Weisman 's gift for languages ( with fluency in French , Italian , Portuguese , Spanish , German , and Dutch ) made him an " incurable nomad " ; by the early 1980s , while in Brazil , he met and befriended fellow expat Manuel Puig . Although Puig had repeatedly resisted other filmmakers ' attempts to acquire screen rights to his fourth novel , '' Kiss of the Spider Woman '' , Weisman assembled an impressive team of actors and filmmakers , ( including Burt Lancaster and Hector Babenco ) convincing Puig to sell Weisman the rights . Weisman developed the film over several years , engaging Leonard Schrader to write the screenplay and William Hurt ( replacing Burt Lancaster in the role of " Molina " ) to star opposite Raul Julia as " Valentine " . For his role as the film 's sole producer , Weisman was honored with an Best Picture nomination at the 58th Academy Awards on March 24 , 1986 , at which event William Hurt won the Oscar for Best Actor
58th Academy Awards
58th Academy Awards
David Weisman