Lawrence Kasdan (Body Heat) Body Heat (1981)
Lawrence Kasdan (born January 14, 1949, Miami Beach, Florida) wrote and directed Body Heat (1981) — his directorial debut. By the time he stepped behind the camera he was the most in-demand screenwriter in Hollywood, with credits on The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), and Continental Divide (1981).
Kasdan came up through advertising and screenwriting on spec
Kasdan grew up in West Virginia, attended the University of Michigan (BA, MA), and worked as an advertising copywriter in Detroit and Los Angeles before selling his first screenplay, The Bodyguard, on spec to Warner Bros. in 1976. (The script would not be filmed until 1992.) He was hired by George Lucas to write The Empire Strikes Back after Leigh Brackett's death, and the relationship that began there shaped his entire career. (wikipedia)
George Lucas got Kasdan the chair
By 1980, Kasdan had written Raiders of the Lost Ark for Spielberg and was working on Empire and Return of the Jedi drafts for Lucas. He had also written the unproduced Continental Divide (eventually directed by Michael Apted in 1981). What he wanted was to direct, and Body Heat was the screenplay he had set aside for himself.
The studios passed. The film was an erotic thriller from a first-time director with no commercial track record as a filmmaker. What got it made was a personal favor from Lucas.
"George said, 'I'll executive-produce it for you, but I won't take a credit, because I don't want to use up my credibility on a movie that hasn't been made yet by a director who hasn't directed yet.' That was the deal. Lucasfilm paid for any overage. Without that, the picture doesn't exist." — Lawrence Kasdan, The Hollywood Reporter (2021)
The Ladd Company financed Body Heat with Warner Bros. distributing. The budget was approximately $9 million.
Kasdan was openly working in the noir tradition
Kasdan was explicit about the films he was working from — Double Indemnity (1944), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946 and the 1981 remake currently shooting), Out of the Past (1947), and the James M. Cain novels behind them. See Double Indemnity and the Femme Fatale Tradition and The 1981 Noir Revival.
"I wanted to make the kind of movie I loved when I was 14, which was Double Indemnity. I wanted the heat to be real. I wanted the woman to be a woman you wouldn't see coming. I wanted the man to be the man who had it coming." — Lawrence Kasdan, The Hollywood Reporter (2021)
Kasdan directed his first feature with stage-trained patience
What Body Heat shows is a director who came in knowing exactly what he wanted shot, and willing to let scenes run. The film has unusually long takes for a 1981 thriller — the railing scene at Miranda Beach, the Pinehaven dinner with Edmund, the perpetuities meeting at Shiller & Hastings, the kitchen scene before the boathouse explosion all run substantially longer than studio convention demanded. See Kasdan's Patience with Setup.
"Larry shoots in a way that lets the actors finish their thoughts. He doesn't cover everything. He shoots what he needs and then he stops. That trust is what made Body Heat possible for an actor in their first movie." — Kathleen Turner, Vanity Fair (2017)
Career after Body Heat
Body Heat opened the door to a sustained directing career:
| Year | Film | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Body Heat | Directorial debut |
| 1983 | The Big Chill | Reunion comedy-drama; Hurt, Glenn Close, Kevin Kline |
| 1985 | Silverado | Western; Kasdan + brother Mark |
| 1988 | The Accidental Tourist | Hurt, Geena Davis (Oscar) |
| 1990 | I Love You to Death | Black comedy |
| 1991 | Grand Canyon | LA ensemble |
| 1992 | The Bodyguard | Wrote 1976; produced |
| 1994 | Wyatt Earp | Kevin Costner; commercial failure |
| 1995 | French Kiss | Meg Ryan, Kevin Kline |
| 2003 | Dreamcatcher | Stephen King adaptation |
| 2012 | Darling Companion | Diane Keaton |
| 2015–18 | Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Solo | Co-writer with J.J. Abrams / Jonathan Kasdan |
Kasdan's screenwriting career has continued in parallel — he has been a guiding hand on the post-Lucas Star Wars films, contributing to The Force Awakens (2015) and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) with his son Jonathan Kasdan.
On craft
Kasdan has said in multiple interviews that Body Heat taught him the discipline he carried into the rest of his directing career — to trust setup, to let scenes breathe, and to cast for voice as much as face.
"Half of directing is casting. I knew that before I directed. I learned the other half on Body Heat: most of what makes a scene work is what you don't shoot. Cut to the actor before the line lands. Don't say what the audience already knows." — Lawrence Kasdan, The Hollywood Reporter (2021)