he literally speaks about it in the interview
The actor partially blamed himself for its subpar execution, as he and his writing partner rewrote the script. "I also hired John Schlesinger to be the director, which was, I think, in hindsight, where it was a mistake, because then he wanted me to stay with him and help him prepare the movie and I went off and did another job," Everett said regretfully. "That was an example of me not really following the ball exactly, because possibly I could have stayed with him during the preproduction and structured the film as I thought it should have been."