Mitch Glazer Shares Stories About Magic City, Belushi and More on “Unmasked”

mitch glazerMitch Glazer is the writer, creator and executive producer of the Starz Original Series “Magic City.”  He started his career as a journalist, writing profiles on many great artists including John Belushi, George Harrison, Peter Sellers, and Roman Polanski, and then later transitioned into screenwriting, working with great talents like Mike O’Donoghue and Bill Murray.  He co-wrote “Scrooged,” and the adaptation for “Great Expectations.”   This week, Mitch sat down with Ron Bennington to tape a one hour episode of “Unmasked” in front of a live studio audience at the SiriusXM studios in New York City. They talked at length about the incredible detail, realism and style of “Magic City” as well as some of the incredible stories about relationships Mitch has formed in the course of his career.

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On His Friendship With John Belushi: “I Told Him Not to Do Animal House”

Mitch talked about meeting comedy legend John Belushi.  Their close friendship began when he decided to write a piece on John for the magazine Crawdaddy! “First cover story ever on John was Crawdaddy!” Mitch explained.  At the time, Chevy was the guy everyone was watching, but it was Glazer’s idea to do a profile on Belushi instead.   “He [Chevy] was on the cover of everything, but John really…his talent and force of energy, he just grabbed my eye and I went to him.”   That interview marked the beginning of a friendship that lasted until  John died.  “The piece was one of those things where you meet someone – it didn’t happen often, where you meet someone and connect with them and vice versa and we just became friendly from that.  Good friends from that.  And so, it went on for years.  Kind of the most amazing run as you would imagine, I’ve ever had.”

That decision paid off, but, Glazer points out, he wasn’t always right when it came to Belushi.  “I was actually the one guy who told John not to do “Animal House,” Glazer recalled.  Belushi had given him the script and asked his advice.  “I said- come on man, you’re too old for it.  You’ve moved beyond it.  Let someone else do it.”  

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On “Magic City”:  “We Make Eight Movies a Year”

Magic City is Mitch’s first television project, but he doesn’t really approach the show as television.  “We make eight movies a year…there’s no difference as far as production value.” He added, “the sets are as luxurious and the crews are working at the same level.”  The post production also resembles the level of what you would see in film.

Mitch talked about the meticulous attention that is paid to every detail on the sets of Magic City.  “It becomes kind of like a culture,” he explained. “If someone’s reading a newspaper, it’s the date that they should be reading it on.  We actually shot last season, a Bat Mitzvah in the hotel.  And there was about 300 extras and I remember one of the prop guys running around, adding a third matzo ball to every soup.   And we were in fucking wide-shot.  I said – I can’t even see the table.  He goes – no, no.  It’s three. I read it.  This is what we do.”

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 On James Caan:  “I Found the One Guy More Frightening Than Ben Diamond”

In season one of Magic City, Ben Diamond (played by Danny Huston) seemed to be the most frightening character you could imagine. In season two, James Caan joins the cast as Sy Berman, a character that will challenge Ben Diamond’s position as most frightening character.  Mitch talks about working with Caan, “He’s just the most intense…he’s kind of teasing, but there’s always the element of ‘I’ll punch your fucking heart out’, buried in there.  Like rounding a corner in New York keeps you on your toes. ”

And, he explains, the already strong ensemble cast has upped their game with Caan on set.  “when James Caan walks on set, the temperature changes.  I mean everybody’s game gets kind of more elevated. I mean he likes things spontaneous.  And so the scenes he plays opposite this season, opposite Danny Huston and opposite Jeffrey Dean Morgan – everybody’s really present.”

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On Taking a Boat Trip With Hunter Thompson and Michael O’Donoghue

Mitch told a story about a boat trip he and writing partner Michael O’Donoghue  took with Hunter S. Thompson in Key West.   “Those two guys (Hunter and O’Donoghue), alive at the same time seems like a sin against God.  They were so spectacular and so dangerous, the two of them.  We ended up in a…Hunter had a like a Boston Whaler.  And I was with my first wife and had just gotten married and Michael’s with a girlfriend.  And we’re on this Boston Whaler at night, no lights, driving back and my wife is lying in front of us and kind of the spray’s going over.  And she’s all happy and I’m sitting next to Hunter ….he’s driving like that and it’s pitch black.  And he said – (imitating Hunter Thompson)  You know, they sink refrigerator parts and old cars out here.  And I said – why??  And he said – To keep assholes like me out.  And I said – well, slow down.  And he goes – we have to plan our way in. And he’s like more throttle – and I’m just expecting I’m going to be the guy that missed.  This is just going to be like – Hunter Thompson and three unknown idiots killed.  But it was a great visit.”

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Unmasked with Mitch Glazer will air on Sirius 206 and XM 103 (the Opie and Anthony Channel) on Friday June 14 at 2pm during the Ron and Fez Show, and will re-air on Sunday at 10 am ET & midnight ET.  You can also listen on SiriusXM on demand.  Don’t have SiriusXM?  Get a free trial at siriusxm.com/freetrial.

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