A Constant Forge Page #11

But it also allows you such freedom -

freedom to do

and freedom not to do.

It's over.

And willingness to fail.

I know that much about life.

There is no such thing as failure.

It's only an opportunity to learn.

His gut is always involved

in what he's done.

He's exposed himself to the limit...

so everybody else exposes themself.

You just want so much to know...

what's that little secret he's holding

behind those really rascally eyes.

And I think the only way

that actors were gonna find out...

were if they actually went there too.

With John,you could do no wrong.

The only wrong you could do was to not

bring something to the floor, to be lazy.

That's the only wrong you could do.

You could stand on your head

when you're not supposed to.

He'd laugh. He'd love it that you took a chance.

You could do no wrong.

Hey! Hey! Hey!

Wait! Get that damn curtain up

right this minute! Get it up!

Get that curtain up right now.!

No argument.! Get it up.!

Up.! Up.!

Up!

Humiliating!

Oh,yeah,yeah,yeah,yeah

On Faces

I was so anxious to act...

thatJohn wrapped right away.

We rehearsed it once, he says,

"I don't feel like working. Al, let's wrap it. "

And I went - I'm panicking.

Wh-What?

John just said, "Wrap.

Get serious, Seymour.

Go home. "

And walked away with him.

The next day I came in -

I come in, I do the scene, I jump up

and grab the beam and everything -

John said, "Wrap.

I don't care.

We're not shooting this crap. "

Now I'm beginning to panic

and I'm thinking, "Oh,Jesus, I'm terrible. "

And the problem was

that I wasn't relaxed.

I was so anxious to act

after two and a half months...

of everybody else acting

and being so great -

Marley and Lynn, you know.

And I'm going - I came out like,

"Oh! I love you! I wanna -"

I was so terrible that, uh -

thatJohn, rather than saying,

"You suck, you stink"...

he said, "Screw it. Let's wrap. "

But we had the luxury of doing that.

So, on the fourth day we came in...

and you could tell there was

a sea change in Seymour.

Hejust suddenly had a grip

on his character...

that fit into the scene

with the other players.

I just got a little loose with it

and wejust started to roll.

It was fun from then on...

once I stopped trying to do it

and just have fun with it and be it.

Oh! Come on, now. Cry.

That's it. That's life, honey.

Tears -Tears are happiness, man.

Just do it.

Come on, now. Ohh.

You silly nut.

He knew how deep

he could go inside you...

and had the ability to bring it

out of each person differently.

I don't know how he did that, but he knew

when it was false, when it wasn't ringing true...

and somehow he could,

without really saying it to you-

maybe by changing something,

maybe by...

giving Dorothy that kiss...

trigger something or bring it out.

It was his genius that allowed people

to take risks, to be better.

He just had that way.

You just didn't want to hurt him

in any way...

by being less

than he thought of you.

You must go all the way

all the time.

Don't give up at all.

Don't pull back at all.

If you pull back one second,

you'll start to disappoint yourself.

I think he worked with people

like a chemistry set. You know?

And when he got the mixture...

that -

went and bubbled in the test tube -

And that was very painstaking

and took-

However long it took is what it took,

and that's the way he wanted it to work.

However long it needed to take

is what it took.

John played lots

oflittle games with his actors...

to get them into this

very special place where...

life and art overlapped.

There's a famous line in Opening Night

where Sarah Goode...

the writer in the film...

gives advice to Myrtle Gordon.

You see,

there's Act I, Act II, Act III.

All you have to do

is say the lines clearly...

and with a degree of feeling.

And then the -

Virginia will appear.

Oh.

Now the goddamn tears.

Anyone who has any

familiarity with John's methods-

has thought about the films deeply-

realizes that there could be

nothing further from John's own beliefs.

We were at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium

on Opening Night.

There was a scene in the movie

that was a stage play in rehearsal.

There were six actors onstage.

John just wasn't getting what he wanted

from them, and they couldn't break out of it.

We did take after take after take.

I was mixing the sound

at that point on the show...

and I was re - I had to reload.

I was out of tape.

And he went ballistic.

He went absolutely ballistic, like I had just

thrown a baseball bat through the camera lens.

But he went so over the top

that it scared everybody.

I mean, he turned purple.

The audience-

You could have heard a pin drop.

And then he finally stopped raging

on the stage.

He was just fed up with it all.

You know?

"Get your technical sh*t together.!"

Then he walks over to the actors,

puts his arm around 'em and apologizes.

"I'm really sorry. I can't -

"All this technical -

Do you have another one?

Can we try it again?"

And he had 'em.

Within the next take or two, it was

a done deal. We were on to the next thing.

He had ways to shake

the very ground you were standing on.

He got you to do

exactly what he wanted you to do...

but he made you think it was your idea

and, of course,you enjoyed it.

Things that he would give you...

as you would work through scenes

and things like that...

would actually get you going somewhat

where you'd surprise yourself.

It's when you're really

saying something that people can hurt you.

When you're not saying anything,

no one can hurt you.

I'll just show you something.

And you don't have any responsibility, love.

I just want you to see this.

A quick crash study. Right?

"So you got married again. "

Just laugh at it.

Just laugh for 30 seconds and then do the

whole thing. See if you can carry it through.

"Found love to be

a painful experience. " All right.

I've found love

to be a painful experience.

So you got married again.

- You're damn right I got married again.

- Thirty seconds, now.

- No, no.

- Yes, yes, yes.

- No, no, no, no, no.

- Yes, yes.

Seymour and I kiss.

I remember he...

said something -

"No, no, no, don't eat him alive.

Just -" You know.

And he said...

"Have you ever kissed a black man?"

1960- "Of course not.

No. Of course not. "

And he said,

"Well, pretend Seymour's black...

"and this is the first time

you've ever been that close...

"to a black person.

"Look at his skin and feel him

and touch him.

Touch his hair

and look at his eyes and -"

And it made a difference.

A great difference.

In Shadows,

Tony's coming on to Lelia...

and Lelia's flirting

and half resisting.

Lelia told me

thatJohn had scripted that scene...

but for some reason

provided the script to her...

only that very morning

that they were filming.

In other words, more or less

handed it to her and said...

"I'm sorry it's late, but we'll just have to

film it right now. Glance at your lines. "

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