Lindsay Lohan causing trouble on set? No way. Stating the obvious, having LiLo star in a film was quite the headache for the producer of the upcoming Lifetime movie “Liz & Dick.”
“Producing a movie with Lindsay is not for the faint of heart,” “Liz & Dick” executive producer Larry Thompson said to reporters during a conference call. “I turned 50 shades of white actually during the production.”
Thompson explained that because the actress came with well-documented list of troubles — jail stints, car accidents, etc. — they literally had to put on paper certain “what if” clauses to make sure filming with Lindsay for the Elizabeth Taylor biopic would go smoothly.
“We had serious challenges to deal with due to her probation and her history,” he said. “We had to make a deal where there were pages and pages of ‘what if’ clauses. There never was a ‘what if she can act’ clause. It was about, ‘What if there is a car accident? What if there is a violation of her probation [and she’s] incarcerated?’ Those ‘what ifs’ were plenty.”
He added: “She might be the most insured actress who ever walked on a soundstage. We tried to insure ourselves against things that could and, in fact, did happen.”
And because drama follows Lohan wherever she goes, producers found themselves at the inevitable point when they had to bust out their insurance papers after Lohan’s much-publicized car accident last June. “I was financially at risk myself,” said the producer. “It was a challenge.” He added that Lohan was apologetic.
However, Thompson left kind words for Lohan’s acting chops. “Overall, my gosh, relative to the performance we got and the movie we were able to make because of her, the pain was worth the pleasure. And the audience is going to benefit from the risk we took and the reward that was gained.”
“I know there are a lot of people out there who are naysayers,” Thompson said, “and I think they’re gonna be shocked — and people who have believed in her, their belief is gonna be vindicated.”
“People will see that Grant Bowler as Richard Burton just steals your heart and Lindsay Lohan breaks it,” added the producer about the actor cast as Taylor’s on-and-off screen love. “I’m guardedly optimistic that the public will like the movie very much. I believe if everybody takes a deep breath and focuses on her artistry instead of her antics, they will enjoy a pretty riveting movie.”