A WELL-HEALED PATIENT
Tuesday, March 25 1997
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With evident echoes of the honor-and-betrayal theme of the movie itself, Hollywood awarded The English Patient 9 Oscars Monday night -- including prizes for best film, director and supporting actress -- a total exceeded only by Ben-Hur in 1959 (11) and West Side Story in 1961 (10). Speaking to reporters after receiving his trophy, British director Anthony Minghella said that it represented "vindication." When 20th Century Fox pulled the plug on the production shortly after he began filming "I despaired, thinking that the movie would never get made," he recalled. Minghella had refused to kowtow to Fox's demands that he hire Demi Moore as the female lead. "I thought they might fire me," he told reporters Monday night. He expressed thanks to veteran producer Saul Zaentz for rescuing the film despite the fact that, as a director, he had virtually no track record. "I don't know how Saul could believe in me. It was a great struggle. We had so little money to make the film and it was a very long shoot." Following Fox's pull-out, the entire cast and crew of the film agreed to defer half their salaries.
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