More than three decades ago, Ron Howard decided that a story about a fictional New York City tabloid was just his type.
The Paper centered on Michael Keaton — in his third film with Howard — as Henry Hackett, metro editor of the New York Sun, who navigates a motley roster of colleagues, including his nemesis in managing editor Alicia Clark (Glenn Close), over a 24-hour period to get that day’s edition to newsstands.
After directing Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in 1992’s Far and Away, Howard was itching to do a film about a newspaper that harkened back to titles like Cary Grant’s 1940 comedy His Girl Friday. Steven Spielberg introduced Howard to Jurassic Park screenwriter David Koepp, who was working on the script for The Paper with brother Stephen Koepp, a Time magazine editor.
After reading their screenplay about a male-dominated newsroom, Howard appreciated the balance of comedy, drama and suspense and tells The Hollywood Reporter that he gave one major note: “Glenn’s part was written as a male character, but David and Stephen loved my idea of casting Glenn without changing a single attitude, behavior or line.”
Marisa Tomei, Randy Quaid and Robert Duvall rounded out the cast for the movie that included cameos from Graydon Carter and other media notables. To prepare, Howard spent time in the real newsrooms of the Daily News and New York Post and studied the 1928 Broadway comedy The Front Page that was the basis for His Girl Friday.
A pivotal scene in The Paper involves Keaton and Close coming to blows over publishing a contentious front-page story, and Howard recalls Keaton pulling him aside after a few takes of their fistfight: “He said, ‘Ron, if you can, hold down the number of takes because Glenn is going full throttle. And let me tell you, she’s seriously strong!’ ”
Universal released The Paper on March 18, 1984, and it made $48 million at the global box office ($107 million today). THR‘s review praised the feature as “tight and entertaining” with a “banner cast.”
Although he’s disappointed that the film didn’t make a bigger splash at the box office, Howard notes that it overperformed “in the seven cities where newspapers still mattered culturally.” He adds, “I continue to hear good things about it, especially from actors and journalists, which always makes me proud.”
This story appeared in the May 6 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.