Norman Mailer: Works and Days

Mailer and the Siege of Rome

A New York magazine piece on Mailer's screenwriting for Sergio Leone (a script from The Hoods), which ended in a court fight over payment.

“Mailer and the Siege of Rome,” an article-interview by an unidentified writer in New York (24 May 1976), a short piece on Mailer’s screenwriting effort for the Italian producer Sergio Leone — 180 pages of a script from Harry Grey’s novel The Hoods, written over a month in Rome — which ended in court, where Mailer was finally paid in full. Leone, disliking the work, spread rumors that Mailer had spent his time in a hotel room and written the script “on cocktail napkins.”

First published: 1976-05-24
Form: article-interview
Lennon & Lennon: 76.8a
Cite as: /works/1976-05-24-mailer-and-the-siege-of-rome
Last updated: 2026-06-04