Hal Ashby got hired to direct Coming Home while he was stoned in a hot tub

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Coming Home is a Vietnam War drama often credited with opening audiences' eyes to the grim plights awaiting veterans who made it back alive. But the film found its director in a way more befitting a stoner comedy.

While being feted at the TCM Classic Film Festival over the weekend, actor Bruce Dern, who earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his work in Coming Home, explained how its Oscar-winning director, Hal Ashby, came to the project via a Malibu hot tub.

The original director was Midnight Cowboy helmer John Schlesinger, but after one day of shooting Schlesinger felt he wasn't right for the project. This left producer Jerome Hellman with no director and fears that United Artists would shut down the production before it even began if he halted things to find a replacement.

"At about 2 o'clock on a Tuesday afternoon the second day of shooting, [Jerry] needed to find a director for his movie," Dern recounted before a festival screening of the film. "The way it happened was Jerome Hallman lived in Malibu Colony, Hal Ashby lived in Malibu Colony. So, he walked down to Hal's house, [and] Hal was in his hot tub. and he said, [mimes taking a joint out of his mouth] 'Hey, Jer,' and Jerry said, 'Hal, I need you to do a movie for me.'"

Coming Home, Hal Ashby
Coming Home, Hal Ashby

Everett Collection (2)

Thinking that he had some time, Ashby asked Hallman to leave the script for him to read. "Jerry said, 'No, I got to watch you read the script now.' Hal said, 'Oh, for chrissakes,' and he got out of the hot tub, put a big robe on, and said, 'What's the movie about?' And he said, 'Vietnam — and I need you to shoot tomorrow.'"

Ashby accepted the challenge, even going on to earn his only Oscar nomination for directing (he was nominated twice prior for Best Editing, and won once, for In the Heat of the Night). Coming Home became a lightning rod in discussions of veterans' issues and the resources available to soldiers returning home, as did two other films of the late 1970s, Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter.

Dern also noted that both of those competing projects started production the same week as Coming Home. "All three movies started within days of each other," Dern said.

But it was Coming Home that most directly showed the impact of the war at home, rather than on the front.

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