Lots of stories to tell regarding the journey that led to LADY IN WHITE. In the weeks prior to the release of a film theatrically, the studio publicity department screens the picture, in advance, for critics and feature story writers.The morning of April 8th, 1988, was a particularly exciting one for me as I had been informed that the Variety and Hollywood Reporter reviews for LADY IN WHITE would be published that day.
I woke up early that morning and drove down to the Las Palmas News Stand, from my Hollywood Hills home, to purchase the two industry "rags" and face my fate. Although I had been given a "heads up" that the two entertainment business journals had liked the film, I was , nevertheless, thrilled to discover that the two reviews were raves.
The other major review to come (as far as L.A. was concerned) was the L.A. Times review. I 'd been told by publicity that Kevin Thomas, the L.A. Times critic, was "blown away" by LADY and wanted to know "Where the hell did this guy LaLoggia come from!" He also wanted to do a feature story and interview with me. But...
Hold your horses, partner!
Kevin Thomas was the "second string" film critic at the L.A. Times and was given the assignment of reviewing this unknown filmmaker's second feature as opposed to Sheila Benson (the first string critic.) When Thomas started raving about the film back at the entertainment division of the Times, Benson decided to usurp him and demanded that she see the picture and review it herself. The distributor, New Century Vista, had no option but to appease her.
And she HATED IT!
Even after Thomas pleaded with her to let the paper run his review, she refused by pulling rank on him. I later found out that she was pissed about Thomas's having reviewed another relatively unknown filmmaker's work, that being Tim Burton's Beetlejuice, and had fumed over Thomas's being quoted, positively, in the print ads for the film as the L.A. Times film critic, leaving her in the dust. (Beetlejuice had become a big, theatrical hit.)
Oh, another reason she reacted so negatively had to do do with her hatred for Spielberg's work. (Or so I was told. Once again, I had been, unfairly, lumped in with the 80s "God of cinema").
Her review of LADY IN WHITE is, oddly, absent from the scrapbook clippings in my possession that were curated by my dear Lorie Zerweck all those years ago.
I wonder why?
"STOP THE PRESSES! STOP THE PRESSES!" (THE IMMORTAL LAST WORDS OF SHEILA BENSON).
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