Jerry Weintraub on Producing the Film 'Cruising'

I went out to dinner one evening around 1975 with director Billy Friedkin, who had done The French Connection and The Exorcist. Billy asked what projects I had in the works. I told him I had one book in my drawer but I didn’t really want to make the movie. He asked what it was, and I said Cruising.

I didn’t like the subject matter, about the murders in gay S&M circles in New York, but I couldn’t lay it down. I was riveted. So I bought it. I paid $5,000 for it, for all rights in perpetuity. The girl he was with said, “If you guys are gonna talk about Cruising, I’m leaving. It’s the most disgusting book I’ve ever read.” Friedkin told her, “Good night.” Billy and I sat in the restaurant and we talked for a couple of hours. I said, “We’ll go to New York, and if this stuff really exists as this guy wrote it, then I’ll make the movie.”