William Friedkin’s Final Film, ‘The Caine Mutiny Court Martial,’ to Premiere on … Showtime

One of the great Maverick American filmmakers of the last 50 years, the late William Friedkin, will have his final film released on Showtime in the U.S. and Paramount+ in Europe. What a joke.

The film screened for press last night in Venice, to positive notices, but, that doesn’t matter, it’s supposedly meant for TV. Would Friedkin have approved of this?

I’ve always thought of Friedkin as one of the more important, and underrated, US auteurs of the ‘70s. Friedkin has always been a cinematic provocateur, but the sheer amount of voluminous cinematic achievements he’s given us cannot be underestimated.

At 87 years of age, he shot his first film in over 10 years, adapting “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial,” a 50-year-old scripted play written by Herman Wouk from his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Kiefer Sutherland and Jason Clarke star in the film.

At today’s press conference, ‘Caine’ producer Annabelle Dunne confirmed about a slight roadblock occurring in pre-production. Given Friedkin’s age, she could not get him insured to direct. However, a compromise was reached by hiring a back-up director:

So I gingerly say, ‘Billy, we need to do this. Is there anyone maybe someone younger maybe somebody that you mentored that you want to fill in just on the paperwork?’” After a gruff reaction, Friedkin called back the next day, and said, “OK, I have the guy. OK, honey, it’s Guillermo del Toro, you got that?

Del Toro, Dunne explained, “Graciously said not only yes but despite just having put out Pinocchio he went to set every day to sit next to Billy. He said he was our mascot.”