LESS THAN ZERO (1987) - Thomas Newman - Soundtrack Score Suite

Less Than Zero is a 1987 American drama film loosely based on the novel of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis. It stars Andrew McCarthy as Clay, a college freshman returning home for Christmas for the first time since Thanksgiving, when he found out that his girlfriend Blair (Jami Gertz) had been having sex with his high school friend, Julian, who is also a drug addict (Robert Downey Jr.). Now at Christmas he finds Blair still trying to recreate the good times, as if nothing has happened and Julian sinking further into drugs and being hassled by his dealer (James Spader) to whom he owes money. The movie presents a look at the culture of wealthy youth in Los Angeles and has a strong anti-drug message.
Less Than Zero received mixed reviews among critics. Ellis hated the film initially but his view of it later softened. He insists that the film bears no resemblance to his novel and felt that it was miscast with the exceptions of Downey and Spader.

Ellis' book was originally optioned by producer Marvin Worth for $7,500 before its publication in June 1985 with the understanding that 20th Century Fox would finance it. Worth hired Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Michael Cristofer to write the screenplay. He stuck close to the tone of the novel and had Clay take drugs but did not make him bisexual. The studio felt that Cristofer's script was too harsh for a commercial film.
20th Century Fox then assigned the film to producer Jon Avnet who had made Risky Business. He felt that Cristofer's script was "so depressing and degrading." Avnet instead wanted to transform "a very extreme situation" into "a sentimental story about warmth, caring and tenderness in an atmosphere hostile to those kinds of emotions". Marek Kanievska was hired to direct because he had dealt with ambivalent sexuality and made unlikeable characters appealing in his previous film, Another Country. The studio wanted to appeal to actor Andrew McCarthy's teenage girl fans without alienating an older audience.
Cinematographer Edward Lachman remembers that originally the film was a lot "edgier" and that the studio took it away from Kanievska. He also recalled a scene he shot with the music group Red Hot Chili Peppers: "The Red Hot Chili Peppers were in that film and the studio became very conservative and they said, 'Oh the band, they're sweaty and they don't have their shirts on.' They destroyed an incredible Steadicam shot, all because they had to cut around them being bare-chested".

At an early test screening, the studio recruited an audience between the ages of 15 and 24; they hated Robert Downey Jr.'s character. As a result, new scenes were shot to make his and Jami Gertz's character more repentant. For example, a high school graduation scene was shot to lighten the mood by showing the three main characters as good friends during better times.

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