Contributing writer Ajay Chowdhury joined Cinema Retro publisher Dave Worrall and photographer Mark Mawston to attend the recent London tribute to Oscar-winning producer Michael Deeley at the National Film Theatre. The event was hosted by Retro writer Matthew Field, who co-authored Deeley's just-published autobiography. Here is exclusive coverage of the event with photos of the after-party.
September 30, 2008. Following a glorious digital screening of Blade Runner: The Final Cut, Screen 1 at the National Film Theatre on London's Southbank played host to “Michael Deeley In Converation”. As the producer of Blade Runner (1982), The Italian Job (1969), The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976), Convoy (1978) and The Deer Hunter (for which he won the 1978 Academy Award for Best Picture), Deeley is a veteran of top flight movie-making on both sides of the Atlantic.
A wittily-edited montage of Deeley-produced movies counted the audience into the evening and then Matthew Field, interviewer and co-writer of Deeley's new autobiography, Blade Runner, Deer Hunters And Blowing The Bloody Doors Off: My Life In Cult Movies (Faber & Faber) introduced us to the producer. Asked what “producer” meant, Deeley said simply someone who causes a film to be made.
After serving in the British Army in Malaysia in the 1950's, Deeley, who had eschewed university, was looking for something to do. Upon considering how hard it is nowadays to break into the film industry, he sheepishly revealed to this cineaste audience that he just fell into business through a friend, starting in the cutting rooms. Later, with a colleague, he scraped together the money to produce his first picture, The Case Of The Mukkinese Battle-Horn (1956) starring Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan. It was Deeley's attempt to capture the madcap proto-Monty Python radio comedy of The Goon Show to the big screen. The audience was then treated to a clip of this rare film which Deeley had generously donated to the British Film Institute.
Deeley started at Woodfall Films, the British film purveyor of Kitchen-Sink dramas headed by playwright John Osborne, director Tony Richardson and producer Harry Saltzman. In his capacity as General Manager, Deeley worked on the Michael Crawford starrer, The Knack…And How To Get It (1965). Deeley did not the think the film has stood the test of time and found it to be too “mechanical” for his taste.
Deeley remembered Robbery (1967) starring Stanley Baker, a low budget British crime story which featured a gritty, exciting car chase directed by Peter Yates. Apparently, it was this sequence that convinced Steve McQueen that the British Yates was the guy to helm San Franciscan cop thriller, Bullitt (1968) with that car chase. You never know who's watching! Talk of car chases led to the classic Michael Caine Mini-adventure, The Italian Job (1969). Deeley humorously admitted to staging a real life traffic jam in the middle of Turin by use of strategically parked white vans parked at key junction points in the Italian industrial city. He also recalled keeping the British end up. Forced by British Leyland to purchase Minis at trade price, he was tempted to replace the British motors with Fiats with an offer of unlimited free cars for shooting, a personal Ferrari and $50,000 and the freedom to shoot anywhere in the city. This offer he almost couldn’t refuse was made by Gianni Agnelli, the then-chairperson of the Italian car giant (FIAT is an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino - Italian Automobile Factory of Turin). Deeley reluctantly refused (sighing at the loss of the free Ferrari), explaining the heart of the film was them and us, symbolised by rampaging Minis: “I guess the The Italian Job was the first Eurosceptic movie.” The cliffhanger ending of the movie was shown after which Deeley explained how it would have been resolved at the beginning of the proposed sequel*. Noel Coward was cast to counter-balance Caine and because Deeley wanted to distinguish the film from a previous, seemingly light-hearted Caine comedy, Alfie (1966).
Deeley became a corporate player in the 1970’s. He took over British Lion Films and was responsible for releasing The Wicker Man (1973) and Don't Look Now (1973). The former, a classic pagan horror tale starring Christopher Lee, Edward Woodward and Britt Ekland was the cause of much controversy for Deeley as he had been accused by director Robin Hardy and Christopher Lee of butchering the film for release. Deeley defended himself by stating that the only way the film could have been released was by cutting the running time. All the distributors had rejected the film and refused to show it leaving Deeley with a stark choice. His actions at least brought to the public a movie which otherwise would have gathered dust on a shelf. Deeley fondly explained how making David Bowie the alien figure in Nicholas Roeg’s surreal sci-fi poem, The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976) was perfect casting as the rock star was curiously detached from the norm. The entirely American-set movie was made by an entirely European crew who entered the United States and completed the film on tourist visas – an industry first, thought Deeley, chuckling!
Deeley then went on to discuss having to take over the 1978 trucker movie, Convoy from an increasingly drug-addled Sam Peckinpah (he pronounced it “Peckinpaw”). He felt Sam by this time was a lost soul but also recalled the powerful commercial value of the director’s name. Another problem director was Michael Cimino with whom Deeley worked on The Deer Hunter. He felt Cimino misled the production company by allegedly subcontracting script-writing duties to a third party. Deeley was forthright in his condemnation of Cimino as a responsible film maker and cited a recent Vanity Fair magazine article detailing the eccentricities of this notorious director.
Deeley’s crowning creative achievement was producing Blade Runner. The film, based on Philip K. Dick’s story, Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? Had started life as more romantic tale but when Ridley Scott got on board, it developed into something harder and darker. The physicality of the production alienated the director from its star, Harrison Ford, whom Deeley described as a gentleman. He believed the summer release of the movie harmed its box office and would have preferred a more Oscar-friendly staged release nearer Christmas.
Opened up to the audience for questions, Deeley, when asked whether he thought the industry had changed by being ruled by lawyers and accountants stated that it was ever thus: the industry had always been ruled by suits. He shuddered (much to the audience’s amusement) at the suggestion the Blade Runner should be remade and explained how films benefited from national funding based on audience attendance.
It was a fascinating evening. Deeley was particularly unsentimental. He does not own his films on DVD and only watched them while preparing his autobiography. In dealing with Deeley, Field was coolly knowledgeable and the two colleagues displayed confident chemistry. Deeley refreshingly expressed robust opinions with the dry, sly wit and confidence of a man who has lived a full and rewarding life in the picture business and does not need to kow tow to the dictates of an industry dominated by maintaining personal relationships. The audience was treated to a insight of that rare animal: a British producer who stood at the top of his field in the UK and America and who has caused an idiosyncratic list of classic films to be made.
*oh, you wanna know how it ended?! The sequel was to have begun with the sound of roaring helicopters with cables attached to the back of the bus, decanting the British crew and, er, repatriating the gold to the Italian Mafia!
-Ajay Chowdhury is the editor of the James Bond magazine Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
