A Constant Forge Page #14

and he's worried about -

That's John, you see.

I can't stand all this nonsense

about sex not being dirty.

If it's not dirty, what is it?

I even like it sloppy.

I like it sloppy. I like it clean.

Sloppy. Clean.

I can't stand all this nonsense

about sex not being dirty.

I like it dirty. I like it sloppy.

I like it clean, dirty, sloppy, happy.

I love it clean.

I love it dirty.

I love it sloppy.

I love it clean, dirty, sloppy.

I just love it!

What do you want, dirty or sloppy?

Sloppy or dirty?

They always talk about

what you can bring to the character.

But if they only knew what the character

can bring to you for the rest of your life...

when you understand something

that you didn't before -

You never look at things again

quite the same way.

Babies, come on.

Come on, babies.

Come on, sweethearts.

Come on.

Come on. Come on.

That's it.

Come on.

Vroom!

I loved Mabel.

I can't see a woman...

waiting for children at a bus stop

to this day...

without thinking of Mabel

and what's she's doing.

Whoo-hoo!

Look who won.

Maybe Maria didn't learn it in Faces...

but I learned it a little bit

about my own life.

I thought you just had problems.

So each actor takes something

away with them...

that's enriched their own life...

having been with John.

This is a, uh -

a room we built ourselves.

This is part of the set.

You know?

And this is, uh,

a chandelier palace.

That's a hallway, a staircase.

And I'll show you where...

the most important part of our work

is accomplished.

Not in the house, but in here.

John pioneered

another view of filmmaking.

I wouldjust call it

family filmmaking.

He would have these readings

at his house, and he would make pasta...

and everybody was invited.

The uncles and the mothers,you know-

everybody was there.

And if anybody had

a little difficulty...

or a child was in the room

needing attention...

there was no question -

the reading took very much last place.

Anybody would be interrupted

to take care of the baby.

It was a very great lesson for me.

Great lesson.

When I was a kid,

we used to play a game called...

"Your mother wears army shoes. "

When Faces was being put together...

John had scripted out

some material...

and he basicallyjust rounded up...

all of the unemployed

actors and friends...

people who basically were willing

to work for nothing...

work for the love of it.

He used his own house as the set.

It required six months of filming.

There was always food.

There was always something to drink.

There was always stories.

It was like a picnic...

every day on that set.

It was tiring.

It was frustrating at times.

But it was - it was fun.

Sit down.

We'll just have a couple drinks.

Faces was all hard for me.

It's the first timeJohn and I

had worked in this manner.

I was pregnant

and not feeling very well.

What I really remember is going

around and around in that dance...

and being so sick.

Fa, la, la,la, la

la, la, la, la

- What are you doing?

- 'Tis the season to bejolly

Fa, la, la, la, la

la, la, la, la

She was trying to live in that house...

with all of these people

in her house all the time.

Sometimes she'd come down to get

something to eat out of the refrigerator...

and she'd be in a mink coat,

barefooted...

just coming in and just -

"The baby needs something to eat. "

She's about out to here

with this big mink coat around her.

With our movies

we'd all go see the dailies...

and if we wanted to, we could go in

with the editing and watch that anytime.

Then we'd all sit around

and talk about the posters - all of us...

so you didn't have that drop-off.

And then we'd go out

and put the posters up too.

In Faces, I can honestly say...

that the film

would never have been completed -

and it took three years to complete -

if it wasn't for everyone's, uh...

total interest

in the human problem...

not in the film problem.

Film is, to me,just unimportant.

But people are very important.

- Arrivederci.! Ciao.!

- Go on. Beat it.

- "Scusa pleasa. " Bye-bye.

- So long, sucker.

Faces dissects the money culture...

and what business values do to life.

But...

one level below that...

the making of Faces-

the way the movie was made...

dissects the money culture

and the business values oflife by saying...

friends together

helping friends do things for free...

and working in the evenings,

eating supper together...

and doing it for nothing...

can be the ultimate

artistic expression.

So, in a sense his work is of a piece-

how it was made and what it's about

is the same thing.

So we are saying -

with your business!

We're trying to make it

some kind of an art.

Art, meaning that we will enjoy ourselves

and express ourselves freely.

The struggle to make Husbands...

was the beginning of our friendship.

Because it was a struggle,you know.

The money pulled out.

We stuck together.

If we hadn't stuck together,

that picture would never have been made.

The picture was made

with so much love, passion...

and a lot of duress.

Now, listen to this.

About six weeks, seven weeks into the making

of Opening Night- had to close it down.

He had no money.

And he said to me, "I understand if you -

You gotta work, you gotta work. "

And nobody took another job.

We waited for him to get the money.

And in three weeks,

he got the money.

Of course,John, being in a struggle

to make his films...

he also wanted to be in a struggle,

'cause if it's too easy it won't be as good.

He believed in limitation

being inspiration to quality and art.

He worked under constant limitation-

money, time, resources, everything.

And yet look at what he did.

He didn't need a penny more.

One time he said-

We used to steal shots in New York.

I had a friend who had a taxicab...

and I'd go down in my car...

and we'd stop and we'd photograph

some pedestrians on the street...

some buildings off the sidewalk...

and the cops would come,

and we'd throw the camera into the cab...

and the cab would take off.

Go around the block and the cops

would say, "What are you doing?"

"We're just sightseeing, Officer. "

"Well, move along. "

You know, so -

That's how they would steal their shots.

Money has nothing to do with a film...

and I think it really, in the end...

kills you from being creative...

and from inventing.

You know? Finding a way to do it

makes you think.

It was about what he wanted

to say, and he didn't care about the money.

It's very hard, in today's world,

for people to really get that point.

John Cassavetes

was not motivated by money.

Where's Sam?

Good going, Sammy.!

Not on his films.

He was motivated on money on other films

to take the money and put it into his films.

Everybody got a piece of

the action- the baker, the milkman.

Because he couldn't pay his bills,

so he'djust give 'em a point.

And he was honest.

We all made money.

I signed a cocktail napkin one night...

saying I'll allow you to do anything

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