Jon Peters

Peters opens by calling this the first interview he has ever done apart from one with Barbara Walters about 30 years earlier. He recalls that Walters' first question, asked while he was with Barbra Streisand, was whether he was a hustler. He answered that if she meant whether he hustled every day of his life, then yes. He reads the question as an insinuation that he was using Streisand, describing the situation as a hairdresser being with the biggest star in the world. The host argues Walters would never have asked a woman that question, and Peters says she was angry.

a hairdresser with the biggest star in the world isn't that crazy

Peters describes his role with Streisand as "creating alternatives for her" rather than making her decisions. When he first read A Star Is Born, which he dates to 1976, he called her about it. He says she objected that it had already been made three times and hung up on him. He adds that this was the period when he met Elvis.

Looking at his IMDb page, the host remarks on how many films Peters has produced. Peters says it is over a hundred and puts it down to having always been a storyteller. He admits that as a child he "didn't always tell the truth" but says the stories were his. He also says the things he does today are things he said he would do.

my life became my story my stories became my life

Peters says he wanted Elvis Presley in A Star Is Born and flew to Las Vegas to meet him. By his account Elvis was "about 100 pounds overweight" and "so fat he couldn't sit in a chair". Peters says Elvis told him his problem was a fight with his girlfriend, who was flying in his 747, and that he had not yet decided whether to let her land.

Peters says Colonel Parker later called to say Elvis wanted to do the film but that Peters could not be part of it. Peters refused, because he saw the project as his own: he says he created and wrote it, and that its love story was copied from his relationship with Barbra. He says Barbra also rejected the condition, so Elvis did not do the film. Peters adds that Priscilla Presley later told him Elvis saw the film on opening day and cried because he had not done it. Peters believes he would have drawn out Elvis's pain and feelings and that the result "would have been gigantic".

I could feel the pain in him

Both men praise the recent Elvis biopic for its different approach, especially its editing and the material between scenes. They agree that no one before Elvis had been that famous, and the host names Michael Jackson as the next comparable figure.

Peters says that for Batman he had Prince on the music and wanted Michael Jackson for a "warring theme" staged like a fight, with Jackson musically representing Batman and Prince representing the Joker. Jackson backed out, but Peters says the two became friends. He says Jackson showed him Thriller at his house and told him he had copied An American Werewolf in London to make it.

Peters's own role in An American Werewolf in London is unclear in the transcript. He starts to say he made and wrote it, then corrects himself that he did not write it. The host calls it a horror classic that mixes "sheer Terror and comedy" and says he rewatched it about a year earlier. Director John Landis comes up briefly, along with a reference to "the accident", which they call terrible but do not describe.

Peters says he is making a new Caddyshack and had just been on the phone with Shaq. The premise, as far as the transcript can be followed, is that the wealthy elite who own a golf club "get madoffed" and the people who work for them take over the club, which reverses the hierarchy. He expects it to be very funny.

When the host asks why nobody has made another good werewolf film, Peters answers that every finished movie is hard-won. He lists agents, story, acting and distribution, along with "the lying the cheating", and says getting a film made is "impossible".

any movie that you make is a gift from God

He also describes Africa, a project he compares to Out of Africa. He says Eric Roth wrote it for him 22 years ago and that he has been developing it for 20 years because he "never got the love story right". He says Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were once attached, but the story fell apart when they broke up. The plot follows a journalist reporting on a man trying to stop poaching in Africa, who loses both legs after poachers shoot him down. Peters says the film would show African culture, including a day of ritual fighting with swords.

Asked what still excites him about filmmaking, Peters says "stories". The talk then moves to the UFC. Peters mentions that Dana White wrote him a message beginning "JP I love you", and the two discuss Luke Rockhold's recent fight, in which Rockhold smeared blood on his opponent's face.

The host explains that smearing blood is legal. He says fighters with a forehead cut often lean toward an opponent because they know blood in the eye is a problem, though it is not usually a deliberate technique and is rarely done as blatantly as Rockhold did it. Peters first calls Rockhold a "poor loser" and compares him unfavourably with another fighter he calls "a great Loser".

The two disagree about Rockhold's character. Peters insults him as a person, and the host replies "I would not say that". Peters struggles to say what bothers him and says he sees Rockhold as "an actor" and "a movie star". The host suggests Rockhold is "cursed with being impossibly good-looking" and that this bothers men. He adds that arrogance is common among prize fighters, since a certain amount of bravado is needed to succeed, and that it is harder for people to accept from a very good-looking man.