Context and Craft: The Day After 1983
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Country: USA
Production Company: ABC Circle Films
Year of Release: 1983
Director: Nicholas Meyer
Writer: Edward Hume
Lead Performers: Jason Robards, JoBeth Williams, Steve Guttenberg, John Cullum, John Lithgow, Amy Madigan
Production Company: ABC Circle Films
Year of Release: 1983
Director: Nicholas Meyer
Writer: Edward Hume
Lead Performers: Jason Robards, JoBeth Williams, Steve Guttenberg, John Cullum, John Lithgow, Amy Madigan
Synopsis
The Day After is told in three main parts. The first part of the film recounts the everyday lives of various groups of people in Easter Kansas, typical “Small Town USA”, set across the backdrop of increasing tensions between the USSR and the USA in Europe. The second part of the film shows how a nuclear war would progress, and the third and final part of the film recounts the brutal aftermath of this nuclear war.
The Film
The idea of for The Day After came from Brandon Stoddard, who, after being inspired by the film The China Syndrome (Bridges, 1979), wanted to create an accurate depiction of nuclear war taking place in the United States. Stoddard passed the idea onto Stu Samuels, who came up with the name The Day After, and created an idea for a script that instead of focusing directly on a nuclear war itself, focused more on the aftermath of the nuclear war, and more specifically, the effects fallout would have on the survivors (Weber, p.1).
Edward Hume’s was eventually chosen to write a full draft of the script, and it was his work that made perhaps the biggest impact on the entire film. In both Stoddard’s and Samuels ideas for the script, Kansas City would be the main setting of the film, and itself would not be bombed, however Hume changed the script so that a bomb was dropped on the actual City itself (Weber, p.1).
ABC, who had agreed to finance the film, were not satisfied with many of the earlier drafts of the film. Many were concerned about whether or not a film of this nature could be appropriately portrayed on what was essentially a family-oriented oriented television channel. While pre-production for the film was taking place (it was decided that the film would be shot on location) there was an ongoing debate between Hume and the studio on whether or not the film should be a more dramatized version of the aftermath or a more realistic version should be shown (Weber, p.1).
After almost a year of rewrites, the final draft of the script was actually chosen by the eventual director of the film, Nicholas Meyer, who was extremely impressed with the script. Meyer agreed to work on the film under two conditions, firstly that the shooting script of the film would be the version he read, and secondly that the film would not be censored (Meyer, p.150).
The actual shoot of the film went relatively smoothly, Meyer was mostly left alone by the studio to work on the film (Meyer, p.151). However, the problems with the censors started with the editing of the film. Nicholas Meyer was reportedly furious with the original cut of the film because many scenes had been cut out of the film, not because they were too controversial or graphic, but because the network believed the film was too slow paced (Meyer, p.152). Eventually Meyer and the network reached a comprise, and a 120 minute version of the film was released.
After a long battle with the Censors, the film was finally broadcast on Sunday, November 20th, 1983. The film was met with great critical success, and despite it being criticised by some for not being an entirely accurate depiction of nuclear war (Grenier p.1552), it is still the highest rated TV movie of all time. On its original broadcast, roughly 100 million Americans watched it, including President Ronald Reagan. The film is said to have so greatly affected Reagan that it changed his entire policy on Nuclear War (Reagan, p.585).
By Barnaby Falck
The Day After is told in three main parts. The first part of the film recounts the everyday lives of various groups of people in Easter Kansas, typical “Small Town USA”, set across the backdrop of increasing tensions between the USSR and the USA in Europe. The second part of the film shows how a nuclear war would progress, and the third and final part of the film recounts the brutal aftermath of this nuclear war.
The Film
The idea of for The Day After came from Brandon Stoddard, who, after being inspired by the film The China Syndrome (Bridges, 1979), wanted to create an accurate depiction of nuclear war taking place in the United States. Stoddard passed the idea onto Stu Samuels, who came up with the name The Day After, and created an idea for a script that instead of focusing directly on a nuclear war itself, focused more on the aftermath of the nuclear war, and more specifically, the effects fallout would have on the survivors (Weber, p.1).
Edward Hume’s was eventually chosen to write a full draft of the script, and it was his work that made perhaps the biggest impact on the entire film. In both Stoddard’s and Samuels ideas for the script, Kansas City would be the main setting of the film, and itself would not be bombed, however Hume changed the script so that a bomb was dropped on the actual City itself (Weber, p.1).
ABC, who had agreed to finance the film, were not satisfied with many of the earlier drafts of the film. Many were concerned about whether or not a film of this nature could be appropriately portrayed on what was essentially a family-oriented oriented television channel. While pre-production for the film was taking place (it was decided that the film would be shot on location) there was an ongoing debate between Hume and the studio on whether or not the film should be a more dramatized version of the aftermath or a more realistic version should be shown (Weber, p.1).
After almost a year of rewrites, the final draft of the script was actually chosen by the eventual director of the film, Nicholas Meyer, who was extremely impressed with the script. Meyer agreed to work on the film under two conditions, firstly that the shooting script of the film would be the version he read, and secondly that the film would not be censored (Meyer, p.150).
The actual shoot of the film went relatively smoothly, Meyer was mostly left alone by the studio to work on the film (Meyer, p.151). However, the problems with the censors started with the editing of the film. Nicholas Meyer was reportedly furious with the original cut of the film because many scenes had been cut out of the film, not because they were too controversial or graphic, but because the network believed the film was too slow paced (Meyer, p.152). Eventually Meyer and the network reached a comprise, and a 120 minute version of the film was released.
After a long battle with the Censors, the film was finally broadcast on Sunday, November 20th, 1983. The film was met with great critical success, and despite it being criticised by some for not being an entirely accurate depiction of nuclear war (Grenier p.1552), it is still the highest rated TV movie of all time. On its original broadcast, roughly 100 million Americans watched it, including President Ronald Reagan. The film is said to have so greatly affected Reagan that it changed his entire policy on Nuclear War (Reagan, p.585).
By Barnaby Falck
Further Reading
Meyer, Nicholas. The View from the Bridge: Memories of Star Trek and a Life in Hollywood. New York: Viking, 2009. Print.
Reagan, Ronald. An American Life. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990. Print.
Weber, Bruce. "Brandon Stoddard, 77, ABC Executive Who Brought ‘Roots’ to TV, Is Dead." The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Dec. 2014. Web. 10 May 2016.
Reagan, Ronald. An American Life. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990. Print.
Weber, Bruce. "Brandon Stoddard, 77, ABC Executive Who Brought ‘Roots’ to TV, Is Dead." The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Dec. 2014. Web. 10 May 2016.