Take One (Jan 1979)

DePalma: “We needed some Harley Davidsons for one scene, and wanted to get them free, if possible. We phoned a motorcycle club and the whole gang ended up coming around. The head of the club auditioned for the part of the brute, ‘Murf’. There was a scene of him raping Nancy, the female lead. It started to go on and on, and I finally said cut, cut. I told him not to be quite so real.” Producer Jack Temchin: “Brian made me tell him he couldn't play the part, with 15 of the guy’s friends hanging around listening.” CLARE LTA SEER. WS A didn’t take it too seriously. But then we got some very prestigious people to ultimately invest in the movie, so Hollywood got interested. I was one of the largest investors, and I brought people in with me. Jack Temchin and Gil Adler, who had produced the play El grande de Coca-Cola, came in. They raised half the money and I raised half the money, and we were like executive producers. What were the rules of the game about involving your name? I tried to use my name as little as The Cast Dennis Byrd.... Keith Gordon James Byrd .... Gerrit Graham Rristing: 364353 Nancy Allen DP BYIG: ix rine Vincent Gardenia Mrs. Byrd...... Mary Davenport Or; Tuttles...204. Kirk Douglas SO LRP Se es "Dy = to oe # possible because I thought it would affect working conditions. If the students were doing their own movie, they wouldn't have that kind of clout. When we finally got a script together, we put ads in Show Business and Backstage and had casting calls. We saw hundreds and hundreds of actors off the street, and we didn’t use my name in advertising. But as casting went on, I got into trouble. I needed professional help. A young casting director, Scott Rudin, called up and offered to help us. He brought in some really good actors, and we finally cast his discovery, Keith Gordon, as the young boy lead in Home Movies. Keith is also in Jaws II. Then Kirk Douglas called up and said, “Maybe I can help you out.” I sent the script to him and he wanted to play a part. Our people were all excited: Kirk Douglas in our first picture! Then I used some actors from my other films, like Nancy Allen from Carrie and Garret Graham who had done Greetings, Hi, Mom! and Phantom of the Paradise, Vincent Gardenia came to me through Jack Temchin, and Mary Davenport from Sisters. And that sort of made up the cast. And the production staff? One kid had assisted me on a couple of films, had done gaffing on low-budget productions, and wanted to be a cameraman. I made him director of photography. He brought some kids with him from California and the group lived in the dorms at Sarah Lawrence. One kid who had been following me around Chicago became an assistant director. One writer became my assistant, another became a grip, another became head of costumes, another head of casting. A kid from North Carolina who had brought me out to talk to his cinema class became one of the student producers. All the kid producers were unbelievable. They were just running everything, making deals, heading the production company, handling the money. Art direction was very good. This kid dressed the set and came up with really good ideas. What happened was an educational experience. The sort of openness and democratic beginning evolved into a real professional shooting unit. A kind of pecking order of authority figures emerged in order to get things done efficiently. What about direction of Home Movies? I tried to let the students direct and write as much as possibly could be done. The irony of it was that we got involved in hundreds of thousands of dollars. It was money which outlined our creative parameters and our flexibility. I had to step in and make sure it all worked. It’s so important to make this film a success. Otherwise this kind of film will never be done again. How much was directed by others? Some shots, a couple of small scenes. About one twentieth was directed by the kids. I wouldn’t be surprised if you couldn’t tell what was not directed by me. Each week there were new student directors. I would assign them if I felt they could handle what was to be done. The biggest problem was that the actors were professionals and felt uneasy with student directors. Did you have a second unit? I planned a second unit running all the time, directed totally by the kids. But we couldn’t possibly do it. We just didn’t have the personnel. We needed all our people right where they were. Were there students who dropped the course or were angry because Home