"Ambitious, egotistical, demanding, volatile, insecure." Danziger stirred his espresso. "Brilliant, insightful, generous, and funny, God, he used to make me laugh. Garrett was the most talented individual I ever met. I'll never forgive him for throwing it all away."
"Were you aware that he was using when you signed him to direct Hammerlock?"
"If abstinence from drugs were a prerequisite, Hollywood would be run by Mormons." Danziger shrugged. "I thought he had it under control. Garrett thought he had it under control. We were both wrong."
"His arrest cost the studio millions, but you stood up for him at his sentencing. That took a lot of courage. I read the editorials afterward. The papers mocked you for pleading for leniency; they said you were hoping to salvage Hammerlock."
"I stood up for Garrett because I believed in his talent. He wrecked my picture, he put my job in jeopardy, and he killed a young girl, but he was a great artist. The film business is filled with hacks who consider themselves artists, but Garrett was the real thing."
"Walsh was working on a screenplay after he was released. Did he contact you about it?"
"Right after he got out. I told him he'd have to try someplace else."
"I'm surprised."
"So was he. I told him that even if I still ran a studio, I'd have a hard time selling a Garrett Walsh project to the executive committee. Not because he killed that girl. You know this town; we believe in second chances, as long as you put enough asses in the seats. No, Garrett committed the one unforgivable sin: he cost the studio money." His eyes were cool, still faintly ringed with red from his swim goggles. "Maybe if I were still running EI, I could have thrown him a bone, a low-budget feature or a direct-to-video for the foreign market, but I don't work there anymore. When I left the studio, I got a three-picture, first-look deal with them. That's over now. I don't even have a production office on the lot anymore. I had to raise the capital for My Girl Trouble from Europe."
Jimmy looked around at Danziger's mansion. "I guess the secret of being an independent producer is never to tap your own bank account."
"One of them." Danziger had a great set of choppers, white and flat, fakes so perfect that they looked natural.
"During the shooting of Hammerlock, the papers were filled with stories about the rapport between Walsh and Mick Packard. They supposedly liked going out together after work, street racing their Ferraris, and hitting the joints. I heard a different story from people who worked the shoot. They said the set was toxic, that Walsh and Packard hated each other."
Danziger looked at Jimmy, amused.
"You can be as off the record as you want. I just want to know what happened."
"Let's just say that the publicist assigned to the project was paid six thousand dollars a week, and she was worth every penny of it."
Jimmy picked at his plate, allowing the silence to sit there.
"The package looked good when we first were negotiating," explained Danziger. "Mick had box office, but no credibility with the critics; Garrett had credibility, but had never worked on a big-budget film before. At first things went well." His laugh was warm and confident. "But by the second day…"
"Did they have differences about the direction of the film, screen time?"
"Oh, there was more than enough ego to go around, but that's true of any shoot. You expect the talent to butt heads. In fact, the most maddening aspect of the failure of the film was that Mick had never done better work. I got involved about midway through the shoot, and the dailies were incredible. Who knew Mick could act? Garrett did- the only chemistry between the two of them was bad chemistry, but Garrett got things out of Mick that no director had done before or since." Danziger turned his face into the breeze from the west. He had a great profile. "The problem was tying all the footage together. Garrett kept reshooting scenes that were already perfect. It wasn't that he was displeased with the performances-he just kept changing his mind about the plot. There were so many twists. I don't think even he knew where it was going."
"Is that why you started showing up on set? A studio chief that makes house calls-that doesn't happen very often."
"I had no choice. Garrett ignored my memos and barely spoke to me when I got him on the phone. I should have fired him, but we were in too deep by that point. When I showed up, I found all these useless people, Mick's entourage, Garrett's entourage. That software fellow who bankrolled his first feature-he was there, for God's sake, and don't ask me why. Eyeballing the starlets, probably. Garrett had so many of them lined up, he should have assigned them numbers-except that would have taken away the pleasure of playing them off against each other. Garrett and his little intrigues."
Jimmy hadn't heard about the software entrepreneur being on the set. "The women. Was there anyone in particular?"
"With Garrett? You must be kidding." Danziger massaged an acupressure point at the base of his skull with a knuckle. "Are you referring to the coke whore?"
Jimmy had no idea what Danziger was talking about.
Danziger allowed himself a slight frown. "One of Garrett's dealers had a girlfriend, a spectacular woman from what I heard. Evidently Garrett got a little frisky with the lady in question at a party, and the lady was… receptive. Shortly thereafter Garrett alerted studio security to double-check the passes of anyone wanting access to the set."
"Are you sure she was the dealer's girlfriend? Could she have been his wife?"
Danziger chuckled. "I don't know. Do drug dealers have wives?"
"Did Walsh mention the dealer's name?"
"Hardly."
Jimmy didn't like the way Danziger took pleasure in telling him no. He was probably a real thrill in a pitch meeting, getting a pedicure while some screenwriter crawled. "Walsh was pretty up front about his escapades. It sounds like he enjoyed his reputation. But did you ever hear of him having any secret affairs?"
"I didn't keep track. I only know that he wasn't fucking the blonde playing Mick's sister, because Mick was already fucking her."
"Is that why Samantha Packard wasn't working on the film?" Jimmy tried to ignore Danziger's amused expression. "I went over the call sheets for Hammerlock and couldn't find any record of her."
"You went over the call sheets?" Danziger applauded. "I wish my assistant were as thorough as you are. If you ever need a job, give me a call."
"Did Samantha Packard know that her husband was screwing his costar?"
Danziger allowed himself a thin smile. "Samantha knows how the game is played."
"She didn't care?"
"Wives always care. The smart ones know better than to make too much out of an on-set romance, and Samantha was smart. She was supposed to have a small part in Hammerlock, but shortly after Garrett started filming, she was written out."
"Whose idea was that?"
"I don't know, but it was no great loss to cinematic history, I can assure you." Danziger checked his watch. "I have to leave for my office shortly, but if the thrust of your article is sexual tension on the set, you might consider a sidebar on My Girl Trouble." He inclined his head-it was supposed to look conspiratorial, but it came out wolfish. "Just between the two of us, Jimmy, I liked it better in the old days, when people were either hetero or homo and never the twain shall meet. Try getting anything accomplished with a cast of switchhitters. The permutations are dizzying."
Chapter 26
Jimmy waited outside the side exit of the Pro Sports Club, bent over, pretending to tie his tennis shoes. About ten minutes later, his back aching, the door swung open, and a florid man walked out, already on his cell phone, his squash racket under one arm. Jimmy caught the door before it closed and slipped inside, his gym bag slung over one shoulder. "Left my keys in my locker," he said to an attendant restocking the juice machine, walking purposely toward the locker room he remembered from his visit two days earlier.