The Paper

For other uses see The Paper (disambiguation)

The Paper
UK theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ron Howard
Produced by	Brian Grazer David Koepp
Written by	David Koepp
Starring	Michael Keaton Robert Duvall Glenn Close Marisa Tomei Randy Quaid Jason Robards Jason Alexander Spalding Gray
Music by	Randy Newman
Cinematography	John Seale
Editing by	Mike Hill
Distributed by	Universal Pictures Imagine Entertainment
Release date(s)	March 18, 1994
Running time	112 min.
Country
Language	English
Budget	$6 million
Gross revenue	$38,824,341
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Paper is a 1994 comedy-drama film directed by Ron Howard that stars Michael Keaton. The movie depicts 24 hours in a newspaper editor's professional and personal life.

Plot

Henry Hackett is the metro editor of the New York Sun, a fictional,^[1] New York City tabloid. He is a workaholic who loves his job, but the long hours and low pay are leading to discontent. Also, the paper's publisher, Graham Keighley faces financial straits, and has hatchetman managing editor Alicia Clark, Henry's nemesis, impose unpopular cutbacks. Henry's wife Martha, a pregnant former reporter, is fed up because he has so little time for his family. He is therefore considering an offer from Paul Bladden to serve as an assistant managing editor at the New York Sentinel, a fictional newspaper based on The New York Times, which would mean more money, shorter hours, more respectability...but might also be a bit boring for his tastes. But a hot story soon confronts Henry with tough decisions.

Cast

• Michael Keaton as Henry Hackett
• Robert Duvall as Bernie White
• Glenn Close as Alicia Clark
• Marisa Tomei as Martha Hackett
• Randy Quaid as Michael McDougal
• Jason Robards as Graham Keightley
• Jason Alexander as Marion Sandusky
• Spalding Gray as Paul Bladden
• Catherine O'Hara as Susan
• Lynne Thigpen as Janet
• Jack Kehoe as Phil
• Roma Maffia as Carmen
• Clint Howard as Ray Blaisch
• Geoffrey Owens as Lou
• Jill Hennessey as Deanne White
• William Prince as Howard Hackett
• Augusta Dabney as Augusta Hackett
• Bruce Altman as Carl

Production

Screenwriter Stephen Koepp, a senior editor at Time magazine, collaborated on the screenplay with his brother David and together they initially came up with "A Day in the Life of a Paper" as their premise. David said, "We wanted a regular day, though this is far from regular."^[2] They also wanted to “look at the financial pressures of a paper to get on the street and still tell the truth.”^[2] After writing the character of a pregnant reporter married to the metro editor (that Marisa Tomei ended up playing in the movie), both of the Koepp’s wives became pregnant. Around this time, Universal Pictures greenlighted the project.

Michael Keaton as Henry Hackett confers with director Ron Howard and Glenn Close as Alicia Clark.

For his next project, Ron Howard was looking to do something on the newspaper industry and looking for the right screenplay. Steven Spielberg recommended that he get in touch with screenwriter David Koepp. Howard intended to pitch an idea to the writer who instead wanted to talk about how much he loved the script for Parenthood. The filmmaker remembers, “I found that pretty flattering, of course, so I asked about the subject of his work-in-progress. The answer was music to my ears: 24 hours at a tabloid newspaper."^[3] Howard read their script and remembers, “I liked the fact that it dealt with the behind-the-scenes of headlines. But I also connected with the characters trying to cope during this 24-hour period, desperately trying to find this balance in their personal lives, past and present.”^[4]

To prepare for the film, Howard spent several alternate-day visits to the New York Post and Daily News (which would provide the inspiration for the fictional newspaper in the film). He remembers, “You'd hear stuff from columnists and reporters about some jerk they'd worked with...I heard about the scorned female reporter who wound up throwing hot coffee in some guy's crotch when she found out he was fooling around with someone else."^[5] It was these kinds of stories that inspired Howard to change the gender of the managing editor that Glenn Close would later play. The casting of Michael Keaton also injected more humor into the screenplay. Howard met with some of the top columnists in the business, including former Post editor Pete Hamill, Jimmy Breslin and News columnist Mike McAlary (who inspired Randy Quaid’s character in the movie) who told the filmmaker about how some reporters bypass traffic jams by putting emergency police lights on their cars (a method used in the movie). Hamill and McAlary also have cameos in the movie. Howard wanted to examine the nature of tabloid journalism. "I kept asking, 'Are you embarrassed to be working at the New York Post? Would you rather be working at The Washington Post or the New York Times?' They kept saying they loved the environment, the style of journalism.”^[5] However, the model for Keaton’s character, Henry Hackett was metro editor of the Daily News, Richie Esposito. Howard said, “He was well-dressed but rumpled; mid-to-late 30s, overworked, very articulate and fast-talking. And very, very smart. When I saw him, I thought, that's Henry Hackett. As written."^[3] Howard also was intrigued by the unsavory aspect of these papers. "They were interested in celebrities who were under investigation or had humiliated themselves in some way. I could see they would gleefully glom onto a story that would be very humiliating for someone. They didn't care about that. If they believed their source, they would go with it happily.”^[5] In addition to being influenced by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur’s famous play, The Front Page, Howard studied old newspaper movies from the 1930s and 1940s. Howard said, “Every studio made them, and then they kind of vanished. One of the reasons I thought it would make a good movie today is that it feels fresh and different.”^[6] One of Howard’s goals was to cram as much information and detail about the newspaper business as possible. Howard said, “I'm gonna get as many little details right as possible: a guy having to rewrite a story and it bugs the hell out of him, another guy talking to a reporter on the phone and saying, 'Well, it's not Watergate for God's sake.' Little, tiny - you can't even call them subplots - that most people on the first screening won't even notice probably, it's just sort of newsroom background or something.’”^[7]

Reaction

In his review for the Boston Globe, Jay Carr wrote, “It takes a certain panache to incorporate the ever-present threat of your own extinction into the giddy tradition of the newspaper comedy, but The Paper pulls it off. There's no point pretending that I'm objective about this one. I know it's not Citizen Kane, but it pushes my buttons.”^[7] Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, “In the end, The Paper offers splashy entertainment that's a lot like a daily newspaper itself -- hot news cools fast.”^[8] However, Rita Kempley wrote, “Ron Howard still thinks women belong in the nursery instead of the newsroom. Screenwriters David Koepp of Jurassic Park and his brother Stephen (of Time magazine) are witty and on target in terms of character, but their message in terms of male and female relations is a prehistoric one.”^[9] Janet Maslin was also critical of the film. “Each principal has a problem that is conveniently addressed during this one-day interlude, thanks to a screenplay (by David Koepp and Stephen Koepp) that feels like the work of a committee. The film's general drift is to start these people off at fever pitch and then let them gradually unveil life's inner meaning as the tale trudges toward resolution.”^[10]

References

External links

• The Paper at the Internet Movie Database
• The Paper at All Movie Guide