<P> Fox then assigned the film to producer Jon Avnet who had made Risky Business . He felt that Cristofer's script was "so depressing and degrading ." Avnet instead wanted to transform "a very extreme situation" into "a sentimental story about warmth, caring and tenderness in an atmosphere hostile to those kinds of emotions". Studio executives and Avnet argued over the amount of decadence depicted in the film that would not alienate audiences . Larry Gordon, President of Fox, and who had approved the purchase of the book, was replaced by Alan Horn who was then replaced by Leonard Goldberg . Goldberg found the material distasteful but Barry Diller, the Chairman of Fox, wanted to make the film . </P> <P> Harley Peyton was hired to write the script and completed three drafts . In his version, Clay is no longer amoral or passive . The studio still considered the material edgy and kept the budget under $8 million . </P> <P> Claudia Weill was going to direct at one stage but then was dropped by the studio . </P> <P> Marek Kanievska was hired to direct because he had dealt with ambivalent sexuality and made unlikeable characters appealing in his previous film, Another Country . The studio wanted to appeal to actor Andrew McCarthy's teenage girl fans without alienating an older audience . </P>

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