magazine thought was big enough to make fun of was fantastic.
Ghost is available on collectible Blu-ray now as part of the Paramount Presents collection.
Airplane! is available on collectible Blu-ray or Limited Edition Steelbook now as part of the Paramount Presents collection.read more