35 Years Ago, a $26M 'Production From Hell' Hit Theaters — and Its Star Called It 'the Biggest Mistake of My Career'

Thirty-five years ago, on April 5, 1991, an infamous movie that became known as a production from hell finally hit theaters. Reports of constant conflicts, massive rewrites, tempers flaring, and on-set tension emerged before the once-promising movie became a complete flop. Here is the full story of why The Marrying Man went so wrong that its star, Alec Baldwin, once called it "the biggest mistake of my career."

What Turned This Big Budget Film Into Chaos

In theory, The Marrying Man, which was also known as Too Hot to Handle internationally, had everything going for it. The movie was scripted by one of the most respected writers of his generation, Neil Simon, and it starred Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger. It also had the benefit of its two stars falling in love on set, which could have attracted moviegoers who were curious about their chemistry.

Despite all that promise, the movie seemingly failed on every level. It was savaged by so many critics that it has a 10% Rotten Tomatoes score, and it only grossed $12.4 million worldwide after having a $26 million budget. Worse than that, it resulted in a flood of horrible headlines for everyone involved after Premiere reported on behind-the-scenes drama, calling the filming process a "production from hell." Things were so bad that producer David Permut told the Los Angeles Times that after filming ended, he gave the crew T-shirts that read "I survived the reshoot of The Marrying Man."

A May 1991 Entertainment Weekly article quoted the film's star, Alec Baldwin, talking about regretting making the movie. The actor explained that the negative publicity damaged his career so much that it felt like he had to completely rebuild it. ”I’m starting all over again. The Marrying Man was the biggest mistake of my career.”

In 2021, Yahoo! Entertainment detailed several stories about how brutal The Marrying Man's filming process was. It quoted the movie's editor, Michael Jablow, who claimed the film's director, Jerry Rees, ceded control of the production to Basinger. "He’d walk up to Kim and say, ‘I’d like to do it one more time.’ She’d say, ‘One more time, and that’s it’ or ‘No, that’s it.'" The editor also claimed she got the film's original director of photography, Ian Baker, fired. The piece added that Basinger and Simon clashed after she demanded rewrites, reportedly remarking, "This isn't funny. Whoever wrote this doesn't understand comedy."

After the reports surfaced, Basinger pushed back hard during a TV interview. After being asked by Chris Wallace about claims she and Baldwin were "out of control prima donnas," she completely denied that. "That's a total lie. That's a total, absolutely total lie." She also placed blame on Disney for a lot of the production's troubles.

"It's a cheap studio. They do everything cheap… they hire directors, producers, all kinds of people that they squish down and control. Little people. I mean, this director that we had for The Marrying Men had never done anything except one animated little short for them called The Brave Toaster. He had directed a toaster."

Baldwin also became the subject of several alleged stories about outrageous behavior on the movie's set that were detailed in the Yahoo! Entertainment article. The reports mostly focused on his temper, as it was claimed he punched a dent in his trailer and threw a chair that nearly struck a crew member. He reportedly later apologized to the man and gave him front row tickets to a Carlos Santana concert as an act of contrition.

During his Entertainment Weekly interview about The Marrying Man, Baldwin unleashed on Disney, calling its executives at the time "totally evil, greedy pigs." He blamed the studio’s interference for much of his anger on set. In addition to calling out the studio, he also insulted the movie's Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, Neil Simon, calling him ”about as deep as a bottle cap.”