Billy Williams - Joking with Elizabeth Taylor on the set of 'Zee and Co.' (64/172)
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- Опубликовано: 13 сен 2024
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Born in London in 1929, cinematographer Billy Williams shot more than 40 high profile films throughout his career, being nominated for an Oscar for ‘On Golden Pond’ and ‘Women in Love’, then winning the Oscar for ‘Gandhi’ in 1983. He received an OBE in 2009. [Listener: Neil Binney]
TRANSCRIPT: In 1970 I was thrilled to be asked to photograph a film with Elizabeth Taylor and the English title was 'Zee and Co.' and the American was 'XYZ', and it was a matrimonial drama - comedy drama - with Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Caine again and Susanna York, and it was largely shot at Shepperton Studios and I had the opportunity, of course, to do some tests on Elizabeth because, obviously they wanted her to look her most attractive. I think she was about 39 then, and I found her such a delightful person. She was so easy to work with and lovely sense of humour, spontaneous wit and she was kind of one of the crew. There was no nonsense with her at all. And the director was an ex-actor called Brian Hutton and he loved telling jokes, and Elizabeth would arrive at the studio of course probably seven o'clock in the morning and she would spend a long time in make-up, and she wouldn't come on the set until she was absolutely ready and although that... you'd hope that it would be 9:30 or 10, it might even be later. So we used to prepare the scene - the shot - the day before so that we could be finishing the lighting and so on with the stand-in, so that we would be all ready when Elizabeth was ready.
And sometimes if we finished what we had to do, this director, Brian Hutton, would start telling jokes and he was... he was a great storyteller, very, very funny and he'd be telling jokes and Elizabeth would come on the set, followed by the producer and the make-up people, and he'd carry on telling jokes you see, and Elizabeth would join us and these jokes would go on for five or 10 minutes you see, and they're all falling about laughing and the producer's looking at his watch you see. And it was just a way of keeping things relaxed, and then a... you know, this was a regular thing that... that she would be quite late coming on set and I remember one occasion, we... we'd been waiting quite a long time for her, she’d been... she was later than usual and Brian was telling his jokes and Elizabeth arrived and he stopped telling the jokes and he turned to her and he said, ’Wow, da dum’, he said, ’Big movie, big star, big pain in the arse’ and she fell about laughing and she... and we all did. She could take a joke - a big pain in the arse, yes - of course Richard was... was present during the... the early part of the shooting and the first couple of days he used to come to rushes.
Now I was getting into the softer light and with the help of Bill Chitty, the... who was my gaffer on the picture at Shepperton, we'd made these frames out of tracing paper - diffuser - and we'd extended them away from the lamp by about 2 or 3ft so that you got a much broader source of light, and whenever you moved the lamp, of course, the frame went with it. So I... it was the beginning of... of the soft light system of lighting, and I used this method on Elizabeth and a certain amount of diffusion. Of course she had very good make-up and hair and Richard used to come to the rushes of the first couple of days and he turned to me one day and he said: ’You know she's looking like a teeny-bopper’, and I thought at first: is that a compliment or not, and then I thought: well perhaps it is because I... I've made her look younger, which is... which is what they all want.
Still kicking at 90
What a charming and generous man, who was a Master of his craft, while being gifted with a third eye to keenly observe the personal foibles of these actors. And such a memory for detail! I only retain the gist of things, and random, inconsequential moments. He could tell you the type of tea being served a lifetime ago, and if the crumpets were fresh or stale.
What a fantastic life and career. Brilliant storyteller, Mr. Williams.
He's quite the raconteur.
Elizabeth was fantastic in that movie
I just love Zee and Co. It is a film like no other and the performances and Edna's script are amazing. I wish I had been on set. It's a film that seems to have been forgotten which is such a great injustice because it should have been a cult classic by now.
It’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf” with better clothes.
Elizabeth was worried about her looks getting older taking so much time being late being told all your life how beautiful you are then slowly your face starting to change Elizabeth taylor one of our greatest beauty rip❤ ms taylor. 4:14
This film is a gem only some appreciate. I adore 'BOOM'! Liz is great in 'Secret Ceremony' and 'Drivers Seat' (with Andy Warhol)
such a cute guy....
Hutton directed Kelly's Heroes...and Where Eagles Dare...