Editing Capricorn One (section)

==Production==
===Development===
Peter Hyams began thinking about a film of a space hoax while working on broadcasts of the [[Apollo program]] missions for [[CBS]]. He later reflected regarding the [[Apollo 11]] Moon landing, "There was one event of really enormous importance that had almost no witnesses. And the only verification we have ... came from a TV camera."<ref name=Nicholas-de-Monchaux>[https://books.google.com/books?id=IT-chpAkCZ0C&pg=PA259 ''Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo''], Nicholas de Monchaux, MIT Press, 2011. This book cites the ''New York Times'' as stating "Watergate may not have inspired 'Capricorn One,' but it made its thesis more acceptable, its plot more credible and some of its content strangely prophetic."</ref>

He later elaborated, in a 2014 interview with UK film magazine ''[[Empire (magazine)|Empire ]]'':
<blockquote>Whenever there was something on the news about a [space flight], they would cut to a studio in St. Louis where there was a simulation of what was going on. I grew up in the generation where my parents basically believed if it was in the newspaper it was true. That turned out to be bullshit. My generation was brought up to believe television was true, and that was bullshit too. So I was watching these simulations and I wondered what would happen if someone faked a whole story.<ref name="empire">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/peter-hyams-film-film/|title=Directors Special: Peter Hyams Film by Film|magazine=Empire|access-date=29 Dec 2020|date=24 July 2014|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160305134545/https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/peter-hyams-film-film/ |archive-date=5 March 2016|author=Owen Williams|publisher=Bauer Media Group|location=London}}</ref></blockquote>

Hyams wrote the script in 1972 but no one wanted to make it. He says interest in the script was re-activated by the [[Watergate Scandal]]. He approached producer [[Paul Lazarus]]. Hyams and Lazarus had a meeting with [[Lew Grade]], head of production company [[ITC Entertainment]] who had recently moved into film production with ''[[The Return of the Pink Panther]]''. Grade agreed to make the film after only five minutes.<ref name="one"/> The budget was $4.8 million.<ref name="Szebin">Szebin, 2000</ref><ref name="grade">Lew Grade, ''Still Dancing: My Story'', William Collins & Sons 1987 p 247</ref><ref name=Nicholas-de-Monchaux/>

Grade announced the film in October 1975 as a part of a slate of ten films he intended to make over the next 12 months, including ''[[The Domino Principle]]'', ''Action - Clear the Fast Lanes'' and ''Juarez''. The last two were ultimately not made.<ref>"Sir Lew's massive film deal". Barker, Dennis. ''The Guardian'' 22 Oct 1975: 7.</ref>

To stay within the budget, NASA's co-operation was needed. Lazarus had a good relationship with the space agency from ''[[Futureworld]]''. The filmmakers were thus able to obtain government equipment as props, including a prototype [[Apollo Lunar Module]],<ref>"The Space Shot as a Sham". Kilday, Gregg. ''Los Angeles Times'' 13 Oct 1976: f9.</ref> despite the story's negative portrayal of the space agency.

In September 1976, it was announced the cast would include [[Elliott Gould]], [[O. J. Simpson]], [[James Brolin]], [[Brenda Vaccaro]], and [[Candice Bergen]].<ref>"Pepitone will run disco in Las Vegas" Daly, Maggie. ''Chicago Tribune'' 14 Sep 1976: b12.</ref> The presence of Brolin and Simpson in the cast helped secure a presale to [[NBC]].<ref name="one"/> Ultimately Bergen pulled out and was replaced by [[Karen Black]].

===Shooting===
Filming started in January 1977. Shooting locations included Cinema Center Films in [[Studio City, Los Angeles|Studio City]], and [[Red Rock Canyon State Park (California)|Red Rock Canyon State Park]].<ref name="one">The Film That Watergate Got Off the Ground. Warga, Wayne. ''Los Angeles Times'' 30 Jan 1977: s36.</ref>

Hyams later joked, "[[O. J. Simpson]] was in it, and [[Robert Blake (actor)|Robert Blake]] was in ''[[Busting]]'' [Hyams' first feature]. I've said many times: Some people have AFI Lifetime Achievement awards; some people have multiple Oscars; my bit of trivia is that I've made films with two leading men who were subsequently tried for the first-degree murder of their wives."<ref name="empire"/>