Show Notes
Don and Eddie Murphy have another box office hit with Beverly Hills Cop 2-- all in spite of Don's preoccupations with cocaine and call girls and plastic surgeries. After several failed attempts in rehab, Tom Cruise introduces Don to a new religion in the hope that Don can curb his addictions.
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More from THE DON
The End. In this episode we chronicle Don's final days. His last gasp attempt at making a comeback with his film, "The Rock". His dependency on a team of doctors that would bill him upwards of $50,000 a month while keeping him hooked on over a dozen uppers and downers. And we look for anyone who might have been able to save Don from himself. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this episode, we go deep into Don's pill addiction and his time in seclusion with his personal doctor slash filmmaking partner. We look into how and why Don turned away from studio films to make an independent film called "Legend of Kodiak" and how the making of the film led to Don's doctor's tragic death. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Don and Tom's "Days of Blunder"... In this episode, we go into what went so right on Don and Tom’s critically panned and vastly under-rated unofficial sequel to Top Gun, "Days of Thunder"... And we go into what went so terribly, terribly wrong on a production that went so wildly over-budget that Paramount chief Frank Mancuso, in a fitful rage, blew up Don’s 300 million dollar deal like one of his fiery race car crashes... A definitive case of life imitating art.
In this episode, we go deep into the production of “Top Gun”. We learn of how Don’s insistence on throwing parties for the cast helped to fuel the rivalry between Maverick and Ice Man... The partying also would lead to Don’s stint in rehab- smack in the middle of the most important production of his career... We go into Don’s frustrations over the lack of chemistry between Maverick and Charlie... And his battles with the Navy over script notes, and how a fatal real life plane crash during filming was eerily similar to the crash written into the movie.
In this episode, we look into Don’s paternal relationship with Tom Cruise, how Don nearly sabotaged the Top Gun screenwriters efforts to produce a script good enough for Tom, and how Don’s last ditch effort to put Tom in the air with “The Blue Angels” got Tom to finally say yes.