Willis, fresh from the success of Die Hard, wanted to diversify his career away from charismatic action heroes. Equally odd was the casting of Bruce Willis as Fallow. They tried to make Sherman McCoy a likable protagonist, and gave the role to Hanks. And so the producers decided to do the unthinkable. If there was one actor that didn’t appear to have an ounce of cynicism, it was Tom Hanks. Wolfe’s book was deliberately cynical, examining the various institutions of New York with disdain. And after the success of Wolfe’s novel, the film seemed to be a guaranteed money-maker.Ī big problem for the studio was that the novel lacked any sort of likable or sympathetic character. But after suffering a major financial blow from the failure of his previous film, the Vietnam war drama Casualties of War, De Palma needed a hit.

He had previously made gruesome works such as Dressed to Kill, Scarface and Carrie, and Bonfire did not seem like a natural fit. To some, De Palma was not the obvious film-maker for this material. Warner Bros promptly secured the rights and hired De Palma to direct. Though Hollywood was cautious about the controversy surrounding Wolfe’s novel, its success showed there was a market for a Wall Street satire. As a result, McCoy is engulfedin a legal battle that threatens to destroy his livelihood. Lamb falls into a coma and his misfortune is taken advantage of by Fallow and Reverend Bacon, a black religious and political figure, who use the Lamb case for their own gain. In it, smarmy Wall Street bond trader Sherman McCoy becomes lost in the Bronx during a rendezvous with his mistress, Maria Ruskin, and runs over a young African American called Henry Lamb. Tom Wolfe published the novel The Bonfire of the Vanities in 1987.

If only the same could be said for Brian De Palma’s film. Once a washed-up has-been, Fallow is now admired by those who detested him. His writing is said to be as vital to literature as Anna Karenina.

Through a glorious, unbroken tracking shot, Fallow indulges in the excesses of celebrity while being fawned over by the New York socialite and intellectual scene.

I n the opening minutes of the film adaptation of The Bonfire of the Vanities, Bruce Willis’s journalist Peter Fallow arrives in an inebriated state to the launch of his new book.

First edition bonfire of the vanities