The Conqueror Hollywood Fallout
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A WILLIAM NUNEZ DOCUMENTARY THE CONQUEROR HOLLYWOOD FALLOUT THE CONQUEROR 1 DISCLAIMER: The information provided is for information purposes only. The content is not, and should not be deemed to be an offer of, or invitation to engage in any investment activity. This should not be construed as advice, or a personal recommendation by Red Rock Entertainment Ltd. Red Rock Entertainment Ltd is not authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The content of this promotion is not authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA). Reliance on the promotion for the purpose of engaging in any investment activity may expose an individual to a significant risk of losing all of the investment. UK residents wishing to participate in this promotion must fall into the category of sophisticated investor or high net worth individual as outlined by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). THE CONQUEROR A WILLIAM NUNEZ DOCUMENTARY CONTENTS 4 History 5 Synopsis 7 Downwinders 8 Themes| Research - Interview Subjects - Visual 9 Narrator 10 Director’s Statement 11 Writer | Director 12 | 13 Production Companies 15 Executive Producers 16 Post- Production Company 17 Equity 18 | 19 EIS 20 | 21 Perk & Benefits 22 Press and Reference Links THE HISTORY “IT HAS GONE INTO OUR DNA. I’VE LOST COUNT OF THE FRIENDS I’VE BURIED. I’M NOT PATRIOTIC. MY GOVERNMENT LIED TO ME!” - ST. GEORGE UTAH RESIDENT, 2015 The story of a failed Hollywood epic and the devasting repercussions it had, not only on some of Hollywood’s most iconic stars, but the residents of a desert town in Utah where the film was shot. The 1956 Howard Hughes production, “The Conqueror” was an unmitigated flop despite having major movie stars John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Agnes Moorehead and Pedro Armendariz. The Dick Powell directed film has gone down as not just one of the worst films of the 1950s, but one of the worst ever. The greater claim to infamy however is the question of whether the choice of shooting location, St. George, Utah was responsible for the deaths of some of the most revered actors of Hollywood’s golden era? Did the US Atomic Energy commission which tested an atomic bomb in the area, the year before, which was eight times more powerful than Hiroshima, not only devastate Hollywood but also an entire community, which still suffers the fallout today? 4 THE CONQUEROR THE SYNOPSIS JOHN WAYNE DICK POWELL HOWARD HUGHES When Hollywood legend John Howard Hughes (in what would John Wayne was looking for Wayne played Genghis Khan in be his final film production) opportunities to stretch as an the 1956 film, “The Conqueror”, asked the US Atomic Energy actor and show audiences he he quickly secured his place on Commission if St. George was was more than a cowboy. His every “Worst Film of All time safe for filming. The Agency personal life was going through List” for the next 50 years as his assured the world famous changes as his divorce from his portrayal was so wooden, and producer and aviator that it was wife became final, and was now his casting so ill advised, that safe, and with that assurance engaged to his next wife. Susan the film became a cautionary moved an entire film company Hayward had just won an Oscar tale against stunt casting. to the desert sands of Utah to for Best Actress and wanted film what he believed to be the to work with the biggest box However, the biggest disaster epics to end all epics. office draw in the US. She was that eventually engulfed “The embroiled in drama herself Conqueror” had nothing to do Production began in Snow during shooting as she was in with the acting. Of the film’s Canyon, 12 miles from St. the midst of a divorce and child 220 cast and crew members, George where the cast and custody case and had to fly to 91 eventually developed cancer. crew set up home base. Los Angeles every other day to attend. A year before filming began, on Producer/Director Dick Powell the morning of May 19th 1953, and location scouts were said The windstorms that the US government conducted to have armed themselves interrupted shooting were one of the dirtiest atmospheric with Geiger counters to test caked in radioactive materials, detonations of all time. the radiation levels prior to but the real problem lay in allowing any cast and crew to John Wayne’s performance The nuclear test released begin work, but government as Genghis Khan. Accidents a radioactive cloud that experts assured them that the and mishaps as well as Ms. ascended to an elevation of location was completely safe, Hayward’s volatile behaviour 11,600 feet before topping and the levels were within made “The Conqueror” an out and heading east where the allowed range. The US exercise in patience by Dick it showered unsuspecting government and its scientists Powell. According to some civilians with radiation up to knew how to make weapons crew and production members, 170 miles from the test site. of mass destruction, but they John Wayne never picked had little knowledge of any up the script until he arrived The radiation landed right on immediate or long-term impact on location. the unsuspecting residents of that these weapons would St. George, Utah, where “The have, especially in the path Conqueror” would film 13 that the mushroom of fallout months later. travelled after detonation. THE CONQUEROR 5 THE SYNOPSIS PEDRO ARMENDARIZ SUSAN HAYWARD AGNES MOOREHEAD When he finally read the script, tons of the radioactive sand his outlook more dire. John he became concerned about shipped back to Los Angeles Wayne was diagnosed in 1965, the difficult dialogue he had to thus endangering more crew he had a lung and part of his learn for that of a 12th Century and staff. After filming, John rib cage removed, but true to warrior from Mongolia. It was Wayne and Susan Hayward his legendary status would too late to rewrite the script moved on to other projects continue working even winning but more the 50% would be and quickly forgot about the an Oscar in 1969 for “True Grit” revised during production. Conqueror. before dying in 1979. Agnes Moorehead passed away from Susan Hayward knew the The critics had a field day when uterine cancer in 1974 followed script was bad and the casting the film finally premiered. Time by Susan Hayward in 1975 of ridiculous. Magazine said it best in their brain cancer. review of the picture, “No one She would hurl insults in the comes out of this train wreck Howard Hughes pulled The front of everyone, and yell holding their head up.” Conqueror out of circulation out, “A red hair Tartar! Did an shortly after it was released Irishman stop off on the road Then the illnesses came. Dick and it has been said he spent to Old Cathay!” Red hair aside, Powell was diagnosed with his final days watching the red contaminated sand kept cancer and succumbed to it in film in the darkness of his whipping around the set not 1963. Pedro Armendariz was screening room. to mention the heavy costumes given a terminal diagnosis in that the cast had to wear in 120 1962, after he got a supporting Perhaps regret at greenlighting degrees! role in the James Bond film a terrible project or remorse at “From Russia with Love” the human toll the film took on For 2nd Unit shooting back at and committed suicide once the filmmaking community. RKO studios, Powell had 60 filming was complete and 6 THE CONQUEROR THE DOWNWINDERS The residents of St. George, Utah were forgotten about as soon as the production wrapped, and everyone departed back to Los Angeles. In the 1960s, studies found that the leukemia rate in children in the St. George region was about 6.03 for every 100,000. Death of children in the region from leukemia totalled 32 in the first 10 years after the blast. Army personnel involved with the test were speaking up against the high incidents of cancers among army personnel and appealed for disability payments. Residents who took up the cause were named “The Downwinders” because of the trajectory of the wind from the test site to their communities. The Downwinders initiated a lawsuit against the US government, and today are activists against nuclear testing. There are archive interviews from residents as well as actors such as Jeanne Gerson who played Bortai’s nurse in the picture. She filed a class action suit against the US government, alleging that she had contracted skin and breast cancer as a result of radioactive exposure during filming. Between 1986 and 1994, there were more than 500 demonstrations at the Nevada testing site culminating in 15,740 reported arrests. The tests continued however well into the 1990s and only in 2007, a scheduled test for the same region was cancelled due to massive protests. Congress held hearings into the correlation between the tests in the Nevada/Utah region and the incidents of cancer from residents in both states. After decades of misinformation and claims there was no danger or health issues due to nuclear fallout, the US government finally acknowledged it made mistakes and awarded the residents of St. George, Utah a $2 billion dollar settlement. THE CONQUEROR 7 THEMES | RESEARCH 1. Deep dive into the Atomic Energy Commission and the nuclear testing program. 2. Why make “The Conqueror” and a history of the production from concept to premiere. 3. The impact and legacy of nuclear testing near civilian populations.