Inspired to make
The Cotton Club by a picture-book history of
the nightclub by
James Haskins,
Robert Evans was the film's original producer. Evans hoped the film would bring public attention to
African-American history in a similar way that
Gone with the Wind did for the
American Civil War and the
Reconstruction era. On December 12, 1980, it was announced that Evans and
Paramount Pictures would serve as co-producers of the film while
Robert Altman would direct and
Mario Puzo would write. However, Evans and Altman's film
Popeye premiering that day became a box-office flop. Although Evans secured $12 million worth of financing from Saudi business tycoon
Adnan Khashoggi, Paramount Pictures withdrew from the film in 1981. Evans worked to secure sole ownership of the
film negative to recoup his losses from recent poor stock-market investments and a cocaine trafficking arrest. However, this action alienated potential investors who would be unable to profit from television and home video distribution rights. The production was finally delayed when Evans reached a
plea bargain to produce an
advertising campaign of anti-drug
public service announcements in exchange for an expungement of his record. In 1984, Evans, who intended to direct the film himself after Altman departed, hired
William Kennedy and
Francis Ford Coppola to re-write Puzo's story and screenplay. Evans eventually decided that he did not want to direct the film and asked Coppola at the last minute.
Richard Sylbert said that he told Evans not to hire Coppola because "he resents being in the commercial, narrative, Hollywood movie business". Coppola said that he had letters from Sylbert asking him to work on the film because Evans was crazy. Coppola also said that "Evans set the tone for the level of extravagance long before I got there". In the 1989 "
Cotton Club Trial", Evans invoked his
Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refused to testify. Robert Evans wanted to cast his friend
Alain Delon in a two-scene role as
Lucky Luciano but this did not occur. The role of Luciano was instead portrayed by
Joe Dallesandro, starting the dramatic film career for the former
Warhol Superstar. Author Mario Puzo was the original screenwriter and was eventually replaced by William Kennedy, Sayyah invested $5 million and said that he had little chance of recouping his money because the budget escalated from $25 to $58 million. He accused the Doumanis of forcing out Evans and said that an Orion loan to the film of $15 million unnecessarily increased the budget. Evans, in turn, sued Edward Doumani to keep from acting as general partner on the film. The court ruled in favor of Evans but also gave Coppola's close associate
Barrie M. Osborne full control over
post-production, essentially barring Evans from the completion of the film. Sayyah and the Doumani brothers would also be uncredited as producers. ==Music==