When I wrote the story for and produced ONCE BITTEN at the Samuel Goldwyn Company, the vampire comedy that was Jim Carrey's first feature film, I was inspired by Cassandra Peterson's Elvira character and created The Countess, a female vampire who couldn't find any virgin blood in Los Angeles. I wanted to cast Cassandra in the role and we made an offer - but Sam Goldwyn had other ideas and ordered my casting director Joanna Ray to rescind the offer and hire Lauren Hutton instead. This created such a conflict that Joanna resigned from the movie and I was on non-speaking terms with Sam thereafter. While Lauren did a wonderful job, I still think Cassandra's gift for campy humor coupled with Jim Carrey's brilliant talent would have been amazing.
Love this write-up. I’m not sure either Vampira or Elvira ever had a run in Australia - if they did, I didn’t see it. What a tragic and fabulous story this is. Deserves to be more widely known. Thank you for this.
When I wrote the story for and produced ONCE BITTEN at the Samuel Goldwyn Company, the vampire comedy that was Jim Carrey's first feature film, I was inspired by Cassandra Peterson's Elvira character and created The Countess, a female vampire who couldn't find any virgin blood in Los Angeles. I wanted to cast Cassandra in the role and we made an offer - but Sam Goldwyn had other ideas and ordered my casting director Joanna Ray to rescind the offer and hire Lauren Hutton instead. This created such a conflict that Joanna resigned from the movie and I was on non-speaking terms with Sam thereafter. While Lauren did a wonderful job, I still think Cassandra's gift for campy humor coupled with Jim Carrey's brilliant talent would have been amazing.
Love this write-up. I’m not sure either Vampira or Elvira ever had a run in Australia - if they did, I didn’t see it. What a tragic and fabulous story this is. Deserves to be more widely known. Thank you for this.