A Constant Forge Page #22

I think it was courageous

because what he knew was...

he knew he could make

that kind of a film.

He did make it. He actually screened it.

But that was not enough.

He had to get people annoyed,

provoked, excited.

And, boy, you don't

see that these days.

I believe that if you put it out there truly-

frustration, fear, love, inner life-

people are capable of understanding...

and wanting to understand feelings.

When they're sure

that it's not a mistake...

and when they're sure that you're not

going to double-cross them...

midway in the picture

and go streaking back to plot...

I think they'll watch

with great fascination.

I don't think you go to a play

to forget, or go to a movie to be distracted.

I think life generally is a distraction...

and that going to a movie

is a way to get back, not go away.

Every time you watch his work...

there are so many layers that

just reveal themselves to you...

like a great novel, a - a great painting.

And that again is something

completely unique.

There are very few filmmakers

that have achieved that.

His films only get better. Like all good art...

it just keeps getting better

and richer and deeper...

and probably that's because

we keep getting older.

As we get older,

we understand them more.

John understood a lot

beyond his years.

He saw the dawn about

an hour before everybody else.

He was the most fertile man

that I've ever encountered.

And he didn't have

a copycat bone in his body.

You didn't score a Cassavetes film.

You did music forJohn.

And it scared me

because it had nothing to do...

with anything I'd ever heard before.

It wasn't film music. It was raw.

He fell in love with the innocence.

And that's why he tripped

everybody up all the time.

He didn't want you

to be on a familiar ground.

He didn't want you

to be comfortable.

That was dangerous.

It was death to him.

The lyrics on 'Almost"

are like everything else we did.

They weren't clever.

He'd come into the music room,

and he'djust sit down.

And he'd say, "You got any tape up?"

I'd go, "Yeah. "

And we'd put out a couple of mikes.

I'd be at the piano, or I'd have a guitar

in my lap, and he'd pull a mike down.

He just started spilling out lyric.

"I'm almost in love with you. "

And it happened quickly.

He wrote 95% of the lyric,

maybe 100%...

and wejust shuffled it around

a little bit.

I've been pointed out by people

My name is mud

I've been dreaming all the dreams

And dancing in the evening

Singing in the shower

But nothing seems

To take your place

I'm almost in love with you

I nearly miss you

I've hardly seen you

When I do, I get a feeling that

Something should be there

They came right from his gut...

put a smile on his face,

and he walked out of the room.

John, who had

no musical sense at all.

I mean, he was tone-deaf.

He had no fear.

He'd start... banging on the piano...

with two fingers or something...

to give me a sense of the rage.

Or tinkle -

and it was terrible music...

but he'd - he'd communicate

an idea to you.

I didn't read or write music...

so we worked on that plane.

It was just an artistic bridge.

I listened, he talked.

I played, he listened.

This is the, uh,

first draft for Opening Night...

Talk Thru.

It was quiet

Like the holy night

I was frightened

With the crowds in sight

They were noisy

All the work

Of my lifetime

Pushed into this one

And only moment

Every tear I've shed

Every laugh I've laughed

Every insight into woman

Every feeling of delight

Everything

Holy God Almighty

this was opening night

I've seen pain

I've seen it come again

Seen the road

And I've seen the light

Holy God Almighty

this is opening night

I wish I wasn't

so f***ing tone-deaf.

I've had long conversations...

with so many people

aboutJohn's movies...

and when they talk

aboutJohn's movies...

it's with the same passion

that actors talk about acting...

when they're in acting class

in the beginning.

- I'm sorry. Okay, I'm sorry.

- There's an innocence in it.

Thejadedness of the movie business

seems to beat it out of a lot of people.

It didn't beat it out ofJohn.

Now, look at this cat.

ButJohn probably was covered. I think

he had a gene that other people don't have.

You know? He had a kind of

cinematic courage gene...

that, you know, maybe we should be

tapping into that D.N.A.

Which gives me an idea.

I'm gonna have to get a shovel.

Well, East Coast girls are hip

I really dig those styles they wear

And the Southern girls

With the way they talk

You likejazz?

- Yeah, I like all music.

- Good.

Makes you feel like living.

Silence is death.

You feel like making a musical?

- Yeah.

- Yeah?

- With dance and orchestras and all?

- Yeah.

- Yeah. One musical. Only one.

- Only one?

- Yeah.

- You wrote the story already?

No, I didn't write it.

Dostoyevsky wrote it.

Crime and Punishment.

I would like to make that a musical.

He had a way of telling a story.

He had a way of talking to you.

There was always

a sense of mischief in it.

And there was always

some hidden depth.

Not too fast.

Aaah!

I remember one time he said to me-

- He was very sick at this time, very sick.

- Watch it now.

He's got that steep driveway...

and you've got to walk

down this steep, steep driveway...

to get the paper.

And he had a dog, Cosmos,

German Shepherd.

So he calls me up. He says,

"You know that goddamned dog-Jesus.

I never realized,

that dog is really considerate. "

"What did he do,John?"

He said,

"Well,you know, it takes me an hour...

"to get down the hill

to pick up the paper.

'And this dog, he would always

run up the hill ahead of me.

"But you know what he did this morning?

"He walked behind me.

He didn't want to embarrass me...

"because I'm so slow

gettin'up the hill.

"Very considerate.

Then you know what he did?"

I said, "What?"

"He went way to the back

of the property...

"and he threw up and he died.

Peter, do you think he was

telling me something?"

Now this is -

This is - Man.

The first time he told me

how badly sick he was...

was one of the funniest

conversations we had.

It was so weird. Because...

he said,

"You know, I've got this cirrhosis thing,"

And he says, uh - He says,

"And, uh, you know, it's a little noticeable. "

And I hadn't seen John for a while.

And I didn't know that he - he was - his -

His stomach was distended

from water retention.

So he went in to see a movie doctor...

to get the insurance

on the last film he did.

So now he's telling me,

on the phone...

about this encounter between him

and the movie doctor.

He said, "Yeah, he took one look at me

and said, 'Oh, no. Oh,John, not you.

Oh, no. Oh,John. Oh,John.

Oh, no. Not you. "'

And he's laughing on the phone

as he's telling me this.

Of course I'm laughing -

it's pretty funny...

the doctor would be so gauche.

And, um,John thought that was hilarious.

A remarkable guy.

And he never showed you, uh,

weakness, you know?

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes