Before Eyes of Laura Mars became a Columbia Pictures thriller starring Faye Dunaway, it began as an 11-page treatment called Eyes by John Carpenter, later famous for Halloween. Producer Jack H. Harris initially hoped to finance the project independently and planned to cast Roberta Collins. The project changed course when producer Jon Peters read Carpenter's treatment and saw it as a potential starring vehicle for his girlfriend, Barbra Streisand. Peters brought the material to Peter Guber at Columbia, turning what had been a small independent horror project into a major-studio development package. Streisand ultimately rejected the lead because, as Peters later explained, she disliked the story's 'kinky nature,' although she still recorded the film's theme song, 'Prisoner.' Columbia proceeded with Faye Dunaway, who had recently won the Academy Award for Network, but the studio required a substantial rewrite by David Zelag Goodman. Carpenter later described the process bluntly: 'It wasn't a pleasant experience. The original script was very good, I thought. But it got shat upon.' The finished film retained the premise's voyeuristic supernatural thriller elements but represented a heavily commercialized and rewritten version of Carpenter's early concept, illustrating how a provocative low-budget idea could be transformed once a star, producer, and major studio became involved.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1970s
John Carpenter's Studio Rewrite Battle on Eyes of Laura Mars
Eyes of Laura Mars / John Carpenter / 1970s
Before Eyes of Laura Mars became a Columbia Pictures thriller starring Faye Dunaway, it began as an 11-page treatment called Eyes by John Carpenter, later famous for Halloween. Producer Jack H. Harris initially hoped to finance the project independently and planned to cast Roberta Collins. The project changed course when producer Jon Peters read Carpenter's treatment and saw it as a potential starring vehicle for his girlfriend, Barbra Streisand. Peters brought the material to Peter Guber at Columbia, turning what had been a small independent horror project into a major-studio development package. Streisand ultimately rejected the lead because, as Peters later explained, she disliked the story's 'kinky nature,' although she still recorded the film's theme song, 'Prisoner.' Columbia proceeded with Faye Dunaway, who had recently won the Academy Award for Network, but the studio required a substantial rewrite by David Zelag Goodman. Carpenter later described the process bluntly: 'It wasn't a pleasant experience. The original script was very good, I thought. But it got shat upon.' The finished film retained the premise's voyeuristic supernatural thriller elements but represented a heavily commercialized and rewritten version of Carpenter's early concept, illustrating how a provocative low-budget idea could be transformed once a star, producer, and major studio became involved.
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