Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Desert Island Discs
Presented by Roy Plomley
A film director who won Oscars for Midnight Cowboy and also directed plays and operas.
Eight records
Far From the Madding Crowd
No quote available in transcript; disc not explicitly named in this segment.
The keepsakes
No book or luxury recorded for this episode.
In conversation
Presenter asks
Do you prefer to work out of the studio?
Yes, I think that there's an atmosphere like a factory in a studio which is inescapable. And I was fortunate and [in] far from the Madden Crowd, although it gave us many, many difficulties, in having a marvellously cooperative, creative team of people who seemed, I think, to be influenced by the fact that we were making a film as a sort of cooperative venture. In the place about which it had been written, I found that working, for instance, with local people mixed in with the actors, in the very, very small parts … was enormously helpful in creating a realistic feel of the country.
Presenter asks
What do you think should be ideally the director's relationship with his actors? To what extent is he dictator and to what extent collaborator?
Well, fortunately … Finally, he can be a dictator, because once everybody's gone and you're left alone with your celluloid in the cutting room, you can virtually do almost what you like with it. I personally, having been an actor, I think feel rather strongly about … allowing space for performances in my films. I don't regard actors as marionettes and I like very much to work in a spirit of collaboration with them and to allow them room for spontaneous performances.
Presenter asks
The recording
Timestamps play the recording from that turn
John Schlesinger
This download is the only extract the BBC has of this edition of Desert Island Discs. The presenter was Roy Plumley.
Presenter
Now in the four films you've made
Presenter
Have you
Presenter
you think achieved a personal style? To to start with, have you from the beginning been allowed to control your own cutting?
John Schlesinger
Yes, totally. I've always felt completely free to make the film in the way that I've wanted to, and to finish it in every way. But
John Schlesinger
Personal style is a difficult thing for me to answer about. I always have a sneaking feeling that
John Schlesinger
My films are never personal enough and um it's something that I can't talk about.
Presenter
You made uh your last film, Far From the Madden Crowd, completely on location in and around a big house in Dorset. Do you prefer to work out of the studio?
John Schlesinger
Yes, I think that there's an atmosphere like a factory in a studio which is inescapable. And I was fortunate and far from the Madden Crowd, although it gave us many, many difficulties, in having a marvellously cooperative, creative team of people who
John Schlesinger
seemed, I think, to be influenced by the fact that we were making a film as a sort of cooperative venture.
John Schlesinger
In the place about which it had been written, I found that working, for instance, with local people mixed in with the actors,
John Schlesinger
in the very, very small parts.
John Schlesinger
was enormously helpful in creating a realistic feel of the country.
Presenter
Yes.
Presenter
What do you think should be ideally the the director's relationship with his actors? To what extent is he dictator and to what extent
Presenter
Collaborator.
John Schlesinger
Well, fortunately
John Schlesinger
Finally, he can be a dictator, because once everybody's gone and you're left alone with your celluloid in the cutting room, you can virtually do almost what you like with it. I personally, having been an actor, I think feel rather strongly about
Presenter
Uh
John Schlesinger
allowing space for performances in my films. I don't regard actors as marionettes and I like very much to work in a spirit of collaboration with them and to allow them room
John Schlesinger
For spontaneous performances.
Presenter
As an actor you're not tempted to demonstrate how you think each part should be played.
John Schlesinger
Oh, sometimes. Um oh yes, I think I hope less and less there are other means of getting performances.
As an actor, you're not tempted to demonstrate how you think each part should be played?
Oh, sometimes. … oh yes, I think I hope less and less there are other means of getting performances.
“I have always felt completely free to make the film in the way that I've wanted to, and to finish it in every way.”
“Personal style is a difficult thing for me to answer about. I always have a sneaking feeling that my films are never personal enough and um it's something that I can't talk about.”
“I personally, having been an actor, I think feel rather strongly about … allowing space for performances in my films. I don't regard actors as marionettes and I like very much to work in a spirit of collaboration with them and to allow them room for spontaneous performances.”