As I already celebrated in Miscelana, in 2024 it will be no less than 35 years since the release of Romancing the Stone, to this day one of the great classics of what we call RomCom. The fun adventure produced and starring Michael Douglas, alongside Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito, is one of the best ever made and has behind the scenes as confusing and dramatic as the story that unfolds on screen.

Released on March 30, 1984, it was the eighth highest-grossing film of the year and won two Golden Globes: Best Comedy and Best Comedy Actress, and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Screenplay. Incredible, right?

The mega success of Raiders of the Lost Ark opened the door for Romancing the Stone, which was great for Michael Douglas, already a successful producer and “television actor”, wanting to transition into film. and follow in the footsteps of his legendary father, Kirk Douglas. That’s because the script for Romancing the Stone came into his hands and, although it was from a beginning screenwriter, he found all the successful elements.

Another who celebrated the opportunity was Kathleen Turner, who was stuck with sexy roles and wanted to prove, as she did, that she had a talent for comedy too. Danny DeVito also became a lead in comedy films. Everyone won, including director Robert Zemeckis, who produced several hits and 10 years later made box office history and won the Oscar for Forrest Gump.

Of them all, however, it was the life of the late screenwriter Diane Thomas that was the most remarkable. She went from working as a waitress to one of the most sought-after professionals in Hollywood, with directors like George Lucas hiring her for new jobs that never came to fruition following the tragic accident that ended her life.

Diane created memorable characters with a simple premise. Shy, isolated writer Jane Joan Wilder (Turner) makes up for the emptiness of her life by writing steamy romances featuring a spunky heroine and a handsome adventurer, all set in exotic settings. One day, she receives a frantic phone call from her sister, who has been kidnapped by antiquities smugglers and without thinking twice, Joan goes to try to rescue her in Colombia. Joan has a map to “El Corazon”, Spanish for “The Heart”, a priceless jewel hidden somewhere in the untamed jungles of Colombia. Obviously, Joan is at risk and accidentally meets and becomes involved with a bird smuggler, Jack Colton (Douglas) who helps her navigate a series of dangerous situations, similar to those in her books.

Due to the unexpected success, the studio forced the team to return for a sequel the following year: the weak The Jewel of the Nile. No one was satisfied and the help that Diane was giving (at that point she was busy with other projects) was interrupted by the fateful accident that took her life. And all, due to the success of Romancing the Stone.

When the film exploded at the box office, Michael Douglas recalled that one day, Diane Thomas had confessed that she dreamed of having a Porsche and he gave her one as a gift, as a bonus for the production’s success. To this day, she says she regrets it. Two months later, Diane died in her car when her boyfriend, who she was driving, crashed into a pole after skidding in the rain returning from Malibu. Diane was just 29 years old.

Diane Thomas’ death will always be a shadow that takes away the lightness of the work she left in Hollywood. After The Jewel of the Nile, the main trio, Douglas, DeVito, and Turner also made War of the Roses, and more recently, they were together again in The Kominsky Method.

And if Romancing the Stone became a classic as soon as it hit theaters, the studios had a hard time believing the investment they made. Early copies were rated weak and required re-recordings, but since 1984, they have been virtually copied or cited in several rom-com works. And nothing represents it better than one of the film’s most famous phrases, an improvisation by Michael Douglas, which he closes the film by stating: “I’m an incurable romantic”.

We are all!

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