Interview with Peter S. Fischer, Producer, "Once An Eagle" Miniseries

Interview:
Peter S. Fischer, Producer,
“Once An Eagle” Miniseries
by Tom Hebert, OAE Enterprises

Question: It must have been a difficult decision to truncate Anton Myrer’s novel late in WWII rather than take the story, as the novel did, into the early 1960s and the war in Khotiane (Myrer’s fictional Vietnam). Please tell us about the decision making process?

No, it really wasn't that difficult and I'll explain why. I had nine hours to tell a sprawling story. Sounds like a lot but it isn't. Many classic books have been successfully transferred to the screen but in doing so, left out major portions. Prime example: "A Place in the Sun" which covered only the last third of Dreiser’s book "An American Tragedy" or "East of Eden" which used only a small section of the Steinbeck opus. At the time, Viet Nam was anathema to the public.

In addition, dramatically I always felt that confrontation between Sam and Courtney had to occur in WWII after Ben's death. To include all the material after WWII would have meant truncating all the material that came before and it just couldn't be done artfully. l've never second guessed that decision.

Question: Did you have the opportunity to meet Anton Myrer? If so, please share that experience with us?

I never met Mr. Myrer, never talked to him. My only contact was the letter I received from him which I forwarded to you. (Note: this letter can be found at www.onceaneaglethedvd.com)

Question: Casting can make or break any film. The consensus among “Once An Eagle” fans is that you absolutely nailed the military roles of Sam Damon, Courtney Massengale, and George Caldwell by casting Sam Elliott, Cliff Potts, and Glenn Ford, respectively. Can you tell us about the casting process for “Once An Eagle”? In particular, how did you come to choose Sam Elliott to play Sam Damon?

Casting the mini-series was a collaborative process as it always is in film and television. Sam Elliott had just come off a low budget feature called "Lifeguard" and he was excellent. Strong, soft spoken, all the qualities we were looking for. I'm not sure we seriously considered anyone else. Glenn Ford had a contract with Universal and “OAE” was one of the ways he could fulfill his commitment. He could have refused the part but didn't because I think he liked the material and the notion that he could play father figure/mentor to Sam. I know he enjoyed being in the series very much and we were delighted and honored to have him. As for Cliff Potts, this was the toughest part to cast. We needed someone who could exude strength and intelligence because pitting Sam Damon against an obvious second rater would have been foolhardy. We read an awful lot of actors before Monique James, head of Universal casting, recommended we test Cliff. His resume til then was a lot of westerns and frankly we hadn't given him a thought. But we were very impressed once we got to see and know him and I think we were darned lucky to have found him.

Question: Can you share with us any facts and figures related to the “Once An Eagle” shoot? How big was the budget? How long did it take to film?
Did much of the filming end up on the cutting room floor? How long were the shooting days? Were there days off or did you work through the weekends?

I really don't have any dollar figures to reveal. It's been a long time. But in that era, a quality TV project would usually come in at around $1,000,000 an hour so I would guess that our total was somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000,000. It might have been more. Shooting schedules averaged about 8 days per hour so I would guess around 10-11 weeks of shooting. In L.A. filming was restricted to 5 days a week; on location we also worked Saturdays (Napa Valley and Hawaii). I don't recall throwing a lot of film away. Movies have that luxury. TV doesn't. Generally we would get a rough cut of 50-52 minutes and we would have to shave it down to about 47-48 minutes to fit NBC airtime. We would tighten by dropping some dialogue, shortening scenes, eliminating some beauty shots but we didn't cut into the muscle. As a rule mini-series demand more care than your average weekly episode so my figures may be a little low. Although I was the producer, most of the nuts and bolts stuff was handled by the line producer, Joe Kramer, and the unit production manager.

Question: Can you share with us your three most memorable moments while shooting the “Once An Eagle” miniseries?

I don't know about "memorable" but I can tell you about a couple of incidents which I won't forget. Sometimes the location people get a little lazy or overworked and "can do" turns into "no can do". I was very vehement about retaining the baseball game in hour three but I was told the site didn't exist in the L.A area. My response to that was unprintable. I had been going to Vegas a couple of times a year by car and passing through a small town called Little Rock. Not only did they have a dusty grimy ball field at the local high school but the background, if you shot it correctly was flat, desert ...perfect for the Texas setting. And nearby was a cluster of small weather-beaten houses that we also filmed for Sam and Tommy's quarters on the post. As you can tell I don't take "no can do" for an answer. The other moment which could have been tragic happened on the last day of shooting in Hawaii. The aftermath of the battlefield was ready for shooting: uprooted palm trees, charred and overturned jeeps, bodies everywhere, fires ready be lit. And at 7 in the morning, a huge wave came ashore and wiped out the entire set. It looked like we might have to stay an extra day, hotel plans up in the air, plane reservations to change ....and then the set guys got to work and within five hours had it all put back together again. That night, we left Hawaii on time. By the way, did you know that palm trees are not indigenous to Hawaii? We went there specifically to recreate the WWII Pacific theater and we had to import our own rubber palm trees to make the set work.

Question: What was it like to work with a film legend like Glenn Ford?

Glenn had always been one of my favorites starting with the westerns with Bill Holden, “Gilda,” “Blackboard Jungle" “Teahouse” ....so many to count. He was approaching 40 years in front of the cameras when I got to work with him and he'd lost none of his talent though the memory was giving him fits. In Hour 3, he has a long scene with Sam about the Army and leadership and patriotism and why Sam should consider the military as a career. Glenn had one very long heartfelt speech and he wanted his cue cards and I told him no. As good as he was, using cue cards was reading and it wouldn't do, not for this scene. I told him: "Glenn, I want you to read that speech over and over and over until its message is burned deep down in your gut. And then when the camera rolls, I want you to deliver it. I don't care if you get words mixed up, sentences bollixed, that isn't important. What's important is conveying the message.” Well, I knew he was nervous about it but hell, if I wasn't worried, why should he be. He did the scene in one take (excluding coverage) and he was masterful. Quiet, thoughtful, determined. I damned near cried watching the dailies the day after we shot it. A wonderful man. A true professional.

Question: The “Once An Eagle” miniseries’ female stars also did great work? What can you tell us about Darlene Carr who played Tommy Damon, Amy Irving who played Emily Massengale, or Melanie Griffith who played Jinny Massengale?

None of us knew Darlene Carr before she came in to read but I knew right away, she was what I wanted. Perky, strong willed, a smile as big as all outdoors, a perfect complement to Sam's taciturnity. Her Golden Globe nomination was well deserved. Amy had a pretty good credit in "Carrie" prior to meeting her for the Emily part. I felt she was a perfect complement to Darlene. Amy's sultry good looks were in sharp contrast to Darlene's corn-fed openness. Amy also exuded sophistication and finishing school breeding. Also, just the type who would fall for Courtney. As for Melanie, we were lucky to catch her at the right time. She was a wonderful actress, could play the age and part to a tee and exuded that wanton sexuality that Courtney couldn't abide.

Question: “Once An Eagle” sat on the shelf for more than 30 years. Do you think the story line and characters have relevance to where America finds itself today?

I don't know how to answer that. In a perfect world I would like to think that America's youth is just as patriotic and self-sacrificing as the "greatest generation" but I'm not sure that's true. Certainly the country's perception of the military during Korea and Viet Nam were markedly different than WWII. We also find ourselves fighting wars that we don't understand. Logically there are reasons why we should be in Iraq and Afghanistan but I see a nationwide uneasiness about what is happening in the Mideast. It certainly isn't as cut and dried as fighting the Axis. It will take better minds than mine to really assess this conundrum.

Question: Are you in touch with any of the key players involved in the “Once An Eagle” miniseries?

I really have lost touch with just about everyone involved with “OAE”. Clu Gulager was a friend who lived doors away from me in the SF Valley. He has since moved back to the Midwest. Obviously I was in touch for many years during “Murder She Wrote” with Bill Windom. Bob Hogan, who played Ben Krisler, was a long time friend who I believe is now doing soap operas in NYC. We originally had signed Don Meredith to play Ben but about four days before we had to start principal photography, I got a phone call from Dandy Don basically backing out and reneging on his contract. A big no-no for an actor. There wasn't much we could do about it except sue but that would have been silly. I called Bob and offered him the job because he was not only right for the part, he was a terrific actor. Turns out he and Sam had been talking for years about doing something together.
Funny how things work out.

Question: In your illustrious career, you have been involved at a very high level in a number of extremely successful television productions, “Columbo” and “Murder, She Wrote,” to name just two. In your mind, where does your involvement in “Once An Eagle” fit in the context of those accomplishments and your career as a whole?

Over my nearly thirty years in the business, I had a lot of successes and a few flops. Some of the things I am most proud of never succeeded in finding an audience. “Once an Eagle” ranks in the top four or five topped by “Murder She Wrote” and “Columbo”. I thought we did a pretty good job of it and that's why it rankled me when NBC and Universal consigned it to the dust bin for so many years. I have a feeling the politics of the people in charge had a lot to do with it, but I could be wrong. “OAE” was certainly a lot different than anything I had tried before and I felt the weight of responsibility. I think Sam Elliott should have been nominated for an EMMY, but again, maybe the academy was turned off by the subject matter.

Question: In recent years, you have gone from television writer and producer to novelist. You currently have two novels on the market: The Blood of Tyrants and The Terror of Tyrants. Tell us about your books. What motivated you to write them? What is the underlying theme? How have they been received?

In 1996 I retired for good or so I thought. I'd had enough of network meetings with fresh faced film school grads half my age. But in the past two years I became so enraged at the direction the country was being taken that I took the dust cover off the typewriter and wrote The Blood of Tyrants. I had never written a novel, had never really tried, but the words flowed out of me like water down a drainpipe in a hurricane. It's a political thriller with lots of political insights into the egregious machinations of the Washington power structure. I wanted those who weren't paying attention to get an education while being entertained at the same time. I think I succeeded. AII of this in advance of November 2010 and our last chance to do the right thing for our country. Shortly thereafter I wrote my second book The Terror of Tyrants. Unlike the first book which took dead on shots at Congress, the second one dealt with the overreaching arrogance of the Socialists in the White House. I published both books myself and they are for sale on line at Amazon and Barnes & Noble and my own website. The subject matter was so volatile that I couldn't wait for the snail's pace way the out of date brick and mortar publishers do business. And yes, both books have been received very well. On my website, autographed copies come with a money-back guarantee, no questions asked and I have yet to make a refund.

Tom Hebert: Thank you very much Mr. Fischer for the interview and for your fine work on the “Once An Eagle” miniseries.

For more on Mr. Fischer and his novels, visit Amazon.com’s Peter S. Fischer page at:
http://www.amazon.com/Peter-S-Fischer/e/B002WV2WEW/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0.