Movie anecdotes...

[Drifter]

Thought I'd try this for a thread - to relate any stories about movies or the people who make them: stories read or heard about. A couple of such amusing anecdotes/recollections emerged out of recently reading some director biographies.

Beating the Method
There was a time when the "Method" was the buzz in acting circles. Brando, Dean, Clift and others made this intense, immersive acting style popular. Yet not everyone was impressed. In his memoirs, director Richard Fleischer tells a story he heard about actor Jackie Coogan. Coogan was a child actor, having played "the kid" opposite Charlie Chaplin (and would later be Uncle Fester on TV's The Addams Family). Once for live TV, Coogan, who wasn't trained in the Method had to work with an actor who was. This actor drew inspiration in his dialogue scenes with Coogan by looking down, towards Coogan's shoes. Coogan wanted him to look him in the eye, but the actor refused all through rehearsals. When it came to the live performance, the actor again looked down, to find that on one shoe Coogan had written "f**k" and on the other shoe, "you".

Itching for a Seventh Year
Director Billy Wilder's film of The Seven Year Itch contains the ultimate Marilyn Monroe scene - the one where she steps over the subway grating and the air raises her skirt, exposing her underwear. Although intended to be shot on location, word somehow spread and over 4,000 people turned up to see the sex symbol, including her then husband, who was not impressed with the scene at all. Wilder could not get the crowd to keep quiet enough to film the scene, until Monroe merely raised her finger and put it to her lips. The shot still had to be done later in a studio. At some point, Monroe realized that under the bright cinema lights it was possible to see through her underwear. She put on a second pair. The classic shot, the most iconic image of Monroe, is now referred to by director Wilder as a "two-panty shot". Apparently the existing "see-through" footage soon disappeared. Soon on Ebay?

[Drifter]

When All Else Fails, Have a Raffle
Recently deceased director John Frankenheimer related a story about the making of his 1971 film The Horsemen, set in Afghanistan and centered on a traditional Afghan sport, the Buzkashi. One day of shooting the sporting event necessitated a large number of extras (as spectators) but the budget wasn’t sufficient to hire enough. The solution was to hold a raffle. On offer was a Volkswagen Beetle, which was loaded onto a trailer and so paraded around Kabul, a loudspeaker announcing it as a raffle prize, the winner to be drawn from those showing up as extras. At that time, salaries in Afghanistan were low and a car was beyond the means of most people. Frankenheimer needed about 5,000 extras. 300,000 people showed up. Roads were overflowing, equipment and supplies were overturned and filming had to be shut down. Eventually the Army had to be called in to quell the massive crowd. Two days later, when filming resumed, there were still 100,000 people present. Raffle tickets were handed out by an assistant who soon lost his watch, broke his wrist and ended up in hospital. When the raffle was eventually drawn, the winner, a local tailor, didn’t know how to drive…and fainted.

When All Else Fails, Have a Raffle pt.2
When director John Frankenheimer was filming the 1977 Superbowl terrorist thriller Black Sunday, he was struck with a strangely familiar problem. He needed extras, lots of them. He had to fill as much of an American football stadium (Miami’s Orange Bowl) as possible. His solution was… to hold a raffle, the prize going to a random extra. This time there was a cash prize on offer (as well as an appearance in the film) and a big promotion was held in advance. Although people showed, the main problem was with the weather, which soon broke into rain. Considering the day an unfilmable wash-out, Frankenheimer sent his assistant to announce over the PA loudspeakers the end of the day. The cost of re-filming another day would be $330,000. On the way however, the assistant was met by his girlfriend and the two of them stopped by the press box for a… quickie. In the meantime, the weather cleared up enough to allow filming to begin but Frankeheimer was distraught – had already sent the assistant. Frankenheimer eventually found him and was informed that the order to quit hadn’t been given yet and everything was still in place. The director was delighted and the needed filming was done. The assistant’s girlfriend was awarded the raffle’s cash prize (and the appearance in the movie).

[Drifter]

The Consummate Professional
When director Richard Fleischer came to make the downbeat sci-fi movie Soylent Green, he wanted veteran Edward G. Robinson for a key role. By that time however, Robinson was 80 years old and cancer-ridden, and as he could not get insurance for the movie, the studio was hesitant. Robinson was determined, believing that after three years of no work, he had an important role in a meaningful movie, and was also apparently aware that it would be his last film. Eventually he was hired (after agreeing to a lesser fee), but the director soon faced another problem – Robinson was almost deaf. One scene called for him to be reading a book and react to the other actors’ lines (questions directed at his character). Robinson could not hear the lines. However, after some rehearsals, he soon was so familiar with the timing and intricate rhythm of the scene that he could react perfectly to voices he could not hear, and without looking up at the other actors. He was so in control that he could even overlap his responses over the other actors’ lines for the appearance of added spontaneity.

An Evening with Mr. Charm
Some actors inspire awe; some warmth, and some, even admiration. For director Richard Fleischer, Charles Bronson will always be remembered as “Mr. Charm”. As the director recalls in his memoirs, he was at dinner with the actor, during the filming of Mr. Majestyk, when they were approached by a fan of Bronson’s. Bronson was roughly at the peak of his international stardom at this point in the mid-1970s. The young fan was an avid golfer and started harmlessly gushing to the star about the sport and soon invited the star to the local golf course, adding that all there would be honored by his presence. Bronson replied that he actually lived in Los Angeles on a property adjacent to a golf course. The young fan was delighted, believing that he had found some connection with a superstar. Bronson then asked the young fan if he knew what Bronson did with the golf course. The man said that he didn’t know. Bronson then casually replied that he let his dogs sh*t on it. The superstar then returned to his dinner, unperturbed.

[Drifter]

A Slap in Humanity’s Face
Director William Friedkin was 20 years old when he made the television documentary The People vs. Paul Crump about an African-American death row inmate and convicted murderer. The budding director had to film inside Cook County Jail to interview the felon. During one such interview Friedkin was especially determined. Taking advantage of a guard’s temporary absence, Friedkin prompted his camera operator to start filming and then quietly leaned in to Crump, engaging him in soft-spoken conversation. This continued for a while and then suddenly Friedkin lashed out, slapping the imposing inmate frequently and with some ferocity. The startled Crump soon did as Friedkin had planned all along – he was so startled he began to cry. Friedkin had his desired vulnerability shot. Sometime later, Friedkin’s film was credited with saving Crump from the electric chair and having his case re-examined. When later questioned about the filming of that particular scene, Friedkin apparently smiled faintly, looked aside and mumbled “Oh, that.”

Careful with that Whip, Mr. Malden
Marlon Brando’s directorial debut, the Western One-Eyed Jacks was a troubled project, with Brando called in to direct when Stanley Kubrick, worried over an unfinished script, dropped out. Even though the script lacked an ending, Brando took on the task. The most remarked on scene in the film would prove to be the whipping scene, a weird sad-masochistic spectacle in which Brando was rather voluntarily tied to a post and whipped by his father-figure Karl Malden, to see if he can take it. The trouble with the scene started when Brando enthusiastically demonstrated to Malden how to handle the whip, in the process dislocating his own shoulder. After medical attention, filming duly resumed, but Brando had an improvisational spirit, and after Malden delivered a key line, Brando spat in his face. Malden kept in character to continue the scene. Brando later told Malden that he was gripping the post for real, fearing that Malden would in retaliation miss his rehearsed mark and whip Brando. Malden didn’t, and even though Brando had his doubts, he never yelled cut and was prepared to endure whatever happened.

[Drifter]

All in the Name of Research
Once upon a time in the late 1960s, when Timothy Leary and LSD were still making headlines, producer Roger Corman was looking for an exploitable concept for a movie. He decided on The Trip: after all, his friends Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson had all reportedly dropped acid. For research purposes, Corman decided to take LSD but was determined to be prepared. He read everything he could about the drug, gathered a group of friends, decided on an idyllic secluded location, notified his screenwriter, contacted his girlfriend and asked his assistant to come along and “take notes”. They piled into a caravan and left. After arriving at their destination, Corman dropped the LSD (of the sugar cube variety) and waited. Nothing happened. Corman had just about given up when the drug took effect. The legendary entrepreneurial producer then spent the next seven hours face down on the earth, underneath a tree. As he remembers it, he was convinced he was pioneering a new highly cost-efficient art/ film image form, which could be transmitted from the artist’s mind to a similarly positioned audience directly through the ground.

Quantity vs. Quality
Towards the end of the 1960s, actor Vincent Price had become a horror movie icon, thanks in part to a successful series of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations for Roger Corman. In 1968, Price journeyed to England to make a low-budget horror movie called Witchfinder General. For this film, the veteran actor was to be directed by a newcomer then in his mid-twenties, Michael Reeves. According to a film historian, pride perhaps became a factor in the relationship between actor and director. Reeves was noted for his sombre pessimism whilst Price was noted for his campy, “ham” acting mannerisms, which had undoubtedly served the actor well. For his film though, Reeves was insistent that the hammy Price modify and restrain his style. Allegedly, Price once wondered what right this upstart director had to tell him how to perform, wondering what Reeves had done in comparison to Price’s admission of having been in over 80 horror films. Coolly, Reeves responded that “I’ve made one good one.” Price’s subsequent performance was amongst his least theatrical and is now commonly considered one of his most chilling.

[Drifter]

The Values of the Humble Exploitation Filmmaker
Gualtiero Jacopetti is known to some as the Italian exploitation director who in the 1960s pioneered the so-called "mondo" movie with Mondo Cane. His sensationalism eventually led to his sado-surreal masterpiece Farewell Uncle Tom which had celebrated mainstream critic Paulene Kael, who apparently wandered into the New York grindhouse cinema showing the movie in search of some token "blaxploitation", take out a lengthy diatribe against this shocking slavery-themed film (which remains banned in Italy). Jacopetti took public pride in his visionary nihilistic attitude to life and his contempt for humanity. Some felt this was a public image but one incident may just summarize the attitude of the exploitation auteur: in Hong Kong to do a filmic "expose", he was arrested in his hotel room with two young girls, one ten and the other eleven. He did three months for pedophilic activity but when questioned later incomprehensibly admitted no wrong doing, saying merely, "the two girls were prostitutes and I paid!".

[Drifter]

Another Encounter with the Infamous Mr. Charm
Director Richard Fleischer had realized his unfavourable impressions of Charles Bronson at a social level. But during the filming of Mr. Majestyk (with Bronson as a watermelon farmer), the director had another cause to be concerned. Director, cast and crew were out on a road preparing to film when news came that the production trucks would be delayed. With nothing to do, the American film crew relaxed and started to leisurely pass the time. Bronson apparently had less patience. Thus, when Fleischer was at one end of the gathering and Bronson at the other, Bronson (a bigger star in Europe at this point than he was in America) shouted to Fleischer that this foulup would not happen with a European crew. The American crew were not impressed at the insinuation and later threatened to resign en masse. Fleischer had to plead with them not to. They returned to work but gave Bronson the proverbial cold shoulder for the remainder of the shoot. Bronson later remarked to the director that this was one of the rare film shoots where much of the crew were not on a first name basis with him. Bronson apparently believed that it was not contempt, but respect.

[Frozen Orange]

poor mae west thoughtn she could casually stroll into the role of the the sexy seductress even though she hadnt made a film for eight years and before that 27 years. Filmed when she was 85, sextette(1977) was the dying gasp of a hollywood legend. Her lines were fed to her through an earpeice, she has a walking stick hidden under her long dress, she sings a very dodgy duet with timothy dalton, she somehow managed to get some bizarre cameos out of ringo starr, keith moon and alice cooper and to top it all off her lines are just innuendos usually borrowed from her other movies. no one wants to hear an eighty five year old woman saying things like "ooh, the british are coming" with a sexy smile on her face that just looks disturbing what with the tape under the wig stretching her face so no wrinkles are visible and the pounds of makeup lathered on to try and make her look at least acceptable. Most of the actors were not aware of her phsical and mental condition when they signed up and those still alive pretty much disown it. Ringo tried to buy his way out with no luck. the only good thing is it was filmed in soft focus with tons of vaseline on the lens so you dont really get to see how close to death she was. Funny and really sad all at the same time. :o

[Drifter]

The Less Bein' Said About That, the Better

Actress Louise Brooks became a distinctive icon of the flapper era, her silent films still attracting a virtual legion of film-buff devotees. She had a quality that transcended popular American cinema, attracting the attention of European filmmakers until she eventually gravitated in the late 1920s to Europe to make films, bravely abandoning a Hollywood contract. In her memoirs, she recounts her work with actress Alice Roberts on the German masterpiece Pandora's Box. The two women had to dance a seductive, suggestive tango together when Roberts strongly balked, objecting to its "overtones". Director G.W.Pabst had to reassure her by saying that she would not be seducing Brooks (or her character) but would be seducing him, seated off-camera. Thus, in these shots, Roberts apparently did not look at Brooks at all but at Pabst (and the camera) instead. Some critics would interpret this scene as Roberts' character's attempts to seduce a presumed female spectator (hailed as an innovative and even radical stylistic decision by Pabst): however, it was a complication that the British and American censors of the time avoided by excising the scene altogether.

[Drifter]

Sink Sank Sunk
Few film flops have the peculiar distinction of Raise the Titanic. Although UK producer Lew Grade (who seemingly will sadly be known forever to England's loftier critics as "Low" Grade) had been offered the screen rights to the Clive Cussler novel, he initially declined. However, sometime later, he envisioned that the lead character, named Dirk Pitt, could potentially be a rival to James Bond, and optioned the screen rights, intending an epic action film. After numerous script re-writes, the immense production budget soon escalated when the original director left, citing the usual "creative differences". In addition, the scale model of the Titanic built for the film proved too big to be accomodated by any exisiting water tank. Eventually, modifications were made to one such tank in Malta. However, the water pressure was now so great that the model submersibles needed for certain scenes were crushed. Finally completed, the film was so rushed into release that no pre-screening could be arranged to judge whether any changes should have been made. Cussler so admired the film that he vowed never again to sell the screen rights to one of his novels. Indeed, Raise the Titanic proved so great a critical and box-office flop that Lew Grade later remarked that it would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic.

[Drifter]

The Only True American Auteur
Alan Smithee: the director credit that makes viewers cringe. For those who may not know, Alan Smithee is not a real person. The name is the great Hollywood director's out-clause. If the studio butchers your film beyond recognition, if creative differences have compromised your vision, you don't have to put your real name to the released film, you can go with the established pseudonym for such situations - Alan Smithee. A lot of good directors have gone by this alias - John Frankenheimer, Sidney Lumet, Dennis Hopper, Stuart Rosenberg - and it was just a matter of time before Hollywood decided to make a self-referential satire about the Smithee ethos. Hence, controversial scripter Joe Eszterhas duly delivered his screenplay for An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn. Veteran director Arthur Hiller was impressed and directed the film. However, he soon fought with Eszterhas over the eventual shape of the movie. Eszterhas had sufficient clout with the producers and had Hiller's version reshaped to suit his own vision. The producers preferred Eszterhas' cut. Hiller was distraught and did the inevitable - he petitioned to have his name removed from the credits. Thus, An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn came to be directed by none other than Alan Smithee.