A Classy Broad: Marcia's Adventures in Hollywood

2019 • 91 minutes

About this movie

Hollywood careers have many ups and downs, and Marcia Nasatir's journey through the entertainment business is no exception. A CLASSY BROAD paints a portrait of an optimistic, energetic, brilliant, 88 year-old woman that makes you want to kick your heels and clap. Today Marcia lives happily alone - being independent is one of the mottos of her life. In this film we document her daily activities: breakfast alone reading the newspaper (by her own admission she is a newspaper junkie), bus rides to the Academy, her yoga classes, her new passion for acting, many forays in the kitchen making classic bread stuffing and her legendary sugared pecans, her current office and film projects. Scenes from her current life in Los Angeles - and a visit to her hometown of San Antonio, Texas - are peppered with interviews of the many people and lives she has crossed in Hollywood; people she has worked with, people she has helped. Marcia's groundbreaking early career and rise in Hollywood will be explored: beginning in the 60's, when she was a star in the publishing world in New York City and helped John Dean (of Watergate fame) conceptualize his best-selling book BLIND AMBITION. Her reputation for impeccable story taste soon brought her to Hollywood, and we learn about her experiences as the lone-female agent at the famous Ziegler Agency, where she worked with William Goldman (BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID), Lorenzo Semple Jr. (THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR, PARALLAX VIEW), and Robert Towne (with whom she worked closely on CHINATOWN). Marcia was known for her "classy" choices in material, and her successful collaborations with great writers. Mike Medavoy explains that when he was made head of production at United Artists he hired Marcia, knowing that her unique qualities would make her a great executive. We follow in-depth her triumph at UA as the first woman Vice-President in charge of production at a major studio (a position that became known as "Marcia's job"). We cover her unceremonious dismissal and her triumph as an independent producer with the smashing success of THE BIG CHILL, a film that had been rejected by 17 studios, and for which she is singularly credited by writer/director Larry Kasdan himself for bringing to screen. And we even hear a few Hollywood stories that didn't end happily ever after... A unique portrait of a remarkable woman takes shape. From her origins in San Antonio, Texas raised by Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, to her current down-to-earth life in the midst of ostentatious Hollywood, Marcia effortlessly seduces audiences with her curiosity and up-to-date attitude. She might be 88, but here is nothing old about this legend.