REVIEWS
Jeffrey Bloom on directing FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC
By Sheldon Teitelbaum
While not matching the power of the iate V. C. Andrews’ horror novel, FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC was, for the most part, a faithful and sensitive transiation of Andrews’ book to the screen sadly marred by a stupid, incongruous ending mandated by Studio executives (18:1:38). In the altered ending, murdering mother Victoria Tennant is hung by her own wedding dress. The film's writer and director, Jeffrey Bloom, wouldn't talk about the way the film was taken out of his hands and altered, but friends and associates said Bloom regarded what was done as “a terribly insensitive brutalization of his work.”
Bloom said he approached FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC like it was a fairy tale, delivering a message. “I think it's saying that when you've come of age in any Situation, you'll find that the door is open and the way out is clear,” he said. “The story is about these kids who are locked in a house that is very difficult to get out of—the doors are locked, the windows inaccessible, dogs patrolling the piace. But as far as I'm concerned, they could have left at any time.”
In fact, in Bloom's first draft of the script, Jeb Adams, who plays older brother Chris, returns from a foraging mission in the house and reports to his sister Cathy, played by Kristy Swanson, that the front door is open. Clearly, the children had only to recognize their predicament for what it was in order to leave.
But when Bloom presented his script to production executives at Fries Entertainment, they objected to this particular plot twist. “They said, “You can't just have a door open,” Bloom recalled. “These kids have gone through all kinds of hell trying to
Director Jetirey Bloom
get out. | insisted that it had to be that way—| just couldn't say why until three months later, when it hit me that this was what the book was ail about.”
In adapting the book, Bloom instituted a number of piot changes. He compressed the 30-month span outlined in the novel to a mere season, extending from April to October. “If you look carefully—though, who will?—you can tell,” Bloom said. “We took great pains with what they were wearing, with the color of the leaves, whatever we could within the limits of a small movie.”
And, in the interest of filmic pacing, other scenes depicted in the book were either shifted or dropped. The only plot change Bloom believes is entirely gratuitous involves a character included because it was a deaibreaker—the film would rot have been made without this character whose superfiuousness, Bloom asserted, became evident even to the young audience that saw the first cut
The trouble really began when executives at Fries and distributor New World Pictures tried to
turn Andrews’ psychological horror into a more overt
shocker. “Fries and New Worid simply never realized,” said Bioom, “that there's an enormous audience already out there of women who will come to see a woman's movie. They'll bring their boyfriends and girlfriends along, and we'll all do nicely. We could have made a movie on that level and it could have worked.”
Bloom left the production thinking the movie played “about 90% faithful to the book,” he said. “It looked rich, it was consistent, didn't compromise itself, and was bizarre. ina way, it was like an old-fashtoned movie, a little operatic But it’s no BLUE VELVET by any means.”
Bloom said a number of actresses were approached to play the role of the widowed mother but turned it down because they didn't want to play a mother who murders her children. Recalled Bloom, "We used to say, ‘What ever happened to actresses? This isn't you—it's a part.”
There were budgetary probtems, too. The film required some elaborate sets—especially the larger-than-life attic, which cost a great deal to build. "We were way over budget in the art department,” said Bloom, “and they just didn't want to spend above a certain amount of money,” notably the $3.5 million initially allotted for the picture
Moreover, Bloom feit that he had not been given adequate time to prep the film, which began shooting at the end of August, 1986 and concluded in October. Nor had he and his colleagues properly taken into account the exigencies of working with children, who can only be kept on the set for eight hours a day. The result was an extra five days of shooting in
In a clumsy, lacked-on ending not filmed by Bloom, a double for Victoria Tennant (who walked off the set), plunges to her
death in her wedding dress after being contronted by Kristy Swanson, a shock sequence demanded by the producers.
Massachusetts, location of the film’s mansion. “And we had to fight for every one,” said Bloom
“The thing about arguments,” he explained, “is that there's just too much negative energy expended. You argue and yell and scream and ultimately you get what you want. But aftera while there's a cumulative effect and you lose energy. By the time i got what | wanted, | didn't know what to do with it any more. | was really exhausted.”
FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC had originally been slated for release in March, 1987. But Fries got cold feet. The company, which does brisk trade in television rather than feature motion pictures, commissioned yet another cut of the film. Reportedly, Bioom then wrote Fries indicating that either he be permitted to render the final cut of the film or he would remove himself from the project. Fries declined. Bloom responded by asking out of his contract with Fries. Fries agreed on condition that Bloom not take his name off the picture, a decision Bloom told friends he may live to regret
lronically, the Writers Guild had begun an arbitration to establish writer's credit for the film, and in the midst of his angst-ridden negotiations with
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