Why the shake-up? Some friends maintained that Peters, a free spirit who works mostly out of his Malibu and Hollywood Hills homes, had grown frustrated with the job’s administrative demands and wanted to get back to movies. “He’s got his dream job now,” says producer Howard Rosenman. But others say his Japanese bosses were uncomfortable with his abrasive manner and extravagant habits. (He spent lavishly on movies such as “Radio Flyer” and once reportedly dispatched a corporate jet to deliver flowers to a girlfriend.) “He’s too flamboyant, grandiose and out of control,” says one insider. Now Peters is free to be just as flamboyant-but without so much control.
