On most lists of the best movies shot in Chicago, “About Last Night” doesn’t rank high. Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert praised it for having “an eye and an ear for the way we live now,” New York Times critic Vincent Canby dismissed it as “one of the strangest film adaptations of an important work I’ve ever come across,” and as indicated by its 61 percent Tomatometer score, ne’er did that twain meet.
But whatever its reputation, the 1986 movie, adapted from David Mamet’s play “Sexual Perversity in Chicago” by local writers Tim Kazurinsky and Denise DeClue, was a milestone for Winnetka native and New Trier alum Ed Zwick. His first feature following TV projects, including the groundbreaking “thirtysomething,” it kicked off a long and successful career in film. It also occasioned a memorable homecoming.
“I got to return to Chicago as a local boy made good, and to shoot in all the places I had hung out,” said Zwick. “The film was a kind of love letter [to the city] for me. We filmed on the L, the 12th Street Beach, Murphy’s Bleachers, 16-inch softball in Grant Park. The story, about sex and bars and love and friendships, wasn’t explicitly autobiographical, but it still felt deeply personal.”
Nearly 40 years later, the 71-year-old Zwick is headed home again to talk up his new memoir, “Hits, Flops and Other Illusions.” The flops, of which there have been a few, include 1992’s best forgotten “Thelma and Louise” knockoff, “Leaving Normal.” But they are outweighed by his many successes, including the beloved TV series “My So-Called Life,” and films with such imposing (and challenging) stars as Denzel Washington, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio.
“Glory” was an unexpected breakthrough. Worlds removed from anything Zwick had done before, it focuses on the first all-Black regiment of the Civil War, boasting a killer cast including Washington, Morgan Freeman and the late, great Andre Braugher. “The connection those guys had to the story was rapturous,” said Zwick. “It was nothing short of magic. There were moments I was so mesmerized by what they were doing I forgot to say ‘cut.’ ”
Inspired by “Seven Samurai” director Akira Kurosawa and king of the Westerns, John Ford, Zwick had to fight with the “suits” to achieve his vision. He also had to contend with the antics of Matthew Broderick and his helicoptering mother, who insisted on rewrites that focused more on the actor’s role as the company’s young white commander.
Did Zwick have second thoughts about calling out Broderick in the book — and also Julia Roberts, who made like her neurotic character in “Runaway Bride” by bailing on “Shakespeare in Love” (which Zwick co-produced) at the eleventh hour?
“When I showed an early manuscript to a couple of friends, book writers, they said they didn’t see me digging as honestly into myself as I might,” said Zwick, referring in part to his combative temperament.
“I took that to heart, but I decided that if I was going to be open about myself, then I was going to commit myself to a certain authenticity in telling stories that were part of my experience. I needed to tell young filmmakers that they’re not on a primrose path. It’s a hard-knuckled business, and you have to be prepared for it.”
Writing an autobiography was not something he had thought about doing.
“I never felt that I had a subject until I suddenly realized that after 40 years in the business, maybe I was one,” said the director, whose far-flung productions have taken him from Japan (the Cruise-starring “Last Samurai”) to South Africa (the underrated DiCaprio vehicle “Blood Diamond”).
The pandemic and the actors’ and directors’ strikes, and the implosion of a “thirtysomething” sequel, gave him plenty of time to dig into his notebooks and fashion a career retrospective. The book includes lists of filmmaking tips from mentors including Sydney Pollack (“Certain actors can’t do speeches”); lessons learned (“Every great film has at least one indelible image, but you can’t plan it”); and indignities (one star made Zwick sit and watch as he rehearsed in 48 different pairs of pants).
Zwick’s last major effort was “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” (2016), which the miscast Cruise couldn’t rescue. The director will return after the long layoff with a political thriller, about which he was mum except to say it’s not a superhero film or a sequel to anything. That wouldn’t be his style.
