Yentl (film) - Production

Production

The production of Barbra Streisand's film Yentl was a long and arduous process that delayed the project for over a decade.

After reading Isaac Singer's story "Yentl: The Yeshiva Boy" in 1968, Barbra Streisand sought to make it her next film after her completion of the successful film Funny Girl. The screen rights were gained in 1969, with Streisand to be the star. Hired by First Artists, the Czechoslovakian director, Ivan Passer, was to originally direct the film in 1971, which was screenplayed by Singer and retitled Masquerade, but due to his belief that Streisand's age and high celebrity status would detract from the film, backed out. In 1973, Streisand read Singer's story to producer and, at the time, boyfriend, Jon Peters, to gain further support for the film. However, like Passer, he was convinced that Streisand was too old and feminine to convincingly play the part the film would demand. By 1976, after completing the film A Star is Born, Streisand became convinced that she was, in fact, too old to play the part in Yentl, and would take up the film as director. Due to her idealizations of being both the star and director, studios continued to draw back from funding the film, with fear that a rookie director would be unable to responsibly handle a multi-million dollar project. Additionally, Streisand reported that studios claimed the film was "not commercial" because it was "too ethnic." In 1978, Yentl was conceived to be a musical, as opposed to the original idea of being a drama, by Streisand's friends Alan and Merilyn Bergman. It was hoped that a musical starring Barbra Streisand would be accepted and better received by a studio.

Jon Peters attempted to persuade Streisand to drop the project and perform at Wembley Stadium in London instead, for an offer of $1 million. She refused the offer as well as the $2 million followup to reconsider. Another offer by Peters, which was to be an excess of $10 million for Streisand to perform in Las Vegas, was also promptly turned down in favor of pursuing the Yentl project. Her attitude regarding her age quickly changed after she disguised herself as a man, temporarily confusing Peters into thinking that a stranger had broken into the house. Peters, now convinced of her ability to play a male, agreed to sign a three-year production contract with Orion Pictures in March 1978. To combat the age she was to play in the film, she changed Yentl from being 16 to 26.

According to various sources, Streisand became increasingly inspired and determined to bring Yentl into production when, in the summer of 1979, she and her brother Sheldon visited their father's grave at Mount Hebron Cemetery for the first time in 30 years. For the sake of making memory of the occasion, Streisand had her brother take a photo of her standing next to her father's tombstone. The photo revealed that Emmanual Streisand's grave was directly next to that of a man named Anshel (the false name of the protagonist of Yentl). Intrigued, Barbra asked Sheldon to contact a psychic to perform a seance, convinced that her father was beckoning her from beyond the grave to complete the film.

In 1979, Streisand finally made an agreement with Orion Pictures to direct and star in Yentl. She was working with a script by Ted Allen at the time, but discarded a majority of it, keeping the musical segments. The film was to be coproduced by Barbra's friends and associates: Joan Marshall Ashby and Jon Peters. To prepare for the film, Streisand exhaustingly researched the many aspects of Judaism, ceremonies, relentless studying of the Torah, and consulted numerous rabbis, one being Rabbi Lapin, who Streisand appointed as the main consultant for the film.

Orion Pictures made the announcement that it had agreed to produce Yentl as Barbra Streisand's directoral debut in the late summer of 1980. Travelling to Prague with a Super-8 camera and song lyrics, Streisand scouted out film locations while also shooting film of herself walking through the city in costume with early recordings of Yentl's soundtrack being played in the background. However, not long after her return, Heaven's Gate, a Michael Cimino picture produced by United Artists, lost $35 million at the box office, bringing Orion to cancel all films that exceeded a $10 million cost in order to preserve itself. Yentl, which was priced at $14 million, was cancelled. The film was turned down again and again until Jon Peters, Peter Gruber, and Neil Bogart formed Polygram Pictures and agreed to produce the film. However, due to creative differences and personal disputes between Streisand and Peters, Yentl was dropped once again.

15 years after its original conception and 20 script variations later, Yentl's production had begun on April 14, 1982 in the Lee International Studios of London after United Artists merged with MGM and gained the new leadship of Freddie Fields and David Begelman---Streisand's former agent from the late sixties. Yentl was green lighted as Streisand's directoral debut at a budget of $14.5 million. Shooting concluded in October 1982, which was to be followed by Streisand requiring ten weeks to dub the soundtrack. In the end, the film went 1.5 over budget, which Streisand paid for with her salary, as stated in the contract with UA.

The film was shot on location in Prague, New York City, and Liverpool.