“It was a long, drawn-out fight”: the Jonathan Demme movie where the “shit hit the fan”

Posted On September 24, 2024September 24, 2024

Jonathan Demme was a well-known director, producer, and screenwriter of feature films, television shows, and documentaries. He was a genuine filmmaker at heart. His influence can be seen in comedy as well as thrillers. Of all the films Demme has directed, his now-iconic 1991 effort The Silence of the Lambs is arguably the most well-known because it was one of only three to win the coveted ‘Big Five’ Academy Awards.

Throughout his career, Demme used human emotion and compassion to create art and experimented with different forms, from Crazy Mama, a comedy action film, to Philadelphia, a drama about a homosexual lawyer with AIDS. However, not every filmmaking experience went smoothly. During an interview with Rolling Stone, Demme discussed the issues he faced while filming Swing Shift, a romantic comedy, in 1984.

The movie tells the tale of Goldie Hawn’s character Kay Walsh, whose husband Jack (Ed Harris) leaves for war. She starts an affair with her coworker Lucky Lockhart (Kurt Russell) when he is away. But then things become tricky when Jack reappears out of the blue from the war. Afterwards, Bo Goldman and Ron Nyswaner revised Nancy Dowd’s original screenplay, but neither Hawn nor the executives at Warner Bros were overly thrilled with the film’s initial cut, which Demme provided.

Writer Steve Vineberg, meanwhile, believes this story has two versions – Hawn’s and Demme’s. The director’s cut of the film has been shared online over the years, and Vineberg wrote that “the Demme version of Swing Shift is extraordinary – one of the best movies made by an American in the ’80s”.

Speaking to Rolling Stone about this filming experience, Demme explained that he came out of the project “exhausted and damaged because it was a long, drawn-out fight”. The complications that came along with this process made him question why he should try again and risk undergoing a similar experience. Demme expressed that as someone whose artistry hinges on collaboration and trust, the experience while directing Swing Shift was the opposite. “When people are trying to hurt and damage you, that’s a face of human beings you don’t really wish to see,” he added.

It’s not all bad, though, as Demme was directing Stop Making Sense at the same time, and he was having a blast. This 1984 concert film captured the vibrance of energy of the rock band Talking Heads. At the time, Demme directed “new scenes [he] hated” for Swing Shift in the morning and directed the cameras at the concert at night for Stop Making Sense. He likened this experience to “literally going from hell to heaven”.

“Oh, what a thrill it was to be doing those concerts! Even as I was having the horror of the animosity with Swing Shift, I was enjoying the intense collaboration and trust with the Talking Heads and my crew,” he said.

Following the issues related to Swing Shift, Demme put forth new films that secured him as an excellent director. Despite the difficulties behind the scenes, Swing Shift still had a decent reception, but perhaps it could have been a better film in a more trusting and communal environment.

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