Never mind attaining its status as a cult classic,Dinerbarely even got released.
The 1982 film by debuting writer-directorBarry Levinsontrades on its conversational style and slice-of-life vibe.
“At various times, I used to tell himDiner-esque stories about the guys I hung around with.
Fell’s Point Diner in ‘Diner’.Turner Entertainment
One day he said, ‘You should write a script about that.'”
“They just thought, ‘The movie is so bad that there’s no sense to even cut it.
Just leave it alone, and it’ll never be seen.'”
Mickey Rourke, Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Kevin Bacon, and Timothy Daly in ‘Diner’.Turner Entertainment
“That’s the only reason it’s in the form it’s in.”
Forty years on,Dineris now considered one of the most influential and game-changing movies of its era.
“We always got the diner.”
Kevin Bacon, Mickey Rourke, Daniel Stern, and Timothy Daly in ‘Diner’.Turner Entertainment
As Paul Reiser puts it, “Barry always talked about it being like the campfire.
The intimacy and the affection was saved for the camaraderie of the guys.”
He first scouted real diners in the Baltimore area, but they were all outside of the production budget.
Steve Guttenberg, Timothy Daly, Daniel Stern, Paul Reiser, Mickey Rourke, and Kevin Bacon in ‘Diner’.Turner Entertainment
It was a vacant lot on the harbor, the Domino Sugar sign in the distance.
He and producer Mark Johnson then visited what Levison dubs a “diner graveyard” in New Jersey.
“You were in a diner and there happened to be some other people there filming you.”
“The set was designed to invite good work,” says Steve Guttenberg.
“If you want to talk, you always have the guys.”
“I would say, ‘It’s really, really complicated,'” he recalls.
“It was terrible.
We were just torturing these poor girls, but we thought it was hilarious at the time.”
“There wasn’t enough space and someone would be taking a nap, and someone would be smoking.
It created this dynamic that worked for the film.”
Guttenberg calls the camper a “forward-thinking” move by Levinson and producer Johnson.
“Frankly, these guys know a lot of my secrets.
Reiser likens the camper to the Marx Brothers stateroom scene inA Night at the Opera.
“That alone bonded us more.
We don’t need stories.’
“This is why you’re so nervous all the time.
You have, like, chunks of roast beef in your heart.”
“That’s the way we talk about things.
We don’t just suddenly have all these profound things pop out of [our mouths].
The real, inarticulate nature of approaching something in the most mundane way becomes fascinating.”
The improv came about as a result of riffing on or extending a scene Levinson had already written.
The actors’ comfort with improvisation varied from cast member to cast member.
Both Kevin Bacon and Tim Daly were afraid of the prospect.
“I was so terrified and new,” says Daly.
“I didn’t know what to say.
I was so scared about it.
I have never really thought of myself as much of an improviser.
So, I made the choice that I was going to be the guy that listens.”
Reiser didn’t even intend to audition forDiner.
But he ended up winning the role.
Reiser’s character, Modell, originally had only a few lines of dialogue.
“It was all Barry pushing and guiding me along the way to just be loose.”
The interplay between Guttenberg and Reiser, and Guttenberg’s exasperation with Reiser is what makes the scene work.
“That scene came from how much we liked each other,” says Guttenberg.
“Paul and I were able to have some fun with it, and we carried it.
And Barry smartly allowed us to carry it again for when Paul doesn’t have a ride home.”
Forty years afterDinerfirst hit theaters, its legacy is one that is both personal and professional.
It also created bonds and real friendships between the guys that lasts to this day.
“Greaseis a fun movie, but it’s not real.
“1960 is literally days away,” explains Levinson.
We don’t get to see that, but they will.”
“In a sense, it was saying change is coming.”
might not land with audiences’ today.
Bacon and Guttenberg are more optimistic, pointing to the film’s enduring themes and style.
“One of the film’s legacies is comedy in a very subtle way,” Bacon says.
“But it also has a genuine tone of humanity to it.
Guttenberg puts it more simply: “It more than holds up.
It’s a piece of cinematic literature.”
