Cinema Canada (Dec 1979-Jan 1980)

IN PROGRES... Your Ticket Is No Longer Valid d. George Kaczender asst. d. Charles Braive sc. Leila Basen, lan McLellan Hunter from the novel by Romain Gary ph. Miklos Lente ed. Peter Sintonick sd. Richard Lightstone p. designer Claude Bonniére unit pub. Lana Iny pub. David Novek cost. Julie Ganton I.p. Richard Harris, Jeanne Moreau, George Peppard, Jennifer Dale, Winston Rekert, George Touliatos, Alexandra Stewart exec p. Robert Halmi p. Robert Lantos, Stephen J. Roth assoc. p. Wendy Grean p. manager Lyse Lafontaine p.c. R.S.L. Films Ltd. col. 35 mm. On the sunken dance floor, they appear to be filming ‘Disco Runs Amok’ as the glittering patrons of an exclusive nightclub boogie and gyrate to the sounds of perfect silence. Fantasies of a plot about the kidnapping of Donna Summers vocal cords begin to shimmy beneath the permutable grid of pulsing, dizzying lights. The movie, though, is Your Ticket is No Longer Valid, and the elegant extras can shake, but must not rustle, their booty so that Richard Harris and George Peppard can run through their scene with proper sound recording. The ‘art decadent’ disco setting is Jim Daley’s (Peppard) private nightclub cum business lair in Paris where, as “Europe's fourth richest man,” he wheels and deals with partner Jason Ogilvy (Harris) and other nabobs. The scene being shot (though not mortally wounded) is rather innocuous and will serve to establish the relationship between the two men. After first A.D. and chief martinet Charles Braive scolds the dancers again because sound mixer Richard Lighstone can still hear them whispering during takes, the camera_is readied once more. Daley introduces his fiancee Maryvonne (Michelle Martin) to Ogilvy who offers the couple a drink. Daley refuses, saying “I’m off the stuff. It affects my frequency, if you know what I mean.” He, evidently, is not referring to how often alcohol sends him knock-kneed to the bathroom. Daley then adds, though, “I jumped on her bones three times last night.” Maryvonne is caught off guard but, composing herself, coos that she’ll “never forget last night.” Unimpressed by her performance at the table and by his own in bed, he sneers “You lying little c..t”? and sends her away. It takes an hour for the crew to set up, and when everyone and everything is in its proper place, a modified fire extinguisher spews a smoky haze (quite the role reversal !) over the club to ‘enhance’ the sordidness of the atmosphere. Peppard relaxes between takes, but Harris is easily animated or distracted. One moment, he begins to dance as he watches the extras go through their paces, the next, yawns just off camera. After laughing raucously during a run-through, he solemnly promises not to crack up when the camera is rolling. Six takes later, director George Kaczender and director of photography Mik Jenniter Vale and Winston Kekert in Your Ticket is No Longer Valid ...Keally/ los Lente are satisfied, but the cameras roll again to prepare a T.V. version... Now, instead of Peppard jumping those pliable bones, he and his friend have ‘made love.’ And he no longer dismisses her with an extremely offensive epithet like ‘c..t.’ She is now merely a “lying, little tart.” The film, based on Romain Gary’s novel (with screenplay by Leila Basen and Ian McLellan Hunter), has not been pre-sold to T.V., but producers Stephen J. Roth and Robert Lantos of RSL Films know the market, and are confidently preparing for an eventual network deal. Although the previously quoted dialogue centres on Peppard’s character, the film’s leading figure is Harris’ Ogilvy. Its prime concern is his descent into madness as he begins to fail in business and romantic affairs. Paradoxically, his decline Cinema Canada/3