Cinema Canada (Sep 1979)

doesn’t have time to take care of everyone and everything.” First assistant director, Avdé Chiriaeff, was less severe. “When Fournier does it all, he’s anxious to work. It’s also faster than explaining things to 25 people, in two different languages. Claude’s old school: small budgets, small crews. Then, over-specialization was a liability.” Fournier, 20 years a cameraman, explained, “It’s the only way to see what the actors are doing, the only way to get what you want.” Last year he tried the more traditional way of directing but found he spent too much time explaining. He! was being surprised — not always pleasantly. “I’m after the story, not beautiful pictures. The audience doesn’t care about beauty, but what tells the story.” As for doing everything, “It’s fun and it helps to ‘decompress.” The production is as bilingual as a box of breakfast cereal. When Fournier shouts, ‘“‘Cut!’’, Cheriaeff echoes, “Coupé!” Although like bus drivers shouting, “Rue Peel, Peel Street,” not all cast or crew members are bilingual. The first cameraman, JeanMarie Buquet, according to Ms. Ray mond, ‘the best focus-puller in the business,” doesn’t know -a word of English. Fournier said, “It causes a bit of uneasiness in the actors. When crew members speak French, the (monolingual English) actors think it concerns them, especially after a take when they are looking for approval. But nothing drastic has arisen. It does mean explaining things two or three times.” Nevertheless, on sked Harry reams clean and Pilon piles on. But the last quote belongs to Ms. Raymond, “The rushes are very nice. “We, and the actors, too, will have to wait ’til Christmas or later for a peek and hopefully a giggle.” Doug Isaac Happy Birthday Gemini p. Alan King, Rupert Hitzig co-p. Bruce Colman d. Richard Benner ph. Jim Kelly ed. Donald Ginsberg art. d. Ted Watkins sd. Ingrid Cusiel sc. Richard Benner based on the play Gemini by Albert Innaurato lp. Rita Moreno, Madeline Kahn, Robert Viharo, Sara Holcomb, Tim Jenkins, David Grant, Alan Rosenberg. p.c. Birthday Productions. Happy Birthday Gemini began shooting in Toronto on June 20th and should have wrapped on August 3rd. Thursday, August 9th, the crew is setting up to do a major scene in an alley just off King and Bathurst — a week behind schedule and so far over their two million dollar budget that nobody’s keeping up the polite fiction of calling it ‘“‘a little over” or “slightly over.” There have been some problems. What they are depends on whom you listen to. Lisa Wilder, demon continuity woman, blames the weather. In a film with a lot of night exteriors, where every night brings its own blend of clear skies, cloud and rain, the need for matching backgrounds is served by standing and waiting. Gemini is a union film: waiting at night costs money. Happy Birthday Gemini is the property of executive producers Alan King (the comedian) and Rupert Hitzig. They took the original play, a howling success on Broadway, to director Richard Ben ner (Outrageous), who adapted Albert Innaurato’s script for the screen. Release will be through United Artists. The story, as. recounted by Lisa Wilder, production manager John Quill and others is this: Francis and Judith were lovers in college. When she and her brother visit him in South Philadelphia Happy Birthday Gemini: a coming-out party of sorts during the summer, she thinks the relationship will continue. But Francis thinks he’s gay. The pressures he feels from Judith and his macho father, Nick, lead him to destroy his 21st birthday party. Judith and her brother leave for California. Nick talks to Francis about the need for friends. Francis chases Judith and her brother down and the three of them go off with his sexual identity still unresolved. The plot also involves Madeline Kahn as Bunny, the neighbourhood glamour girl (somewhat faded), her asthmatic son, Herschel (Tim Jenkins) and Lucille, Nick’s traditional Catholic girlfriend, played by Rita Moreno. Francis is played by Alan Rosenberg, who can be seen in The Wanderers. Sara Holcomb, who plays Judith has appeared in Animal House and Walk Proud. It may not sound like much on paper, but Phil Akin, a bit player in the film who has been involved with the play, says that something happens to it in performance that lifts it well beyond the thin plot line. Phil’s had his own problems with the shoot. He’s been wrapped off the film twice and then called back for shots that had been simply forgotten. He thinks there are major Organizational screw-ups and cites another bit player who’s been through the same thing. The scene is ready to rehearse. It’s Francis telling Judith he’s gay. While Benner runs his actors through blocking, DoP Richard C. Brooks of New York, lines up the shot. Brooks is not the original DoP. He’d been called in two . weeks previously to replace Jim Kelly who had shot Outrageous and who, Cinema Canada/9