Indecent Proposal is a 1993 American erotic drama film directed by Adrian Lyne and written by Amy Holden Jones. It is based on the 1988 novel by Jack Engelhard, in which couple David and Diana Murphy's marriage is disrupted by stranger John Gage's offer of a million dollars for Diana to spend the night with him. It stars Robert Redford, Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson.
Indecent Proposal was released by Paramount Pictures on April 7, 1993. The film received a mostly negative response from critics for the contrivances and implausibilities of its story. It also sparked controversy, with feminists arguing the film's premise promotes prostitution and the treatment of women as property. Despite this, the film was a box office success and grossed nearly $267 million worldwide on a $38 million budget, becoming the sixth highest-grossing film of 1993.
Plot David and Diana Murphy are married high school sweethearts living in California. Diana is working as a real estate agent, while David hopes to establish himself as an architect by designing their dream home. The couple invest everything they have in David's project, purchasing beachfront property in Santa Monica, California and beginning construction, but the recession leaves Diana without houses to sell and David without a job. In desperate need of $50,000 to save their land from being repossessed, they travel to Las Vegas to gamble with the last of their savings.
At a casino, Diana catches the eye of high roller John Gage, while David wins over $25,000 at craps. Reveling in their winnings, Diana assures David that she loves him regardless of the money. The next day, they lose everything at roulette; leaving the casino, they notice a crowd gathered to watch Gage play baccarat. Gage asks Diana to join him for good luck and she makes a winning craps roll on his $1 million bet. As thanks, Gage insists on paying for the Murphys' stay, giving them a lavish hotel suite and a dress he saw Diana admire. After an enjoyable evening together, Gage offers the couple $1 million to allow him to spend a night with Diana, with David flatly refusing.
Later, Diana convinces David to agree to Gage's proposal. David contacts his lawyer Jeremy Green, who prepares a contract for the arrangement. Leaving Diana with Gage, David has a change of heart and races to stop them but arrives just as they depart by helicopter. Gage flies Diana to his private yacht and offers her a chance to void their deal and return to David if he loses a toss of his lucky coin. He wins the toss and Diana spends the night with him.
Agreeing to forget the incident, the Murphys return home to discover that the bank had already foreclosed on and sold their land. Overcome with anger and jealousy, David accuses Diana of continuing to see Gage after finding his business card in her wallet, which she denies knowing about. Discovering that it was Gage who bought out their land, Diana angrily confronts him and rejects his attempts to pursue her. When she informs David, their tension reaches a breaking point and they separate; Diana allows David to keep the $1 million.
Weeks later, Gage visits Diana at work and renews his advances. Initially resistant, she eventually consents to spending time with him and a romance develops between them. David, meanwhile, turns to alcohol and eventually hits rock bottom, leading to a public confrontation with Gage and Diana. He pulls his life back together and finds a teaching position and Diana files for divorce. Finding her at a zoo benefit with Gage, David donates the entire $1 million in a charity auction bid, then makes his peace with Diana and signs their divorce papers.
Realizing that Diana will never love him the way she loves David, Gage lies to her that she is merely the latest member of his "million-dollar club" of women. Seeing through his deception, she gratefully ends their relationship; before parting ways, he gives her his lucky coin, which she realizes is double headed. Diana returns to the pier where David proposed to her seven years earlier, finding him there. Repeating their unique declaration of love, they join hands.
Cast
Robert Redford as John Gage Demi Moore as Diana Murphy Woody Harrelson as David Murphy Seymour Cassel as Mr. Shackleford Oliver Platt as Jeremy Green Billy Bob Thornton as Day Tripper Rip Taylor as Mr. Langford Billy Connolly as Auction MC Joel Brooks as Realtor Pamela Holt as David's Girlfriend Tommy Bush as Mr. Murphy Mariclare Costello as Mrs. Murphy Nicholas Georgiade as Croupier Joseph Ruskin as Pit Boss Lydia Nicole as Student Iqbal Theba as Student Elsa Raven as Student Chi Muoi Lo as Student Selma Archerd as Bidder Alan Purwin as Pilot Sheena Easton as Herself Herbie Hancock as Himself
Production Development Paramount Pictures bought the rights to Jack Engelhard's 1988 novel Indecent Proposal for $120,000. Adrian Lyne signed on to direct, reuniting with producer Sherry Lansing, with whom he had worked on Fatal Attraction. Lyne had a falling out with past collaborator Stanley Jaffe, who wanted the film to be released by Christmas season of 1992 and thus allotted for limited post-production time.
The film was originally planned as a vehicle for Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, with Warren Beatty as John Gage. Kidman and Isabelle Adjani screen tested for the role of Diana Murphy. Cruise backed out amidst speculation that the film's morals conflicted with his new involvement in the Church of Scientology. Robert Redford accepted the part of Gage on the condition that his character be adjusted to be less of a villain. He turned down the $4 million salary initially offered to him in exchange for gross profit participation from the film's box office. Johnny Depp, Tim Robbins and William Baldwin were among the actors considered for the role of David Murphy. Woody Harrelson dropped out of the film Benny & Joon to commit to the role, resulting in a lawsuit from MGM-Pathé Entertainment that was settled out of court.
Writing Of the script, screenwriter Amy Holden Jones said there were multiple third-act changes to the script, made primarily by men. Jones initially wrote the ending with Diana leaving Gage of her own accord, without prompting from Gage. Jones said: "I always had a lot of trouble with the movie after [David and Diana] split up. The men in charge, and particularly Redford, decided to make [Gage] very sympathetic. In the original script, it was a clear journey where she came to realize that she was his next acquisition. There were four or five people that Redford cycled through to work on his character. In my draft, what she said to him was that you can’t buy love, and then she left him. He had that changed, because Robert Redford couldn’t be left." Jones added: "I thought [Diana] should leave both men at the end. I brought it up several times [in studio meetings], including once the movie was greenlit. And that was basically laughed at. No one would consider it, really."
William Goldman says he was brought in to work on the script after John Cusack had turned it down. "They couldn’t get anyone to do it," he said. "I wrote a draft and I don’t think they changed anything. I don’t know why the actors decided to do it or didn’t do it, but it was an enormous success so that’s good for me."
Filming Filming began in Las Vegas in June 1992. The casino scenes were filmed at the Westgate Las Vegas. After a month in Las Vegas, the production moved to southern California, where locations included the Echo Park neighborhood and a Santa Barbara mansion that stood in for Gage's home.
Lyne decided to feature the book Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women in a scene because author Susan Faludi had notably criticized Lyne's film Fatal Attraction. Lyne completed post-production work on the film roughly two weeks before its opening in April 1993.
Differences between novel and film Engelhard's novel contained cultural friction that the screenwriter left out of the movie: the main character, named Joshua Kane, is Jewish, and his billionaire foil Sheikh Ibrahim is Arab. In a review of the novel, The New York Times summarized its themes as "the sanctity of marriage versus the love of money, the Jew versus significant non-Jews such as shiksas and sheiks, skill versus luck, materialism versus spirituality, Israel versus the Arab countries, the past versus the future, and the religious world versus the secular one."
Reception Box office Indecent Proposal was a box office success, grossing $106,614,059 in the US and Canada and $159,985,941 internationally for a worldwide total of $266,600,000. The film opened on 1,694 screens in the United States and Canada on April 7, 1993, and grossed $18,387,632 in its opening weekend to top the US box office, the biggest opening at the time for an April release. It was number one for four weeks and became the sixth highest-grossing film of 1993. Some journalists attributed the audience turnout to Paramount's strong marketing campaign, as well as the film's sensational premise that made for heated debates.
It entered international release on April 23, 1993, previewing on 66 screens in Australia for the weekend. Despite only playing for three days, it topped the Australian box office for the week with a three-day gross of $0.8 million (A$1.16 million). It officially opened in Australia on April 29 and remained at number one for four more weeks. In the UK, it also benefited from previews in topping the UK box office with an opening weekend gross of $2.4 million (£1.5 million) including previews. It remained number one in the UK for three weeks. In Italy, it was Paramount/United International Pictures' second biggest ever opening with an opening weekend gross of $1.6 million.
Critical response The film received negative reviews from critics, who cited the contrivances of the film's script and its underdeveloped characters. Critics noted that the film was the latest of a string of movies that involved women being treated as property, such as Pretty Woman, Honeymoon in Vegas and Mad Dog and Glory. A major criticism was that the film did not fully explore its potentially enticing premise. Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote: "For all its ostensible daring, Indecent Proposal is much too cautious. None of the three principals really change as a consequence of the story. None of the frankness that might make matters interesting is allowed to sully the romantic mood. None of the characters have lives outside the confines of the story, although the lonely Gage, when celebrating a big gambling win, suddenly gives a party for 200 anonymous, soigne-looking friends."
In The Telegraph, Anthony Brett said that despite its packaging as a steamy thriller, "Indecent Proposal is in fact a largely distasteful and bizarrely plodding romantic drama, one that gently pokes at lofty ideas about power and marriage and the American dream but scurries away before it hits on anything too dicey." In Entertainment Weekly, Owen Gleiberman wrote: "Indecent Proposal starts out kinky and turns into a languid — and shockingly banal — domestic soap opera. Like 9 1/2 Weeks, the movie is all tease, all come-on. Next time Lyne should try for something a little more indecent."
Critics generally praised Redford's performance, but some lamented that the character of John Gage was given too much of a sympathetic edge, and that the role was merely a chance for Redford to once again play Jay Gatsby. Gleiberman wrote: "Like Michael Douglas' Gordon Gekko, he has that aura of money that’s almost tactile — even in his dark suit, he glows — and he speaks with the dry enticement of someone who has had too much of what he wants and now gets his kicks by testing people, living through their experiences."