LONDON - As "The Full Monty" cruised past "Jurassic Park" last week to become the top-grossing film of all time at the U.K. box office, the film's producer,
Uberto Pasolini, mused on the accidents that led to this unlikely triumph.
For a start, he hired
Simon Beaufoy to write the script (generally regarded as the bedrock of the film's success) only after failing to make progress with his first-choice writer,
Simon Nye, creator of the hit BBC sitcom "Men Behaving Badly."
The key song, Hot Chocolate's "You Sexy Thing," was a substitute for
Rod Stewart's "D'ya Think I'm Sexy," to which Pasolini couldn't get the rights. And that incomprehensible title, "The Full Monty," was always earmarked for the ax as soon as someone thought of something better -- but no one ever did.
So far the film has taken $80 million in the U.K. alone, and $190.1 million worldwide.
If only Pasolini had been able to make the film he wanted. ...
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