One day someone is going to come out with a story about Larry David being warm, friendly, and participating in an act society has arbitrarily made standard. It will shock us all, and David will speak up to assure us it was only an anomaly. Until then we'll keep getting fascinating but expected stories about him being a miserable, old man. Even before he was actually old.
Larry's first manager spoke to THR and confirmed everything we know about the comedy writer. He was difficult and uncompromising from the very beginning of his career. So much show that one of his movie scripts was blacklisted by Hollywood.
Here's the story of Prognosis Negative, a screenplay about a hypochondriac who overhears a doctor informing his ex-girlfriend that she only has a few months to live and decides he's willing to make a commitment:
When a production company optioned it, the deal stipulated that no one besides Larry could rewrite the script, which was unheard of for a novice. One day, the script was somehow sent back to Larry. He opened the envelope and read the title: SHORT TERM LOVER. To say Larry went ballistic is an understatement. We sped over to the producer's office, where an enraged Larry burst through the door threatening to sue him for ruining his career! Eventually, everyone calmed down. Larry was to do the rewrite, but he insisted he didn't want to get paid a lot of money because then they would expect a bigger rewrite. Only Larry.
After Tom Hanks, Michael Keaton and Bill Murray passed, it was decided that Larry should star in a lower-budget version of the film with John Daly of Hemdale Films producing. I set up an audition at Catch a Rising Star in New York. Larry assured me that he would not embarrass me or blow the deal. Five minutes into his act, a heckler yelled something and Larry was gone -- he just walked off the stage.
Prognosis Negative then became the No. 1 script on the Black List of best unproduced screenplays.
Classic LD. From there he went on to a one-year stint on Saturday Night Live and a blown chance at the movie Million Dollar Mystery. But things started to look up when Larry moved out to Los Angeles to work on The Seinfeld Chronicles pilot. We've been blessed with miserable, old Larry David ever since.
