Guests at Hannaford's birthday
party aren't just cinema students, fans or mere snoopers.
We must assume that most of the guests
hold a position in the world of cinema. In fact, most of them are,
to a lesser or greater extent, movie celebrities.
This means that we must use genuine
celebrities.
Quite a few of them appear in the
material we have already filmed.
However, there should be more
celebrities in what remains to be filmed. For example, amongst the
Spanish guests there should be real Spanish directors,
intellectuals and serious journalists, particularly avant-garde
individuals.
The same applies to the French, German
and Spanish guests we will be using and perhaps, later on, to the
Italian and English.
I hope that the expense involved in
bringing these representatives from each country to Madrid doesn't
put you off. To the extent that these expenses might favorably
contribute to the possibilities of launching the coproduction and
making it a reality, they will obviously be worthwhile.
But there are other
solutions...
a) In the case of genuine worldwide
celebrities, instead of bringing them here, we can go to them,
wherever they might be.
We would only need Gary Graver and an
assistant for the camera, lighting & sound to take close-ups of
these personalities (the background wouldn't be visible… we would
put two guys shrouded in semidarkness behind them. Using 16mm, we
would film a couple of good sentences uttered by the famous
character in question, finish the job and leave the very same
day).
b) No need to pay, obviously... At
this level of importance, the movie directors -and even the
appropriate movie stars- will be delighted to appear in what we all
have reason to believe will be an important film (why shouldn't we
have Fellini, Godard, Bertolucci, or even peripheral though
interesting personalities like John Lennon, if we approach them in
a seductive manner with the spirit of making a
documentary?).
c) Journalists
In the media there are few brilliant
personalities. These guys are always delighted to sneak in front of
a movie camera, especially if someone like myself is behind it. The
best thing about it is that it gives them a good excuse to nab an
exclusive story and interview.
By carefully selecting our journalists
(and with the help of adequate public relations people in each
country) we might get huge exposure in the newspapers and magazines
around the world. This implies allocating special funds in the
budget for such a purpose, but the reward, in terms of the interest
generated by our movie, would definitely be worthwhile...After all,
the media is cynically used to having free access to filming
sessions of interesting films. But the invitation for them to act
in a significant and artistic movie, in which their observations
might carry weight and be of specific interest, will be a
temptation few, or none, of them will be able to resist.
Important Note
It must be realized that these special
appearances (of film-makers and journalists from different
nationalities) do not require the presence of Huston in the same
setting (assuming that it is he who will play the role of
Hannaford) nor, obviously, the presence of any other leading actor.
Accordingly, we could organize brief trips to Rome, Paris, Munich,
London or wherever, as totally independent documentary expeditions,
with Gary in charge, plus a Spanish assistant camera and me once
the main shooting is finished.
As for bringing journalists from
Spain, which could have important effects in terms of advertising,
this is, of course, another issue that would be covered by the
special budget for advertising which I mentioned earlier. However,
only very important media should be selected (Paris-Match, Stern,
The Sunday Times, Figaro) and the journalists should be kept apart
from each other so they think they are each getting their own
exclusive scoop. Thus and for this sole purpose, we should get an
advertising agent or executive with real international experience,
not for the whole movie but for special events... perhaps we should
use different people for the different countries
envisaged.
Naturally, I leave the purely Spanish
aspect of this operation to you. But, of course, the same terms
& conditions will be applied to Spain as to other countries,
although, of course, we will be more generous as to the number of
Spanish journalists involved and the amount of time allocated to
them. [...]
ORSON WELLES
(Producer Andrés Vicente Gómez with
the actors and actresses during a filming break)