George Harrison on How the British Press Treated Madonna and Sean Penn on ‘Shanghai Surprise’
George Harrison said the British press treated Madonna and her then-husband, Sean Penn, horribly while they filmed 1986’s Shanghai Surprise. The former Beatle produced the film with his production company, HandMade Films, and understood what the couple when through while on set.
However, the notorious couple didn’t exactly listen to George’s advice on dealing with the press.
George Harrison only green-lit ‘Shanghai Surprise’ when Madonna and Sean Penn signed on
Madonna and Penn already had a reputation before signing on to Shanghai Surprise. Film Comment was surprised that George and HandMade Films agreed to make the $15 million budget film with a “temperamental, high-profile husband-and-wife team.”
George explained that he and the company blindly green-lit the film once Madonna and Penn signed on. They thought it might do well if they had two big-name actors. They were tragically wrong.
“I was dubious from the first,” George replied. “I get afraid by things like that. And a lot of others at HandMade didn’t want to make that film. Denis himself was just a couple of days away from just shelving the whole thing when suddenly the producer informed us that Madonna and Sean had agreed to be in it.
“At that time, it sounded like a good idea. But when we went ahead with it, it proved to be very painful for most of the people involved—the technicians as much as anyone, because of the attitudes of the actors.
“It was like ‘Springtime for Hitler’ in The Producers: we got the wrong actors, the wrong producer, the wrong director. Where… did… we… go… right??? It wasn’t easy, but I was determined not to let it get me depressed.”
Shanghai Surprise was “doomed” from the start. Working with Penn and Madonna was a real headache for him, and the British press didn’t help.
George said the British press was horrible to Madonna and Penn
Signing a high-profile couple might not have been a good idea. According to Yahoo! News, paparazzi often invaded the film’s set for snapshots of the new high-profile couple. As a result, Penn’s attitude worsened. He became unbearable to work with.
“The stars’ behaviour, particularly Penn who hated the press intrusion and perhaps felt he had been convinced to appear in the film as a favour to his new wife, grew ever more tempestuous,” Yahoo! News wrote. During filming, Penn punched a photographer, bashed a window in, and made the director fire and replace Bernard Hill.
The production crew called George in to step in. He told The Today Show that business doesn’t always have to be people shouting at each other. There’s no point getting uptight. George said the drama on the set of Shanghai Surprise was funny and petty. “It can always be resolved if you have a brain in your head,” he said.
George also knew it wasn’t completely Madonna and Penn’s fault for what happened on set. He tried giving them advice on how to deal with the British press. Madonna said George gave her “more advice about how to deal with the press than how to make the film.” On her husband’s violent outbursts toward the press, she said, “I have nothing to apologize for. I never imagined success could be like this.”
George said the British media were “a bunch of animals” during filming. “Stars are actually people. They’re human beings who’ve become famous,” George said. Being a Beatle, George knew how messed up the press could be toward stars.
George told The Today Show, “I just thought that the British press had become so intolerable, really, I mean, some of the things they were doing, I know they said in the papers, they tried to make out that she and Sean were the nasty people, but actually the press did some quite nasty things.
“It just got so ridiculous. When you pick up the paper every day, it was just, it was getting more and more nasty. So, I just thought we should really try and do something to stop it. I kept telling Sean, mainly, not to read the papers if he’s going to get annoyed. He’s going to either not read them or be able to deal with it when he does read it. But the British press are the worst, they really are. It’s just got ridiculous.
“I mean the freedom of the press; there isn’t even any news in the papers anymore.”
George said Madonna and Penn didn’t handle the press the right way
Whatever George said to Madonna and Penn about dealing with the press didn’t work. The former Beatle knew what it was like having the press eat you alive. So, the couple should’ve listened.
Later, in 1987, George told Creem Magazine that he liked Penn, but he was hard to work with. Penn didn’t deal with the press as professionally as George advised.
“Oh, yeah, they’re great, they were really helpful on that movie,” George laughed. “No, I like Sean… I know he’s a naughty boy and I know he didn’t try as hard as he could’ve to make that film better. I think that when he’s in a good mood you see his performances are really good: there’s a lot of scenes in it where he’s excellent.”
Unfortunately, George lost money in Shanghai Surprise, partially because of how the British press treated Madonna and Penn. However, if they’d listened to George’s advice, they could’ve focused more on giving better performances in the film.
