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"There are ways to derail Scott Rudin, but you have to ask yourself, Is it worth the angst and pain?" an executive told Peter Bart (10/97 GQ).

Born in New York July 14, 1958, Rudin worked for Edgar Scherick in the early '80s before going out on his own. He's known and feared around the industry for his brutal temper. Angry with the handling of a movie premiere, he wrote a Paramount executive: "The only thing separating my hands from your neck is the fact that there are 3000 miles between us." (Variety, 7/12/99)

"Scott's tired of reading about his tirades and even about his success," says a source close to Scott. "He really only cares about the work. He still gets a rush when he finds a great piece of material." (Variety, 7/12/99)

A studio executive who deals with Rudin tells Peter Bart: "Scott is getting impatient with producing movies. Like most producers, he has to come up with at least half the financing for his films, which means he's constantly dealing with subdistributors all over the world." (Variety, 7/12/99)

According to Variety 7/12/99, Rudio told a studio chief that since the studio was putting up only one-third of the financing, he intended to listen to only one-third of its comments.

Edgar Scherick referred to his protegee as "Scott Rude."

Cathy Seip writes for the 7/3/97 Salon.com: Those who have worked for someone like Scott Rudin (producer of "The Addams Family" series and "Ransom") are comparable to Green Berets. Rudin, who once went through 30 lackeys in a 15-month period, who has the digital readout on his office phone system programmed to demand "String cheese NOW!" at the press of a button, is generally acknowledged to be the king of demanding Hollywood bosses. Here's how the foul-mouthed, phone-hurling Rudin, who once threw a tantrum on a movie set when his assistant brought him the wrong kind of sushi, is remembered by one of his former slaves:

"I walked into the office at 7:30 a.m. and picked up the messages," recalls Rudin's ex-assistant, "and there were messages time-stamped 11 p.m., midnight, 2 a.m., 4 a.m., 6:30 a.m., all from Scott -- the guy doesn't sleep -- saying, 'Remind me to send flowers for Anjelica Huston's birthday.' 'Remind me to call Mike Ovitz.' Then the phone rings -- it's 7:35 a.m. -- and it's Scott, saying, 'Start on those calls.'

"This goes on until about 11 a.m. He's in the office now. I'm making calls, and suddenly he screams, 'You asshole! You forgot to remind me to get flowers for Anjelica Huston's birthday!' And as he slowly disappears behind his automatic closing door, the last thing I see is his finger, flipping me off."

John Gregory Dunne writes in his book Monster this description of Rudin: "Overweight, overbearing, with a black beard and a huge, booming laugh, the bully boy's bully boy, both impossibly demanding, even cruel, to subordinates, and impossibly funny, a jovial Mephistopheles. The telephone seems permanently attached to his ear." (pg. 99)

In 1990, Rudin tried to persuade Dunne and his wife Joan Didion to write a movie about his boss, mogul Barry Diller. Rudin said he could provide millions of stories. Dunne said it was a way to commit professional suicide.

"Scott [Rudin] has an uncanny ability to charm free rewrites out of writers." (pg. 105)

Variety, 4/12/93

Meanwhile, perhaps the most aggressive network of ex-apprentices is a group called the Rudin Refugees - alumni of a development boot camp run by indie producer Scott Rudin, whose short temper and off-the-Richter outbursts are part of Hollywood folklore.

Rudin, who at 34 is not much older than his underlings, has been known to fire more than two dozen assistants in a year.

Nevertheless, most of Rudin's D-kids have parlayed their school-of-hard-knocks diplomas (sometimes written on pink slips) into high-paying industry gigs. Credit for their success goes in part to Rudin's rigorous training, but also to the network of Refugees, for whom misery loves company.

Mike Thompson says he watched 30 assistants come and go in his 15 months at Rudin's shop.

Paul Rosenberg: "I was the favorite guy for a short time. I was with Scott seven days a week, on the set, flying in planes, eating with him in the same restaurants, going to production and development meetings.

"I remember when he wanted me and me only to call up 300 people and invite them to a 'Regarding Henry' screening in one day. It had just come to a point where I couldn't take the physical demands of the job."

Like a lot of Rudin employees, Rosenberg was constantly fired but continued showing up for work.

One alum who landed a good job at a studio but requested anonymity says: "I'm scared to death to say anything negative about him. The truth is his business is one that operates out of fear."

Some favorite phrases from Scott Rudin, according to former assistants:

* My silence is high praise.

* This is a new level of stupid.

* Don't try and interpret what I say. Blind obediance is what I want.

* Am I supposed to osmote this? (When an employee failed to tell him about something.)

* Valium with skin. (To an employee who sloughs off his duties.)

* Yes is not an answer. (After an employee answers a direct question.)

* Why is anyone doing anything othe rthan what I said?

[Scott] Rudin and [Joel] Silver are both proteges of Edgar J. Scherick, a tempestous legend in his own right.

"Edgar trained us like we were in boot camp. But he was a thrower and I'm not," Rudin says of his mentor - although Rudin does practice the art of the one-armed full desk sweep when he's furious.

Erudite Harvard alum Scherick...found Rudin, a high school dropout, working in the theater in New York. Under Scherick's ardent tutelage, Rudin honed his skills as a producer and employer. By age 27 he was named head of production at 20th Century Fox.

12/26/93

Phillip Weis profiled Scott Rudin for the The New York Times Sunday Magazine. "Hollywood at a Fever Pitch."

The 1/16/94 Magazine wrote: "While admiring Scott Rudin's producing skills, this week's correspondents agreed that they didn't like Rudin himself. But in an outpouring of mail, they couldn't quite agree why. Was it driving 55 miles an hour in a school zone, parking in a space for the handicapped, not knowing where his father works, making fun of Australians? All of the above?

Stan Bleiman writes: "The automatic winner of the "Stupid Jew" contest would have to be Rudin himself. He doesn't know where his own father works, indeed."

Veteran producer Jay Weston from Los Angeles writes: "Many of my colleagues in the motion-picture community join me in condemning the unconscionable behavior portrayed in your article about Scott Rudin. In featuring him so prominently, you represent this sad, tortured (and torturing) individual as representative of what it takes to achieve success in the film industry.

"It may be counter-productive for my personally (since it's also a vengeful industry), but I can't help reflect on those powerful studios executives, directors, agents and performers who seem to condone and encourage such excessive outbursts by this enfant terrible."

After his letter came out, Jay produced only a TV movie in 1999.