scene at the dinner table when the coffee pot moves, I take pictures and there’s all that exposition about what might be going on in the house. That took all day to shoot because it was six people sitting and talking and everybody had a close-up. Tobe and Steven almost took turns directing us and would tell us different things. One would say, “I want you to do it like this,” and the other one would yell, “Cut! No, you should do it like this.” They would both come up and whisper directions to you, which were the exact opposite of what the other had just said. Finally, Beatrice [Straight] put her foot down and said, “Hey, guys, one director please!” It wasn’t that Steven was trying to direct the movie, he was merely making suggestions. So much of Poltergeist looks and feels like a Spiel- berg movie but my recollection is that Tobe was mostly directing.
CR: I was not on the set except when my contributions were scheduled to be filmed. I did have one experience where I showed Tobe a preliminary casting of the cancerous steak – more or less executed as he’d requested – which was vetoed by Spielberg on the spot because it no longer resembled a steak. Spielberg was anxious that the audi- ence recognize that it was originally a simple steak and remained so. Accordingly, I came up with the approach seen in the final film, including the idiosyncratic movement, similar to some sort of awful worm. Although the first steak did not represent a killing amount of work, it had consumed enough time and effort – none of which I could afford to waste – that I determined in the future to make certain that whatever I prepped would be approved in advance by Spielberg as well as Hooper.
JK: Tobe had a hard time on that film. It’s tough when the producer is on set every day and there’s always been a lot of talk about that. I considered Tobe my director. That’s my stand on all those rumours. We don’t always have to laud Spielberg for Pol- tergeist because Spielberg has every laud in the world, and rightly so. He’s not only a brilliant filmmaker, he’s a brilliant businessman too, and Tobe is not. Tobe is very childlike and sweet in that area.
OR: The guy who sets up the shots, blocks the actors and works with the crew to create a vision is the director. In those terms, Tobe was the director. He was the one who directed me, anyway. The controversy comes from the fact that Steven co-wrote the screenplay and was the producer. He had a vision for Poltergeist but Tobe made that vision his own. Steven was on set because he had certain responsibilities, but they both worked as a team. Don’t forget, people enjoy scandal. It’s more exciting to create some conspiracy theory and that often feeds on itself. In reality, that never took place, as much as some people want it to be true. Tobe was the director. I know it now as a professional filmmaker, but I also knew it back then as a kid.
What are your memories of your movie sibling, Heather O’Rourke?
Tiny Vessels: (top) Carol Anne peers out from under the covers, and Zelda Rubinstein as spiritual medium Tangina.
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OR: Heather was an endearing, sweet girl who I be- lieve would have gone on to achieve great things in her
life. She was very bright and talked about becoming a filmmaker herself
when she grew up. People have to remember this little girl was five years old when we made Poltergeist. It’s difficult enough when you’re an adult to take direction and un- derstand what’s going on so that you can channel all of your energies into the work, but she did that. As a human being, separate from her professional capabilities, she was a good-natured person. Her death was extremely traumatic for me. I grew up in the suburbs and was very sheltered. Being young myself, I hadn’t really been exposed to that much death, especially the death of somebody I knew so well. I was very sad at the time and still am. I would love to have seen what Heather could have become. We all lost out when she passed on.
What about Zelda Rubinstein? JK: Zelda was very funny, but she did get a bit difficult towards the end of her life. We both attended the [25th] anniversary screening of Poltergeist in LA and she was a little bitter that day. She laid into Tobe and I don’t know why. We’ve all had a wonderful run on this movie and she had no right to do that because Tobe was kind to her. I mean, Zelda continued to work after Poltergeist and had a good reputation. I remember she always had a young boyfriend and would talk about how well hung he was. I once told her, “A guy doesn’t have to be too well hung for you, kiddo!” She got mad as hell at me for that. [Laughs] My wife and I were great friends with Zelda but then she got so mean that we finally stopped seeing her. We really loved her, but she was unhappy. I think her last years were spent in illness, physical pain and old age, and occasionally she struck out at people. But she is such a wonderful force in Poltergeist and was a darling when we shot the film. That’s how I like to remember her. To this day, whenever we walk into our house we say, “This house is clean!”
Why do you think Poltergeistremains so popular? MG: I think Poltergeist was such a phenom because it didn’t take place in a scary old haunted house [and] there was lots of humour in it. The first act in my opinion is almost a comedy, and the characters are well drawn so you care about them. That was unique to the genre at the time.
OR: Although it’s a horror film, Poltergeist celebrates life in questioning what comes after death. It shows you the importance of valuing what’s important – mainly your family and the people you love. It helps you under- stand that life is indeed finite.
MC: The fans were scared by the movie as children and it’s stayed with them all these years. Tobe and Steven tapped into everything we are terrified of when we are little. That tree is going to bust through my window and grab me; that toy is going to come alive and pull me under the bed; there’s a monster in my closet that’s going to take me to some dark place where no one will ever find me. A hundred years from now, kids will still be scared of those things. That’s where the true power of Poltergeist lies – in the fears and dreams of childhood.