May 15, 1987 –
The road movie which polarized critics, Ishtar, directed by Elaine May and starring Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty, Isabelle Adjani, Charles Grodin, and Jack Weston, opened on this date.
Warren Beatty and Elaine May quarreled and argued quite a bit off camera and especially in the editing room. Dustin Hoffman would serve as the mediator between the two of them. Beatty would also take sides against May in disagreements between her and director of photography Vittorio Storaro. At one point, Beatty and May had an argument with May telling Beatty, “You want this scene your way? You shoot it!“, and May would abandon the set for long periods of time. Beatty then reported the incident to the Columbia Pictures production representative, who then offered to fire May as director of the film on Beatty’s behalf as producer of the film, but Beatty did not want to take on responsibilities of directing the rest of the film himself had May been fired.
The Haus of Dcaligari 