New York - July 26, 2002

The Man, the Myth, the Legend

"The Kid Stays in the Picture" Opens

Greta Garbo and Monroe. Dietrich and DiMaggio…oh, come on. What is it about icons? Were they really all that? Or did they just have good publicists?

In short, what becomes a legend most?

Here’s your chance to find out. The Kid Stays in the Picture, the documentary about Robert Evans, opens today. Yeah, you know the name, but do you know who he was? At 28, Evans was a multimillionaire fashion exec in New York and a movie star in L.A. (What’d you do today, hotshot?) He transformed Paramount from the worst studio in town into the biggest. Produced Love Story and both Godfather movies. Married Ali MacGraw, dated every other H’wood hottie. Nicholson, Hoffman, Beatty, Polanski - his posse. Untouchable — until he crashed and lost everything.

And then he climbed back up to the top, where he still sits today. Hanging out with Slash. Lunching at The Palm.

Second acts? Maybe for Travolta and the rest of the washed-up wussies on Behind the Music. Robert Evans is that rare Hollywood miracle: the blockbuster sequel franchise. Yeah, he’s all that. Flops and all.

“The Kid Stays in the Picture” opens today in New York and Los Angeles. Tickets are available online from moviefone.com.

  Film Buff