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Norman Jewison Remembered: A Versatile Social Chronicler Who Always Resonated With the Moment
A slap and a kiss: How the director of 'In the Heat of the Night' and 'Moonstruck' put his characters and their concerns ahead of his ego.
Still developing “In the Heat of the Night” at the time, Jewison found himself explaining the plot to RFK: A Black detective from the big city goes to Mississippi to investigate a murder, butting up against the racist attitudes everywhere in town, including among the local cops. Jewison lucked into working with Steve McQueen on “The Cincinatti Kid” (he took over after Sam Peckinpah was fired from the project), and went on to direct some of the biggest stars at the height of their fame: Burt Reynolds (“Best Friends”), Jane Fonda (“Agnes of God”), Sylvester Stallone (“F.I.S.T.”). He essentially discovered Alan Arkin on “The Russians Are Coming,” convinced Cher to play an Italian widow in “ Moonstruck ” and insisted on Denzel Washington for “A Soldier’s Story” (still a powerful statement in African American representation a decade and a half after “In the Heat of the Night”).
Or read this on Variety
