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Recently in Salon People

Nothing Personal
When toilet seats attack
When you get caught between the seat and New York City, you know it's painful, so you sue. Plus: All aboard Affleck!
By Amy Reiter
[12/01/99]

People Feature
What dreams may bomb
For years, Richard Simmons has made people earn their dreams the hard way. Now he can't give them away.
By Matt Himes
[12/01/99]

Nothing Personal
Love, Washington style
D.C. insiders in love! Mush and spin from the other Olson twins; Portman keeps her pants on; and Michael Jackson won't stop till he gets enough ... babies.
By Amy Reiter
[11/30/99]

Brilliant Careers
David Cronenberg
For more than three decades, his films have been taking you to the weirdest of worlds. Lucky for you, you can always walk out -- unless you're too terrified to move.
By Steve Burgess
[11/30/99]

Nothing Personal
My runny-nosed valentine
Matt Damon to keep day job; kids ask the darndest things of presidential candidates; and is that a rock on Jennifer Aniston's finger, or is she just getting ready to punch someone out?
Amy Reiter
[11/29/99]

Complete archives for People

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At least Michael Ovitz has the guts to be Michael Ovitz. All of these people who now say "Oh, what a bad guy he was," they were like Hitler Youth -- marching in order right on to Paris. All of a sudden they found out he wasn't such a great leader and such a great guy. He was not nice to me or my daughter. When someone takes off to hurt my family -- I never forget that. Whatever happens to this guy is not enough. I say in this book, no one controls this town except the talent. The talent runs everyone -- the talent is the power.

Hollywood seems like a weird place.

It's a different world. There's no such thing as constant anything.

You've got a painting in your office called "Nebraska." What significance does that painting have to you?

David Rensin who co-wrote this book with me, was looking at this picture and asked me why I loved it. There's a big stop sign in it and he used that as a metaphor for my life. It's gorgeous and it's lonely.

You mention a woman named Marilyn Boroy who you were once in love with. She was a nice looking gal. You've tried to find her, any success?

You know, I produce the Marty Short show and unbeknownst to me, Marty and the producer went on a search to find her and they couldn't find her. I just found out yesterday. I did the Marty show and they were going to bring her on.

Like "This is your Life."

Right, and no one could find her. She was gorgeous -- looked like Ava Gardner. I went into the army and she married somebody else.

You talk about the highs and the lows of the business. There are a couple of anecdotes in the book that are telling. One of them is when you were in London trying to reach your client Jim Henson by phone and you couldn't get through. Everybody's been through that moment -- "Geez, he or she's not calling me back."

I'm glad you picked up that story. I still feel the pain of that day because it's insecurity we all live with. I should never have ever thought that with Jim, but I couldn't get him. So I thought he's avoiding me, he's doing something. When he called and said my phone's been out of order -- my God. I don't think I'd do that today.

Your business gets pretty complicated.

This is a very obvious business if you're just a person who understands life. This isn't atomic energy. Emotionally complicated. It would take me two weeks to teach anyone I know about deal-making.

You talk about people's perception of what an agent does. It wasn't just picking up the phone and picking up a check.

I always figured the smart person gets what I do for a living and how I protect [my clients]. I always think I make it look too easy, which makes people think I'm not working hard enough. I also believe you don't have to hang out with them to do the job. They're grown-ups and I'm not a hand-holder. I know a lot of people want a hand-holder but that's not what I do for a living. What I try to say in the book is, look guys, I'm not an overnight success. It took me a long time. My first paycheck, for God's sake, was $32.45.

I loved that you put that in the book.

I saved it because I always want to remember it. I don't want to forget things like that. And to me 10 thousand bucks is still a great deal of money.

It sure is to me, Bernie.

To everyone. Lorne Michaels says the greatest thing. Everyone has a choke price, it's amazing how little it is. It's the truth. You can get someone killed for $2,000. And someone says, "Oh my god, $10,000 how dare you insult me!" It's a lot of money -- it's the down payment on a house to lot of people.

The business seems like a real roller coaster.

Of course it is. John Belushi, Jim Henson and Gilda Radner where three of my biggest clients. I get a call -- they're dead. First of all, I loved them. How long does it take to build a star like that? A lifetime is the answer. So not only do you feel the emotional hole, you eventually get down to thinking about the business hole.

I thought you were honest talking about the balance between business and personal relationships in the book.

Here's another thing no one thinks about. You do a television show for five years, the money comes in every week like clockwork. You get used to it. One day the show is canceled. One Friday you don't get a check. I've never gotten used to that. It's scary.

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