Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach Page #2

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so it would just be the reception and the...

Paul wrote a character, a very simple character -

a man in his late 50s, early 60s who's trying to get back to work

after caring for his wife and dropping out. He was a carpenter.

Just the hurdles he faces, the difficulties he faces,

the world that he faces.

When the thing kicks off with Rachel and the two kids...

Any film-maker who says,

"I can change your mind," with absolute confidence -

you just don't know.

If we as human beings are touched by the story, and we do that well,

then you've maybe got a chance of touching other people.

That's what gives you the motive to actually do the damn thing,

because there's something inside you that burns to do it.

We lived in Nuneaton, which is in the middle of the Midlands.

My dad was one of ten children.

He did an apprenticeship as an electrician in the mine,

and then he got this job in a machine tool factory.

He worked seven days a week.

He would go into the factory at six o'clock every morning,

and be back at six o'clock at night.

He did quite well, he became in charge of the maintenance

and became a foreman.

I mean, he had a huge respect for craftsmen, I mean, he...

Craftsmanship. When we were doing Macbeth at school,

he got a dagger made in the joinery workshop,

and it was just immaculate.

Just the delight in craftsmanship was...

Was one of his defining characteristics, really.

In a way, he was a working-class Tory,

and the Daily Express came in to our house.

Only later did I realise how right-wing it was.

We had one week's holiday, and we would go to Blackpool.

My mother, when asked where we were going, she'd say,

"Blackpool, but the north side, the north end,"

because that was seen as slightly more refined than the south end

where the Pleasure Beach was, it was a bit too proletarian.

But the big treat was seeing the shows and the great comics.

Very much the humour of poverty, and the humour of...

..bodily functions.

The hysteria would be something to behold.

People would weep, WEEP with laughter.

And my old man, who was not given to a lot of laughter, would...

He would be doubled,

he'd have to get his handkerchief out to mop the tears

as they ran down his face.

Let me now ask our audience,

how many of you have seen the play Cathy Come Home, or have heard about

Cathy Come Home, have read about it in the newspapers or magazines,

or heard it discussed?

If you have, will you push your buttons?

Let's just see how many of you know about Cathy Come Home.

Let's have a quick look.

Some 90% of our audience know Cathy Come Home.

It was during that Wednesday Play season

that Ken and I gravitated towards each other.

We both wanted to do the same thing.

We wanted to make films on real locations

about the lives of actual people.

Cathy Come Home had been turned down by the BBC twice

as being too political.

We could take your children into care and turn you out,

- just like that.

- Please don't do that.

But we're not going to. We're going to give you one more chance.

But I must emphasise, this is your last chance.

We knew there was a housing problem,

but I didn't know there were homeless, and neither did Ken.

Come along then.

That's it then, Cath.

As you were doing it, you're thinking,

"How can I shoot this in such a way that it is credible,

"so that I really believe it?"

If you were watching a documentary, you would believe it.

So, that's our...

..standard.

We thought, "Let's shoot in sequence,"

because then an actor has time to develop a character,

to have a past and an unknown future.

If you shoot the story in the chronological order

it would have happened, you don't need to work out,

"How would I feel if I'd been through that?"

You know, and you just have that memory

in your stomach, really.

Somebody told me you've got these places they call halfway houses.

Carol White was just a natural choice to play Cathy.

Reg might come back to me.

She could just be.

He's drifting away from me.

And that's great acting when you can get that.

And Ken had the knack of encouraging that from an actor.

It was so different to anything we'd ever seen before,

because it was shot in an observed way and not in an immaculate way,

but actually told the story

more truthfully and more realistically

than I think I'd ever seen before.

Get back! Get back!

Ken, as a director, was becoming much more confident -

determined to get what he wanted for the film.

There is one scene where Carol White has her children taken away from her

at the railway station by social workers.

It still stays with me.

It's one of the strongest scenes I've ever seen in any film.

You're not having my kids.

You're not!

SHE SCREAMS:

It had to be shocking.

It couldn't be other than shocking.

If we'd staged it with extras walking past,

it just wouldn't have had the impact.

We just put it in a real place and let it happen.

The reception - it was extraordinary.

At the first showing, the Daily Mail called Cathy Come Home,

"A dramatic battering ram."

The Guardian said it was,

"Undoubtedly one of the most successful pieces

"of social reforming drama we've had on television."

People didn't know.

I think there's been enormous confusion in the public mind

as to whether this is, in fact, fact or fiction.

I mean, what is there to prevent you next time, when you want to

make your point a little more strongly,

to introduce fictional statistics as well?

Well, I thought it was a brilliant piece of propaganda

of a highly charged and emotional kind.

The script was written, there were 60-odd actors in it.

The fact that Ken Loach is such a good director that the actors

often don't look like actors is hardly my fault.

Part of the enormous kerfuffle...

..was an invitation to the Ministry.

So, Ken Loach and I went down Whitehall

to see the Minister.

And we sat down in this huge, beautifully appointed office -

I mean, I've never lived in anywhere as big as that -

and it was very English.

Tea was on quite nice china with biscuits,

but then he said, "But what can one do?"

And I looked at Ken and Jeremy, and I said, "Well, build more houses."

And he looked at the senior civil servant

who looked back and then went...

Smiled at each other as though...

HE SIGHS:

"If only it were that simple."

We were ushered out into Whitehall and that was the end of it.

I did kick myself afterwards that it wasn't more political.

We'd let everybody off the hook.

The starting point is, "What is the core of the story?"

Are the people valid?

Are they true? Is it significant?

Is it worth telling?

Then you've got to find people who can bring that to life.

Then there's the qualities of the character, their age, their class,

where they're from, all of which you can't hide,

and you look for someone who can listen.

He's trying to find some essential quality in the actor

that he can use.

It's less about acting, it's about, sort of...

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