Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans Page #8

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bravery of his most respected

pals, the motor racing drivers.

WOMAN:
It was late

October or November.

And the trees were

turning yellow.

It should be within

So they had to paint the leaves.

Ugh, my goodness.

MAN:
In November,

1970, filming finally

wrapped three months

over schedule,

and about $1.5

million over budget.

He was sort of

melancholy, I think.

He said, it's done.

The last day of filming,

he got out of his car,

and he unbuckled his wrist

watch, and walked over to me,

and handed me the watch.

And he said, I want

you to have this.

Thank you for keeping me

alive all these months.

STEVE MCQUEEN:

Le Mans is close to me.

I love motor racing.

It was a film that was

very, very close to me,

and we all hope

it turns out well.

CREW:
Camera number

three, marker.

CREW:
Camera number

four, marker.

CREW:
Camera number

five, marker.

DIRECTOR:
We now have

speed on all the cameras.

I will call action, and

then it'll be a count of 10.

If anything happens to me,

Allie gets my pickup truck.

DIRECTOR:
Guys, can

you hear me all right?

All right.

The fire brigade ready?

All right.

Now, may I have your

attention please?

CHAD MCQUEEN:
I don't care

what anybody else says.

I think he was satisfied

as a filmmaker at what

he had done for this picture.

I've never seen the movie.

It's too difficult for me.

Steve lost his wife, lost

his marriage, lost the film,

Iost everything.

MAN:
All of that

loss, at that point

in time, I think it really

speaks to how deeply he cared

about that project, and how it

was so tied into his persona,

and his soul, that I think he

sensed that if it wasn't going

to happen on that

film, it wasn't going

to happen in his lifetime.

STEVE MCQUEEN:
Being

an actor is a gas.

Being a movie star

is a pain in the ass.

And when that happens, you

stop your personal growth.

And that's the thing

that I suffered from.

MAN:
When he wanted

to give back,

Hollywood wasn't there for him.

He had this vision that

came out of his heart.

I don't think any of those other

movies came out of his heart.

The world just became

a different color

to him, after that film.

MAN:
"Le Mans" is a

turning point in his life.

When he left Le Mans, he

turned his back on the sport.

The zest he had for

driving fast had gone.

STEVE MCQUEEN:
As far

as me moving on myself,

I think I'm more into

life than cinema.

My conception can only be

motorcycles, and speed,

and things like that.

I don't want to do that anymore.

I don't do it no more.

Now, I'm clean.

Well, it's done.

I've got to try something else.

Do I really want

to do this anymore?

Do I want to go that fast?

And I think with David

Piper's accident,

an awareness of

the vulnerability

was in his psyche.

NEILE ADAMS:
What he cared

most about in that picture

were the drivers.

He loved the drivers.

Oh.

Dear Sid, so many times before,

in the history of motion

pictures, brave men have

lost their lives and limbs,

and people have

forgotten about it.

I feel very strongly

that we should dedicate

the first premier to David

Piper and give all the proceeds

to him and his family.

Would you please pass

this on to the higher ups?

And I do think we

do this to racing

for what they gave this film.

My best, Steve McQueen.

Oh, how wonderful.

Gosh, that is terrific.

I really lost touch

when I was in hospital.

I never heard of

anything like this.

How very nice.

Well, Steve's heart was really

in the right place, wasn't it?

It's fantastic.

STEVE MCQUEEN:
I just wanted

to get it down on film for what

I thought it was all about.

And I guess it's going to be

up to the audience to decide

whether I was right or wrong.

Oh, it was a lot of cars.

And I was waiting for my scenes.

[Laughing]

Most actors do that, first

time they see a movie.

I was disappointed.

I could never see

how it was going

to be a roaring

success at the time,

because there was no script.

But then I saw the

film two years ago,

and I went, god,

that's brilliant.

MAN:
It's the most wonderful

documentary of one of the most

glorious times of motor

racing on the greatest

track in the world.

From an actor's point

of view, loves it.

But from his point of view,

from a driver's point of view,

lovely.

And from a car's point

of view, beautiful.

MAN:
It gets acclaim, because

it's trying to be pure.

It's not a Hollywood concoction.

But what the film

doesn't capture

is dramatic storytelling.

Problems, they vanish

in all the years.

I think he would have

been proud that we did it.

Proud that he did it.

MAN:
What's happened now is a

cult is following this picture.

People who are into

cars revere this film.

That's all they want to

talk about is "Le Mans."

It has taken on a

life of its own.

The thing that Steve did

that moved cinema forward

was his absolute

insistence on authenticity.

You just have to say,

you went for it, guy.

I say, power to him.

They still are

not able to capture

what we captured inside those

cars with the real drivers

today.

Steve McQueen, he had no fear.

When he went to Mexico

to get treatment,

he had a copy of the

film shipped to Mexico,

and showed it to the

patients in the house.

I think it was his last

goodbye to everything.

He was just a nice man who

lost his way along the way,

and found it back.

And hopefully, he's up

there, having a good time.

Like I used to say,

safe travel, honey.

[Laughing]

I always get a sense

he's watching me,

but close your eyes,

and listen to that.

Close your eyes and

listen to this again.

So that's what my

dad envisioned,

bringing that to life.

But I think today he

would say, ah, now,

you guys finally get it.

STEVE MCQUEEN:
My big

thing is daydreaming.

You know when you

daydream, you go to sleep.

In my life, my

daydreams came true.

[coughs]

It's just that I run out of gas.

[piano playing]

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