Hollywood's Seedy Underbelly Laid Bare by Ex-Paramount Chief — Including Robin Williams' Coke-Fueled Movie and John Travolta's 'Homophobia'
Film producer speaks out about Hollywood's seedy underbelly.
May 25 2025, Published 2:00 p.m. ET
The behind-the-scenes chaos of the 1980s cult classic Robin Williams film Popeye was allegedly amplified by cocaine, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Movie mogul Barry Diller recently discussed the film and the supposed rampant drug use that plagued the production at a 92Y event with Anderson Cooper.
The Rampant Drug Use on Set
'Popeye' was a huge step for Robin Williams' career.
Diller, who helmed Paramount Pictures during the film's creation, claimed the environment on set was far from the whimsical world of the spinach-devouring sailor.
He told Cooper: "You couldn't escape it."
The filming took place in Malta, a picturesque backdrop that belied the turmoil behind the camera.
Diller noted with a grim sense of humor that "film cans would be sent back to LA daily for processing the film", only to unveil their more illicit cargo.
"And we found out the film cans were actually being used to ship cocaine back and forth to the set," he added, claiming the clandestine operation turned the production into a surreal carnival of excess — "Everyone was stoned."
Popeye's Legacy
There was a lot of drugs taken on the set of 'Popeye'.
The legacy of the Popeye film is already a mixed bag; iconic performances by Williams and Shelly Duvall juxtaposed against a backdrop of chaos and addiction. Diller even suggested that audience members may be able to distinguish the effects of drug usage on screen.
He explained: "Think of… [vinyl LP] record speeds."
If 33 rpm is the standard for LPs, "this is a movie that runs at 78 rpm." This calls into question the integrity of the film that many have fondly remembered. The revelations do not stop with Diller. Other insiders have come forward to share their experiences from the set.
Van Dyke Parks, the film's orchestrator, previously said that famed producer Robert Evans faced when his cocaine-packed luggage went missing at the airport during filming.
Parks described the atmosphere as "frantic", recalling: "I was the hero of the regiment for opening up a walkie-talkie to change the battery and finding a bag of cocaine... I don't remember how much there was or to whom I gave it."
John Travolta's 'Homophobia'
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John Travolta dropped out of 'American Gigolo'.
Diller also recently brought up having to deal with John Travolta backing out of American Gigolo because of the film's "somewhat gay subtext".
The film producer wrote how Travolta told then-Paramount Pictures president Michael Eisner he couldn’t lead the project because he was grieving the death of his mother and then-girlfriend Diana Hyland.
Diller wrote: "He slumped down in a chair in Michael’s office, started to cry and said, 'I can't do American Gigolo. I'm too sad. I’m still in mourning. It’s the wrong thing for me to do. You have to let me out of it.'
"Michael came down to my office and said, 'John’s just left, and we have to let him out of the movie because he just can’t do it.' I said, 'He's faking it and using you. It’s too late to recast and he's perfect for it.'"
The former studio exec said he "was certain (Travolta) had acted his way through his meeting with Michael" and "no longer wanted to do Gigolo. He was afraid of playing that character because of its somewhat gay subtext. For days, I said, 'I'm not even going to hear of letting him out of the movie, full stop, period.'"
