best offer they were going to get, so they took the deal. "It was one of
those `we don't know that it's impossible so we're going to get it done'
type movies. And we did. It would never be a diamond, but when we
finished, it was a flawed, but fun, little ruby."
Johnson assumed the film would go direct to video, but that he would
have something to show which he had directed. Word about the film
spread through the Hollywood community, making its way to Steven
Spielberg's ear. "He called my representative and asked for a copy of the
movie. A couple hours later I got a call saying, `You're going over to meet
with Kathy Kennedy, Frank Marshall, and Steven tomorrow. They want
to pick up your movie for Disney to distribute. They loved it--Steven
loved it!'"
It would be the first time
Johnson had seen Spielberg
since their meeting on the set
of Close Encounters. "Even
though Steven was very gra-
cious and told me to come see
him if I ever got out to L.A.,
I never wanted to be one of
those people that just sort of
showed up on the set . . . I
wanted to show him what
I could do when I was ready."
Spielberg championed the
film to Jeffrey Katzenberg at
Touchstone, and convinced
him to buy the film. Then, for
the next several months, execu-
tives at Disney set out to recut
and reshape the film, eventu-
ally destroying its gem-like
qualities, and releasing it as
Spaced Invaders. The film was
into profit the first weekend of
release and went on to make
several times over its cost in
profit.
At the same time, both
Disney and Universal became
interested in Johnson's script Starsailor and both were courting him.
"Jeffrey Katzenberg was very honest and said, `We'd like to make
Starsailor, but it will take a lot of development,'" while Universal said
Johnson credits
his success to persever-
ance. "In the words of
Winston Churchill,
`Never, never, never,
never, never give up.' The minute you give
up, the minute your spirit is broken by all
that can be thrown at you in Hollywood,
you'll never get up again. They won't let
you--or you might not let yourself. So you
just can't give up."--Patrick Read Johnson
"If you hit a wall or miss an opportu-
nity, or you've blown a relationship or
you've made the wrong turn in any step in
the making of a film, that doesn't mean
you're a bad human being, or that you're an
incapable director or actor or artist or writer
or whatever. You have to simply say, `Okay,
that didn't work. I'm a rat in a maze and I've
learned that that direction gets me shocked.
Now I'm going to move in this direction.'
That's the only thing you can do if you're
going to survive in Hollywood. Good luck to
us all."--Patrick Read Johnson
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