Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession Page #8

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6 hours long...

and that there were

6 hour-long episodes.

Makes sense. We showed it.

Watch out!

Check periscope alignment!

I'll be in the engine room.

Trim gauge isn't safe, sir.

Zero, six zero!

- Check!

- What's going on?

Look out!

There's this tragic irony under

"Das Boot" that these guys...

who are just hard-working guys

who don't think politically...

who just love the sea and are

under it and in it...

and involved with their work...

and whose reality

is one another.

They have no idea that they're

in a sense like...

the Monty Python characters

about to be crushed...

by a big foot from the sky.

And in a way because

it's played in slow motion...

we can feel the tragic

melancholy behind that.

HBO was a thorn in the side...

of everyone who worked

at Z Channel...

because they feared that HBO

would muscle them off the dial.

HBO had buying power, so they

could give monies to studios...

which were very alluring.

The Z Channel had budgets that

that restricted on...

you couldn't just pay

for everything...

that you really wanted to do.

There was always somebody

saying to him...

"Do we have to spend money

on this program guide?

"Gee, if we didn't have

the program guide...

"then we could be

more profitable.

"Do you have to spend so much

money on the movies?

"Do we have to spend so much in

marketing the Z Channel?"

There were all

these pressures on him.

Sometimes they would take money

away from him...

that he couldn't spend

next year.

He had to figure out what

his limitations were...

and Jerry was very good

about doing that.

He had a very strong

business sense...

so he knew what he could do

and what he couldn't do...

but he realized that what he

could do was a lot...

based on simply his own

knowledge of movies.

Not only did Jerry champion...

the full version

of "Heaven's Gate"...

but he also felt the same way...

about Leone's

"Once Upon a Time in America."

Because you still think like

some schmuck from the streets.

Now if we listened to you,

we'd still be...

rolling drunks for a living.

- You broke?

- Don't bust my balls, Noodles.

- You broke?

- I am talking about real money!

This is real money to me.

It's a lot of money.

Do you want any of it?

You'll carry that stink

of the streets with you...

the rest of your life.

Well, when we did

"Once Upon A Time in America"...

it was clearly,

from a personal point of view...

an extraordinary opportunity.

I mean, this was...

you know, one of the...

potentially one

of the greatest movies...

one of the great epics

ever made.

I mean, it was... you know,

Bob DeNiro was...

at the height of his career.

I mean, he still is.

He's always great.

But I mean, he had just

come off "Raging Bull"...

and, you know, Sergio Leone

was a genius.

It was a 12-year project

for him.

We shot for 11 months...

and because

of one test screening...

Warner Bros.

And the Ladd Company...

decided to take the three hour

and 43 minute version...

of "Once Upon a Time in America"

and cut it down...

to 2 hours and something...

and they used the assistant

editor of "Police Academy ll"...

or something to cut it.

It broke the director's heart.

It was cut by a group of people

who should never...

have been allowed

in the cutting room...

and they massacred it,

they ruined it.

They made a test showing

of it in Chicago or Illinois...

something, on a cold night.

They didn't get

the results they wanted.

Any trouble?

No trouble. Kid stuff.

It was a really grueling,

miserable experience...

but I was really...

it was hugely frustrating...

and disappointing

and discouraging.

The full version was

a masterpiece...

as compared to, like,

a routine film...

in a butchered,

shortened version.

Come here. Look at this.

Come here.

Sudden death.

F***ing tragedy, huh?

Twenty-six years old.

Twenty-six?

What a shame.

Great stiff.

She died of an overdose.

And I'm ready for another!

Jerry actually showed

both versions side by side...

on the Z Channel...

and, I mean, there was

no doubt...

no doubt how stunning it is

to allow your creation...

when you're an artist to be

manhandled by other people...

who are maybe not as adept

at understanding the vision...

as you, the filmmaker is.

Your brother's a real friend.

He's a romantic.

When it came out

in its aborted version...

Sheila Benson, who was then

also a critic for the "Times"...

called it the worst movie

of the year...

and then it was restored

to the director's cut...

which was also shown...

and 8 years later, she picked it

as either the best...

or one of the 5 or 10 best

pictures of the decade...

which goes to show you what

a little editing can do.

In a way, what Z Channel was,

and what Jerry did...

is it became

an alternative voice...

a voice which said, not only,

"You're wrong"...

but, " Here's why you're wrong.

"Here's how it should play,

and here's how they played it."

And then they shut up...

because a picture's worth

a million words.

And do you feel you've arrived

where you are...

by accident or by design?

Initially by accident...

And then by... and then

subsequently by design.

Deri was so warm,

she was so bright...

and I met her at her

at her house.

She had a party

for Jerry at her house...

and that was... in itself was

a very welcoming gesture.

It was a birthday party

at the end of 1985.

She was a lovely woman...

both in spirit and in

physical beauty, actually.

And I immediately felt glad that

if Jerry had to leave...

Vera for anybody that at least

he'd found his way to Deri...

because she seemed to be

such a positive spirit.

Deri grew up with a mother,

who had been in an iron lung...

and needed an awful lot

from Deri.

As I recall, her mother had been

in a wheelchair a lot.

So Deri grew up

taking care of people.

That's what she tried

to do with Jerry.

To know her was to just,

you know, have a crush on her.

She was just so amazing...

and she was becoming

a standup comedian...

she was starting a newspaper

in Westwood.

She owned a lot of property

in Westwood...

she'd inherited

a lot of property...

and she felt a great loyalty

to the community.

She was a very optimistic,

open, outgoing person...

and wanted sincerely to support

Jerry and give him...

what he needed emotionally.

Are there any points in your

life where you can look back...

and say that you might

have done something else...

at that particular point?

- Many, many times.

- Really?

Yeah. I think there are

myriads of crossroads...

in one's life where one stops...

"Do I go this way,

or do I go that way?"

I was very happy when I had

heard that he had remarried.

You know, I thought,

"Well, since it finally...

"didn't work out with Vera...

"after, you know, a substantial

number of years together"...

I thought,

"Well, this is nice...

"that he's met

somebody else, you know."

Their marriage was a very

colorful affair...

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