Cinema Canada (Oct-Nov 1974)

If we hadn’t sold Christina, we wouldn’t be making Journey Into Fear. I would say if we didn’t sell Journey Into Fear, we wouldn’t make whatever the next picture is, and so on. But gradually we shall come into making two films a year, and instead of using 300 extras, we'll use 600. Instead of only 15 bit parts, instead of just speaking parts, they’ll be in featured roles. Theoretically, our local actors — if there are some good ones here who come to the surface — will gradually be brought into star roles and they'll be names. Unfortunately, if we do create a demand for that actor, before he can be brought into a star role, he will be absorbed and swallowed by the Americans. The only way to forestall that would be to put him under contract right away, which we would of course do. How do Canadian scripters shape up? A script is a funny thing. In the world at this moment, there are probably 2,000,000. Some are excellent, some are crap. But I’ve found that a script has to have a plus — in other words, there has to be a wad of money attached to it — or there has to be a great director who wants to direct it — or there has to be a terrific actor who’d love to play init — ora great distributor who wants to push it... it has to have a plus with it. You just don’t make a film because it’s a script. The pieces have to initially fall into play. There are too many other bricks you have to put into place as well as building a very basic foundation. So, if somebody (who is a great writer) comes to me with a wonderful script, I’ll look at it. I wouldn’t say I wouldn’t take it normally ... I would look at it and see if there was a plus in it, but I would always look for that plus before making a decision just to take it. There are good Canadian writers, but they all go south of the line. You still believe that British Columbia is ideal country for feature filming? Yes, for many reasons. One, the extraordinary country. The varied terrain — deserts, mountains, rivers, and fjords — any country can be shot here... We’re duplicating scenes we took in Greece, Italy and Turkey for Journey Into Fear. And then there are the plusses ... in Christina, we shot one exciting scene from a downtown store being wrecked. This country has all kinds of extravagant sets for filming. Your experiences overseas were not entirely happy, I understand. We had our problems. I think the fact of the Greek change of government being imminent made it jumpy. It was a frightening experience ... But it is an example of how they behaved toward everybody. They have become a very arrogant people, I found. Very arrogant indeed. They knew that what I was doing was not wrong, and they realised they’d made a mistake, but they wouldn’t back down and apologise. You see, I had a letter of credit from the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce for $250,000. I changed $10,000 into drachmas, gave five thousand to my production manager, and intended using the rest to meet necessary expenses. I always pay out, receive a chit, and put it in my brief case, and as my accountant hadn’t arrived, I had a few dollars paid out, when we got an emergency call from Istanbul. Anyway, we got our tickets, I closed the brief case, and we rushed to the airport. We got our seats, got to the customs and I was asked how much money I had. I said, “About $5,000.’ The customs officer said, “Would you step this way’’, and took me into a little back room with two fellow officers, and asked if I would open the briefcase. When they saw the money, they went mad. The long shot was they accused me of trying to take money illegally out of Greece. I explained I brought the money in — I showed them the letter of credit — good in practically all countries. They took me down to the police station and charged me. They wouldn’t let my production manager Bob Linnel anywhere near me. I explained I would be spending something Sam Waterston like $125,000 in their country in a week. That I was merely going to Istanbul for the day and would be back that night. They insisted I had perpetrated a criminal offence... I had to get a lawyer ...I would have to go to jail. We went before the Public Prosecutor — he said it was clearly a case for the courts ... “You go to jail!” I said this is ridiculous! For a minor misunderstanding? There is no such thing as bail in Greece... This isn’t America... This isn’t Canada... Their attitude was very nasty. “We don’t deal like you do.” . . . “‘We’re not idiots like you.” . .. That was their attitude! Outside, the policeman said, “I don’t want to do this — but if I don’t take you in to jail, I'll get fined 600 drachmas.. .” My lawyer whispered to me, and we gave him a thousand drachmas ... and went back to the hotel. At 6 o’clock, the phone rang ... it was the policeman. He was going off duty and had to hand me over to his relief ... So I’m paying off another guy. I went to the police station that night and the police chief was too high in the scale to be bribed. He offered to let me stay in the police station if I wanted to. So I spent the night in his office — the Hilton Hotel sent a bed in for me. We waited all the next day before going before the tribunal ... which was like a comic opera. The whole affair was Mickey Mouse ... My lawyer showed the letter of credit, explained what had happened ... The Public Prosecutor said, “‘This is ridiculous ... This man could not possibly be smuggling money out... he’s got ten times that amount... why should he smuggle out five thousand dollars in drachmas?” They dressed the customs man down... The three judges agreed... except one who whispered something, and we were asked to wait outside. In half an hour we were recalled — they said ‘“‘Look, we Cinema Canada 35