Anyone who has actually watched Robert Altman’s 1980 film adaptation of Popeye will not be surprised by the allegations that everyone on set was coked up during production. In a recent interview with Anderson Cooper, the former CEO of Paramount Pictures, Barry Diller, said
Coked-up film set? Oh, Popeye,” he replied instantly. “By the way, you can watch it. If you watch Popeye, you’re watching a movie that — you think of it in the thing that they used to do about record speeds, 33 [RPM], whatever. This is a movie that runs at 78 RPM and 33 speed.
Altman’s Popeye is one of the most polarizing movies of the 1980s. Altman-stans will tell you the auteur could do no wrong. Fans of Robin Williams feel similarly, and I’ll admit his performance in Popeye is flawlessly on point in its physicality. But the movie is disturbingly weird and a lot of questionable choices were made.
Watching Popeye is like trying to make it through a fever dream. You spend a lot of time saying “What?” “What just happened?” “Why is this happening?” and “Who’s that guy?” I always thought that was despite the superb cast that included Shelley Duvall (The Shining), Ray Walston (Fast Times at Ridgemont High), Paul Dooley (Sixteen Candles), Paul L. Smith (Midnight Express), Donald Moffat (The Thing), and Bill Irwin (Legion). But, if
Diller’s allegations are accurate, it would explain a lot about what makes Popeye both terrible and fun to stare at in wide-eyed wonder.
They were actually shipping in film cans at the time. Film cans would be sent back to L.A. for daily processing film. This was shot in Malta. And we found out that the film cans were actually being used to ship cocaine back and forth to this set. Everyone was stoned.
Popeye is available to rent or buy on Prime Video and AppleTV+. Party favors not included.
