Private Parts (1997 film)
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| Private Parts | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Betty Thomas |
| Produced by | Ivan Reitman |
| Written by | Len Blum and Michael Kalesniko (screenplay) Howard Stern (book) |
| Starring | Howard Stern Robin Quivers Mary McCormack |
| Music by | Porno for Pyros Marilyn Manson Dust Brothers Howard Stern |
| Cinematography | Walt Lloyd |
| Editing by | Peter Teschner |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | |
| Running time | 109 min. |
| Country | |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $28,000,000 |
| Gross revenue | $41,198,146 (USA only) |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
This article is about the 1997 film. For other uses, see Private Parts (disambiguation).
Private Parts is a 1997 biographical film directed by Betty Thomas from a script by Len Blum and Michael Kalesniko[1]. The film follows the life of radio personality Howard Stern from boyhood to the cusp of break-out success as a shock jock. It is based on Stern's autobiography Private Parts which was released in 1993.
Contents |
Following an appearance at the MTV Music Video Awards (as alter-ego "Fartman"), Stern boards a flight to go home and finds himself seated next to an attractive woman visibly repulsed by him. In order to win her over, he begins to tell her his life story using flashbacks.
At the same time that the film charts his rise from routine if not mediocre DJ to humorous morning personality, it also follows his relationship with Alison Berns who will become his wife. Both of these elements of his life were not without their ups and downs.
| Actor | Role |
| Howard Stern | Himself |
| Robin Quivers | Herself |
| Mary McCormack | Alison Stern |
| Fred Norris | Himself |
| Paul Giamatti | Kenny 'Pig Vomit' Rushton |
| Gary Dell'Abate | Himself |
| Jackie Martling | Himself |
| Carol Alt | Gloria |
| Richard Portnow | Ben Stern |
| Kelly Bishop | Ray Stern |
| Michael Murphy | Roger Elick |
| Reni Santoni | Vin Vallesecca |
| Allison Janney | Dee Dee |
| Leslie Bibb | NBC Tour Guide |
| David Letterman | Himself |
| Mia Farrow | Herself (uncredited) |
| Camille Donatacci Grammer | Camille the Card Girl |
| Edie Falco | Alison's Friend (uncredited) |
The film premiered at the top of the box-office in its opening weekend with a gross of $14.6 million. It grossed slightly more than $41 million in total, with a production budget of $20 million.[2]
It received mostly positive reviews from critics, most notably from Siskel and Ebert who were frequent guests of Stern's radio show. Some critics claimed that film glossed over his use of sexual and racial humor.[3]
For his performance, Stern won the Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Male Newcomer. The awards are given by the result of write-in votes from fans and Stern won by a wide margin. Stern was nominated for a Golden Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy. He was also nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst New Star.
For the film's basic cable premiere on USA Network in 2000, Stern appeared in new taped segments in which he occasionally pauses the film to comment on it. USA premiered the film even though no alternate scenes had been filmed to replace the nudity nor had any alternate dialogue been recorded to replace the profanity for television broadcasts. The nudity was simply pixelized and the profanity bleeped. In 2007, VH-1 began airing this version.
A substantially different version of Private Parts appeared on Internet fan sites devoted to Stern sometime in May 2006. The newly-found version is an early rough cut of the film with substantially different dialogue and music, several deleted scenes, and a very different ending. Some of the deleted scenes, such as Howard being fired and escorted out of WNBC, appeared in the film's original trailer and publicity materials before being cut. The picture quality of the Internet version is very poor with compression artifacts, VHS artifacts, and visible dust on the print.
When the film was released on video, some store customers objected to the original cover featuring Stern with no clothes on. An alternate version of the cover was produced featuring Stern fully clothed.
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- Stern, Quivers and the rest of the cast of The Howard Stern Show were still broadcasting five days a week during the production of the film. At the end of every show, they would immediately drive to the film's set.
- Stern's love for his then-wife Alison is a central theme in the movie, and she even has a bit role as one of the receptionists at WNBC during the "Lance Eluction" segment. Howard and Alison divorced two years after the movie.
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus was originally cast as Stern's wife, Alison, but later backed out because she wanted to spend time with her family.
- Producers originally considered Jeff Goldblum to play Stern.
- Ozzy Osbourne has a cameo in the film, commenting on Stern saying: "What a fuckin' jerk."
- LL Cool J is featured on the film's soundtrack album with Red Hot Chili Peppers in the song "I Make My Own Rules". But he had not gotten Def Jam Records' permission to perform on it. His name was blanked out on the album's track listing but he is still credited as a composer under his real name "James T. Smith".
- In the film Stern drives a 1970 Plymouth Valiant four-door sedan.
- For the scenes that featured Stern in high school, filming was done at Union High School. Years later Artie Lange would join the Howard Stern show and coincidentally graduated from the very same school several years prior.
- John Stamos stood in for Luke Perry for the Fartman MTV scene. Perry later admitted that he feared the movie would not be good and turned down the chance to play himself.
- The Private Parts film cover/poster bears an uncanny resemblance to the album cover of The High and the Mighty (album) by American rock musician Donnie Iris.
- WNBC Program director Kevin Metheny is referred to as Pig Virus in the book and in real life,[4][5]but is named Kenny Rushton and referred to as Pig Vomit in the film.[1]
- ^ a b Private Parts (1997). Internet Movie Database. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
- ^ Box office / business for Private Parts (1997). Internet Movie Database. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2007-06-07.
- ^ Private Parts (1997). Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2007-06-07.
- ^ Stern, Howard; Larry "Ratso" Sloman [1993-10-15]. in Judith Regan: Private Parts, 1st edition, Simon & Schuster, 158. ISBN 978-0671880163. OCLC 28968496. “I was scheduled to go on the air right after Labor Day, 1982, but the station program direcotr, Kevin Metheny, decided he wanted to "test" me out before that.”
- ^ Stern, Howard; Larry "Ratso" Sloman [1993-10-15]. in Judith Regan: Private Parts, 1st edition, Simon & Schuster, 159. ISBN 978-0671880163. OCLC 28968496. “The program director, Kevin, whom I started calling Pig Virus because he reminded me of a kid I knew in camp who looked like a stupid porker, would always make me practice saying the call letters.”
- Betty Thomas(Director). Private Parts [Motion picture]. Los Angeles, CA: Paramount Pictures. Retrieved on 2007-05-04.
- Private Parts (film) at the Open Directory Project
- Private Parts at the Internet Movie Database
- Private Parts at Box Office Mojo
- Private Parts (1997) at Rotten Tomatoes