Fosse Made Me Sleep in the ‘Star 80’ Murder Apartment
Eric Roberts still isn’t sure how he got through Star 80. Appearing on the latest episode of It Happened in Hollywood, the actor looked back on his experience making the 1983 film with director Bob Fosse — a process that was as methodical as it was, at times, deeply unsettling. One moment in particular has stayed with him. During production, Fosse insisted that Roberts spend the night in the actual apartment where Dorothy Stratten, the real-life Playboy Playmate of the Year from 1980, was murdered by her husband and manager, Paul Snider, the role Roberts was playing. “I didn’t want to go,” Roberts says on the podcast. “I told him, ‘I don’t want it.’ And he said, ‘No, you’re going to spend the night with it. Come on.’” The apartment, located off a busy highway, was noisy and impossible to ignore. Roberts says he didn’t sleep. The next day, he filmed one of the movie’s most difficult scenes. “That was Bob,” he says. “He wanted you to feel what it was.” Roberts’ path to Star …
