Hey, Listen Up: ‘Striptease’ Is a Comedy

Attractive single mother takes job as stripper to regain her daughter in a child-custody battle. In the process, she must deal with her lunatic ex-husband and a lecherous congressman and solve a murder.

A “sexy thriller” (UPI), an “erotic suspenser” (Hollywood Reporter) or a “a role that challenges stereotypes” (Demi Moore, the film’s star)? No, “Striptease” is a comedy (granted, a dark one), insists Castle Rock Entertainment, which has gone to some effort and expense recently to position its $40-million film correctly in the marketplace for its June 28 release. The film, which also stars Burt Reynolds and Armand Assante, is based on the best-selling novel by Carl Hiaasen.

“I’m a little baffled by the confusion about what it is,” said “Striptease” director Andrew Bergman. “The confusion is widespread. We all just assumed that people would know it’s a comedy. Anybody who read the book knows it’s going to be funny. But we had a perception problem, and I think we didn’t immediately recognize the problem. I think the [studio] wised up to the fact that they have to tell people it’s a comedy because people didn’t know the book. It’s not like it’s ‘The Godfather’ or ‘The Firm,’ which everybody knows.”

The two-minute trailer currently playing in theaters emphasizes the comedic aspects of the film, with at least one line delivered by costar Ving Rhames guaranteed to draw big laughs. (Hint: It has to do with an ex-president.) Also, Castle Rock began running 60-second commercials last week during “Entertainment Tonight” and “Extra.”

“We have been striving to get the word out; we have undertaken that fine focus to highlight it as a comedy,” said John De Simio, senior vice president, publicity/promotion.

Still, the movie’s poster featuring a nude Moore with arms and legs carefully positioned hardly screams comedy.

There’s nothing funny about the $12.5 million being paid to Moore, who plays single-mother-turned-stripper Erin Grant in the film. That figure is reportedly the highest ever paid to a screen actress.

“What distorted everything about the movie was when [it was announced that] she got paid that figure,” said Bergman, who previously directed “Honeymoon in Vegas” and “The Freshman.” “Suddenly, everything focused on that.”

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Further clouding the perception of what “Striptease” is really about has been the connection drawn to “Showgirls,” a critically reviled box-office flop from last fall.

Although Hiaasen’s “Striptease” was purchased by Castle Rock nearly four years ago, said Martin Shafer, Castle Rock Pictures president, the association between the two “S-word” films persists.

“When people hear the word ‘Showgirls’ and the word ‘Striptease’ they think it’s the same thing,” said “Striptease” producer Mike Lobell. “I don’t blame for them for that, but we’ve had to overcome it.”

Indeed, the “Striptease” camp was so concerned about possible parallels between the two films that Lobell organized a group outing to see “Showgirls.”

“When ‘Showgirls’ opened, we were in Florida shooting the movie,” Lobell said. “On opening day about 50 members of the cast and crew, including Demi, went to go see it. We walked out of the theater so high. We just said ‘Are you kidding? This is a slam dunk.’

“We were worried that they were making the same movie we were, and we came out thinking, ‘This movie has nothing to do with ours.’ So we all went out and celebrated. We thought ‘Showgirls’ would just disappear, which it did. But it left a terrible odor.”

“Striptease” had originally wrapped in December, but when the film’s dark ending tested poorly at research screenings, it was rewritten.

Bergman explained that a scene involving an attempted rape did not sit well with test audiences.

“The Burt Reynolds character turned real ugly in the end, and audiences loved Burt so much they could accept him as a buffoon, but they couldn’t accept him as a rapist,” Bergman said. “They were really into this movie, and then we hit this point where he turned evil, and I could just smell that I lost them right there. So we changed it to a more fun ending.”

Bergman and Shafer both assert that it is not uncommon for parts of films to be re-shot. Shafer said that about 70% of the films Castle Rock has produced have had re-shoots.

Hiaasen said he can accept the change of ending from his novel.

“What am I going to do--wring my hands and say ‘You’re destroying the integrity of my novel?’ ” said Hiaasen, who is also a columnist for the Miami Herald. “That’s silly. This ain’t Tolstoy. It’s supposed to be fun. And I trust Andy. It’s a damn difficult thing to write a good screenplay, and I have nothing but pity for anyone who tries to boil down one of my novels. . . . The way I look at it is, no matter what happens, I still have the book. Nobody’s going to go to the library and change the ending.”

Hiaasen, who visited the set on a few occasions, said he is intensely curious about how the film will turn out but has a philosophical attitude about the undertaking.

“I would like it to be good because I care about the story and the characters,” Hiaasen said. “I’m not going to lie to you and say I’m not crossing my fingers. But it’s sort of out of my control. I’m under no illusion that people are going to be lining up that first weekend to see what’s happened to the Carl Hiaasen book. I have a really good suspicion they will be standing there because they want to see Demi with her clothes off. I’m under no illusions that this is a literary quest. It’s the movies. And if one out of 10 likes the story or buys the book, then that’s fine with me.”