Peeking behind the curtain, it’s wild to see how this “racy” flick went from a script to snagging four Oscar nods.
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice — or BCTA for short — is a standout in director Paul Mazursky’s filmography and a key part of the New Hollywood era. New Hollywood, aka the “American New Wave,” was a film revolution in the late ’60s and ’70s. It flipped the script from the old studio system to a director-driven approach, letting filmmakers explore tricky and controversial topics.
The idea for BCTA hit Paul Mazursky after he read a Time mag article about Fritz Perls, a “gestalt therapist” having a wild time in a hot tub with naked folks at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California.
Esalen, founded in 1962, was a New Age therapy hotspot, not your average spa. Intrigued, Mazursky and his wife checked it out, finding themselves the only couple among strangers. After some wild times at Esalen and writing with pal Larry Tucker in Palm Springs, Mazursky cooked up the final script for a hilarious and boundary-breaking film.
On day one of shooting BCTA, Paul Mazursky’s nightmare began. He walked on set to find 75 eager crew members staring, waiting for him to call action. Mazursky, directing his first film, froze. He had no clue what to do.