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Peter Lorre said movies stopped being fun in the '60s.
The horror stalwart mourned the ways Hollywood changed
It can be tricky when a whole job shifts beneath us. Technologies emerge and best practices change. We can feel like old news even when we're still great at what we do. As new ways replace the old, ability and tradition can get lost in the shuffle.
It shouldn't be much surprise, then, that this feeling pervades even the most sought-after job titles. While we might envy movie stars and their Hollywood lifestyle, that sense of impending replacement is also there. Nothing stays the same forever, and movies are no exception. The stars of yesteryear might do their best to transform with the times, but even the most adaptable risk their norms being overthrown.
By 1960, Peter Lorre had outlived a lot of his costars from Hollywood's golden years. He was on the Warner Brothers lot feeling bored for the first time in his life. Gone were the days when he and Sydney Greenstreet glowered at one another on and off set. Humphrey Bogart and Errol Flynn weren't there anymore. So much of what had once made that world exciting to Lorre was gone.
Worse were the labor strikes that disrupted the filmmaking world. When Lorre spoke with the Associated Press, the writers were on strike, and the actors were preparing to join them.
"The movies are no longer an industry," said Lorre. "After all, who ever heard of an industry that offered no loyalty to its employees? The studios offer none at all anymore.
The enterprise of moviemaking got in the way of the magic, according to Lorre.
"Making movies used to be fun in the old days," he said. "It isn't any longer. It's a cold business."
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