In the midst of filming Nuts ... when I was feeling incredibly pressured ... I woke up one morning and said excitedly, “I’ve got the shot!”
Richard [Baskin, the US film composer and producer] reached for a cigarette and then turned to me in bed, annoyed, and said, “Helloooo??? Good mooorning.”
That was the moment when I knew our relationship wasn’t going to last. I felt that he didn’t understand my creative process, and I was hurt.
“Richard, if you were making a movie and you woke up with an idea, I’d say, ‘Let me get a pencil and paper and write it down for you before you forget it’.”
So that was the beginning of the end.
Before I say anything more, I want you to know that Richard and I were together for three and a half years. I love him dearly, he’s the most loyal friend, and Jim [Brolin, Barbra’s husband] and I consider him part of our family. I also know that I was not easy to live with while I was working on Nuts. I was intense, consumed with the movie, and Richard was more laid back. He had fewer obligations and more free time. When he wanted to go skiing or take a trip sometimes I couldn’t get away. So he’d go off on his own.
He probably felt neglected. I admit it, I am obsessed when I’m in the midst of a project …to the exclusion of all else (except my son). My friends complain that they never see me, and that makes me feel guilty, and now I was feeling even more pressure because I didn’t want to disappoint my lover.
Then, when I was finally able to take a break,