A Constant Forge Page #16

theatrical experiences I've ever had...

and I saw a lot of great

Broadway productions in the '50s...

from Kazan's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

orJerome Guthrie's Matchmaker.

And right up there is John Cassavetes'

stage production of Love Streams.

Right before we started running...

a lot of money was offered toJohn

to videotape each of the plays for cable...

which was in the very early stages then-

a lot of money.

But he had that integrity

and that conviction...

like a bull...

to just say, "No, this is

what we're doing. Remember?"

He turned it down.

He knew that money changed

the intention of everything.

Now I know he was right.

John spent about $ 70,000...

to put on these three plays...

'cause he wanted to see 'em.

He was interested.

Imagination

Is funny

It makes a cloudy day

Sunny

Hollywood is not failing-it has failed.

Filmmaking cannot survive

without individual expression.

Motion pictures cannot be made to please

the producer's image of the public.

Without individual creative expression...

we are left with a medium

of irrelevant fantasies...

that can add nothing

to an already diversified world.

The answer cannot be left

in the hands of the moneymen...

for their desire to accumulate

material success...

is probably the reason

they entered filmmaking in the first place.

The answer must come

from the artist himself.

He must become aware

that the fault is his own...

that art and the respect

due his vocation as an artist...

is his own responsibility.

- Fabulous place.

- Thanks.

He was the first

real independent since Orson.

People say they're independent,

they're mavericks. That's bullshit.

John was the real thing.

He used his own money.

He didn't take sh*t from anybody.

The independent movement

owes a lot toJohn Cassavetes.

He gave a lot to me,

as far as what I do -

the courage to make a movie and not worry

about whether anybody ever saw it...

or that actually the shooting of it

and the making of it is why you did it.

You didn't do it

for any other reason.

What happens to artists is that, uh -

It's not that somebody's

standing in their way.

It's that their own selves

are standing in their ways.

And the whole idea, to me,

and to the people that we work with...

is to find some kind of, um,

personal truth...

some kind of, uh, revelation.

That's why when we try

to work on a story...

we work on a story that, uh -

that has some kind of a meaning

that we don't quite understand.

I always say to people trying

to raise money for independent films...

it's very much like hitchhiking,

and I hitchhiked throughout the '60s and '70s.

It can be the first ride that comes along

or the 3,000th ride that comes along...

but you have to know

when not to get in the car.

It's the tragedy

of the American filmmaker...

that some of our best

become our worst.

That wasn't the case with John

because he never sold the farm.

Truth is something

you need to work for...

'cause otherwise

you don't appreciate it.

In life,John told me-

He said, "You see this house?"

I said, "Yeah. It's a nice house. "

He said, "You know when I bought it?"

"Yeah, when you were doing Johnny Staccato. "

He said,

"Right. It cost $50,000. "

"It's, uh, worth a lot more than that. "

He said, "No. Every time I made a movie,

I got a second mortgage. I refinanced.

I still owe $50,000."

He couldn't be anything

other than what he was...

because he was on a journey.

People who owe money.

That's the worst sin in the world.

Here's to the biggest sin in the world -

people that owe money.

Money is the last

refuge of people who've been scared by life...

whose only way to survive is to acquire

as much money and power as they can...

to protect themselves.

But from what?

The more you have, the more difficult it is

to find out what really matters...

and to get it for yourself.

When John said,

"I'd rather work in a sewer...

than make a picture that I didn't like, "

that was true.

I mean, I can seeJohn

getting up in the morning...

and having to go make a film...

that he thought -

"I don't like this picture.

Got a lot of plot in it. "

I can see him getting up and saying,

"Oh, I'm gonna go work in a sewer today.

There'll be a lot of guys down there-"

That's true.

He would much rather do that.

He was excited about

being the way he was.

Even if it meant hardships

here and there...

I don't think he was ever

tempted to trade it out.

We'll put a year in for no money,

for no anything...

simply because there's an expression

that has to be said.

Now, we don't have

any reverence for this expression.

We don't believe it's a church.

We have to have a good time,

otherwise we die.

John's excitement

was palpable and contagious.

I mean, in life and on the set.

He was like that about everything.

- I love you!

- Just so much fun...

and so exciting and so dear,

you know.

He was like a force of nature.

I am so strong,you can't believe it.!

Unstoppable.

Aaah! Aaah! I am Superman!

Cassavetes was unique in many ways.

It's obviously what he was

as a human being...

that makes his films

so alive and so interesting.

He dealt with such heavy,

emotional subjects and things...

that sometimes I find now,

for people who didn't know him...

that they think he would be

kind of a moody...

um, you know, unhappy sort of thing.

On the contrary, he had

the most energy-positive energy-

of anyone you've ever known...

and he was a very happy person.

That's all!

That's the end of the show!

We have no more to say!

Have a good time! Enjoy yourselves!

Joyful.

Absolutely joyful.

I mean, people think

this is an intense, gloomy guy.

Not at all.

If you went up toJohn's house,

he'd be playing backgammon...

or one-on-one basketball...

or arguing how tall Cassius Clay was.

He insisted he was 5'11 ".

Oh, yeah!

He said, "I was in London,

I stood next to him. He's 5'11 "."

I said, "No,John, he's 6'3"."

He loved that.

He loved mischief.

- But that's what Socrates said.

- No -

That's the kind of stupid thinking

that I can't stand.

Socrates didn't say that.

That's why I told you to read about him.

- He did say that.

- Because you know nothing about him.

You make any assumption you want...

and every damn lawyer in the world

has made that assumption forever.

Whatever you do is right

as long as you can get off.

- Who said that?

- That's Socrates.

- Socrates said that?

- Yeah.

- You see? You're ignorant.

- I am ignorant, but I have feelings.

Nobody says you don't.

I'm not a dead man like all the rest

of the people that believe...

that everything

that benefits them is right.

John would constantly be trying

to get something going...

between anybody in the room

he could get going.

There's actually

a witty little line in Faces...

where the women all agree with Chettie

once they're all gathered together...

in Maria Forst's living room.

Chettie says, "Great.

Now we all agree. What next?"

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