Case File 126: Dressed to Kill

This is where we look at the factors that helped shape our subject.

So a man named Philip D'Antonio, or, sorry, Philip D. Antoni, producer of The French Connection, tried to get that film's director, William Friedkin, to direct an adaptation of Cruising since shortly after its publication in 1970.

Uh, the novel loose, based loosely on underground gay ma- male culture, uh, and the serial killer therein.

Friedkin was hesitant for many years until a minor day player in his film, The Exorcist, Paul Bateson, was connected to a string of gay murders later in the 1970s, the Village Voice articles covering those crimes, and a personal connection to a cop who went deep undercover in the gay scene.

So while Friedkin was doing this, he was waffling on doing that adaptation for nearly 10 years, Brian De Palma was making a series of successful films.

We've talked about the iconic Carrie.

Uh, but his follow-up to Fury was a financial hit.

Uh, and even the modestly budgeted uber student film, Home Movies, while it didn't make a splash financially or critically, it had support from huge players in the industry like Kirk Douglas, as well as fellow film, film brats, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.

So De Palma wanted his next project to be an adaptation of Cruising.

He was pretty big at the time, and it seemed like a, a natural next step for him.

He even wrote a screenplay, basically adapted it, more or less speculatively, hoping to get the rights, but D'Antoni finally, uh, convinced Friedkin to make the film.

De Palma was forced to refocus his inspiration.

Very similar situation, where William Friedkin, very different filmmaker than Brian De Palma, but incredible with material that you're like, "I mean-"

Are you, are you the one to cover this?

And I do, and I-

Yeah

... understand how back then it was like-

Yeah

...

these are-

Well

...

these were the people that we were letting make films.

Yeah.

And it's a similar kind of issue where it does have a...