Dan's Papers - July 13, 2007 - An Unfinished Movie Returns As A Nightmare

Ten years ago, Alec Baldwin attempted to produce and direct a movie he intended to title The Devil in Daniel Webster. It was based on an old short story written in the 1930s by Steven Vincent Benet, about a banned writer who sells his soul to the devil to get something published and who then hires a lawyer, after his book appears, in order to do the Devil in.

Baldwin attracted quite a cast to play in this movie, including himself, Anthony Hopkins, Dan Ayckroyd, Kim Cattrall, Jason Patrick and Jennifer Love Hewitt.

For a while, it looked as if this movie would be made at the newly built East Hampton Studios building next to LTV, but that fell through due to union objections. They'd have to charge umpteen dollars an hour for driving out from Queens and then charge for the return trip after work, too. After that, federal probers went after two of his investors alleging charges of bank fraud, other producers failed to come up with the money to pay the actors and soon, the film, on a shooting schedule at a location in Bethpage, puttered along in production for several years and then went belly up, with everything relegated to the dust bin. Then, Baldwin went on to other successes, such as his performances in The Aviator, The Good Shepherd and most recently, The Departed, which won Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Editor, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor and Motion Picture of The Year.

Now, it appears that this failed movie will come out next week, with the different pieces from the dustbin stitched together in an almost incoherent manner, as a new comedy titled Shortcut to Happiness. Who knew this could happen?

Baldwin has had his name removed from the film as producer and director, but he has been unable to have his name removed as an actor, as he appears in various scenes through out the film.

Responsible for it is a production company called Yari Film Group, which somehow got the rights to the contents of the dustbin through legal channels. The director is named as "Harry Kirkpatrick," which does not seem to refer to anybody anyone knows. So this week, this unfinished disaster-turned-upside-down-movie, starring all those noted above in work they did nearly a decade ago, will be on the screen in eight cities around the country. If you want to see it, you will have to go to one of these eight selected cities, which include Fort Myers, Las Vegas, Columbus, Albuquerque, Rochester and Santa Fe, among other cities deliberately chosen, it is believed, so that the New York and LA film critics will be unable to pan it to hell on opening weekend. And after that, I suppose the new owners of this crap thought - who knows?