WEBVTT - Kubrick's Right-Hand Leading Man 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.880 I'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the thing 0:00:07.600 --> 0:00:10.320 in Hollywood. When someone shines a light on what happens 0:00:10.360 --> 0:00:14.560 off screen. It's not always pretty, but director Tony Zeira's 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:19.239 documentary Film Worker reveals the best of movie making. It 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:22.480 tells the story of the unsung hero, the film worker, 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:26.159 whose name appears in the credits after most moviegoers have 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:32.960 already left the theater. The focus is Leon Vitali, who 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:36.720 at turned his back on a promising acting career to 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:42.040 serve as Stanley Kubrick's right hand man. Vitally, the working 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:46.200 class kid from outside Birmingham, England, trained as an actor 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:50.159 and got his break in Kubrick's period masterpiece Barry Linden. 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:57.720 Mr Ridman Barry. The last occasion on which we met, 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:04.000 you want to was me injury and dishonor in such 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:06.399 a manner and to such an extent as to which 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:14.200 no gentleman can willingly suffer without demanding satisfaction. However much 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:22.959 time intervenes, I have now come to claim that satisfaction. 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:27.959 But after that, Batali's name goes from the top of 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:33.000 the credits to the bottom. Casting costumes and personal assistant 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:36.880 to Mr Kubrick fatally turned his life over fully to 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:41.360 realizing the creative vision of his visionary boss. But for 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:44.959 actors of a certain age, his brilliant turn in Barry 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:48.240 Linden will always hold a special place in our hearts. 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:52.240 So that's where I started when I moderated a discussion 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:56.080 with Leon Battali and Film Worker director Tony Sierra at 0:01:56.120 --> 0:01:59.880 the Hampton's International Film Festival. Every actor in the world 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:04.320 is obsessed with Barry Lyndon. We all would say lines 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:08.080 likely on the Tally, the snarkiest snark in the history 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:13.720 of cinema, Mr Ridman, by the indignation, the condemnation. You 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:17.200 know when he says to you in the dual scene, 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:21.200 have you had satisfaction? And your responsive what's the exact 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:26.720 word you say? I have not received obviously. I actually 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:29.280 know friends of mine who have used that with people 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:35.519 in bed. It's this great voluptuous performance in this movie 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:40.520 Leon the Tally uh, and he got He's gone. And 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:42.519 then as these films come out, you see his name 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:44.360 in the cuestions like what the hell is he doing? 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:47.600 And of course this film offers us an explanation to 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:51.040 that of like where where did Leon the tally Uh 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:54.280 detour into from his acting career. I would like to 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:56.760 welcome please the director of film. Please stand up, Tony Sierra, 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:01.680 thank you so much for coming, and please have a 0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:07.840 warm welcome for Leon Vitality. Yeah, the dock that became 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:12.119 film Worker started out as something different. Zierira set out 0:03:12.160 --> 0:03:16.480 to make the definitive account of Kubrick's thirteenth and final movie, 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:21.639 Eyes Wide Shot. The project was called SK thirteen. I'm 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:24.400 gonna sit here in the middle for Tony. I want 0:03:24.400 --> 0:03:26.280 to ask what the genesis of the film was in 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:31.000 the idea of making Leon the protagonist. We finished filming 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:34.320 and Leon was the last person that I went to 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:38.120 film with um. And really the premise of SKA thirteen, 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:41.640 which we haven't started editing yet, was about really what 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:43.880 was going on with Stanley towards the end, because Eyes 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:46.680 Watch is a bit controversial a little bit, and I 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:49.920 wanted to see, like as a lot of people, well, 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:52.160 they said that he lost it towards the end. Some 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:55.120 people said that it was Tom and Nicole destroyed the film, 0:03:55.200 --> 0:03:59.320 and some people said he really never finished editing, and 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:02.320 and people really surprised by casting and it just there 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:07.440 were a lot of unanswered. Um So I figured in 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:09.840 order to understand it, I needed to research Kubrick from 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:12.800 all the way from the beginning to today and see why, 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:15.280 why did he really want to make the film, because 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:18.440 obviously he owned the book for thirty years. And so 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:20.760 Leon was the last one because I knew he was 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:23.120 close to Warner Brothers, and I knew he was working 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:25.200 with the state, and I didn't want anybody to shut 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:28.680 me down. So I left Leon last. And then when 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:31.880 I met him at his house, I was, well, first 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:33.440 I had this image of him that I thought I 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:34.880 was just gonna get there and there's gonna be this 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:38.560 nice mansion and he's you know, and and he still 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:42.000 We're still in the UK in l a off Venice Boulevard, 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:43.960 and I just got there and it was just like 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:47.120 this amazing, lovely lovely and it just came out and 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:49.760 it's like carried all my equipment with me and we 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:51.840 just hit her off. And I was like, this is 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:55.560 like film history lives in that little house by himself. 0:04:56.400 --> 0:04:59.680 And um So we decided to put the sk th 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:03.080 team footage away and tell his story because I think 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:10.160 he really needs to be acknowledged and honored because it's true, 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:14.919 so we um, you know. At first, it's like because 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:16.720 every time I would talk to someone I did a 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:20.480 lot of I mean six years on Ice and Stanley, 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:24.720 and the name always came up in different conversations of like, 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:26.840 if I was talking to someone about casting, they say 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:30.000 Leon Vitali. If I'll talk to someone about training actors, 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:31.720 it was Leon Vitali. If I go to the lab, 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:34.919 it's Leon Vitali. I mean, what actor that starts or 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:37.559 starts as an actor becomes the assistant And he color 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:41.080 corrected cha. So I was like, this is too good 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:44.720 to be true. It can't I mean the level of 0:05:44.720 --> 0:05:47.680 of the jobs and the and the stuff that he did. 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:50.400 So I had to actually go back to so many 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:52.840 people who was again like is this really for real? 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:56.000 And I really found that I was. I knew this 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:59.760 much because he's really done a lot and he's humble 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:05.359 about Now. Cooper begins shooting eyes wide shot when he 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:09.480 died in nine. I think this is the autumn seven 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:13.760 we actually started shooting shooting, I think, yeah, yeah. And 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:17.920 the shooting goes on for how long, well year and 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:20.280 a half year and half yeah, yeah. And there were 0:06:20.320 --> 0:06:23.360 there were a couple of breaks in there, but not long. 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:25.760 Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, I can't do not stop for 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:28.840 a year half, you know, you can't. But but but 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:32.839 the uh And then he dies in March of ninety nine. 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:35.960 So he completed principal photography before he died. Oh yeah. 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:38.760 And he completed his final cart I mean, and he 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:42.400 sent it to New York for Tom and Nicole and 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:45.279 Terry Samuel, who was ahead of Warner Brothers in time, 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:47.839 and just said, this is it. I mean, all that 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:50.560 is left. He'd chosen the music, so all that was 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:54.200 left there was to re record that and fit it 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:58.680 in um and basically you know, just do the you know, 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:02.479 the sort of fine modeling job on it and all 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:06.080 the what can you say, There's so much to do 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:09.960 in post production, especially when you get closer to finishing 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:17.080 a movie for release. Was this film particularly difficult from him? Well, 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:20.480 you know, you know, he was getting tired because towards 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:23.120 the end, of course, he didn't really spare himself. I mean, 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:27.520 we wouldn't get back to the house until very often 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:31.080 to three in the morning, you know, and there'd be 0:07:31.120 --> 0:07:34.600 a kind of a normal call in the you know, 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:38.840 next morning would be you know, usual call times and 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:43.920 what have you? Um, she stan Ye. Actually we were 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:47.640 so looking forward to doing AI next. I was thought 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:51.600 of so exciting, thought of working the studio, you know, 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:56.120 and just slamming the door and focusing on just there 0:07:56.160 --> 0:08:01.400 the shots and no distractions and and nothing. Um. And 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:04.520 I think with Eyes might chut, you know, he because 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:07.760 working indoors is a totally different environment, as you know, 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:12.200 I mean, it's there are no distractions, You're focusing on 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:15.840 exactly what needs to be done, and there's no doubt 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:20.320 about it. He preferred shooting indoors. Any difficulty about about 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:24.560 Eyes by chill he had, I think was really more 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:28.080 story and trying to sort of work it in a 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:32.960 way that it would mean something to people now. But 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:37.480 pre production took a year, and it often took that 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:40.319 along with him. One of the interesting things about Kubrick 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:43.240 for me, because he made films so rarely that when 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:45.160 you saw him he had aged quite a bit in 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:50.640 between films. Kubrick is round and kind of full bodied 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:53.320 and a thick mane of brown hair. Then you cut 0:08:53.320 --> 0:08:55.439 the five and six and seven years later at a 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:58.200 different Kubrick and then a different coupric and he and 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:00.680 it looks whether it. He looks hired, you know, he 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:04.080 looks older. Yeah, he wasn't a health none, is what 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:08.000 I'm saying, No doubt about that. Um, but I think 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:13.280 just this, uh what can I say? This ongoing it's 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:16.360 almost like a grind, but not in a negative way, 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:22.320 but everything it's like a hab Yeah, yeah, you know exactly. Yeah. 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:24.599 What's interesting in the film that I love about the 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:27.560 film is that this film reveals that there's things he 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:30.240 couldn't do or wouldn't do, and that's what fell to 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:32.480 you to do. You know, he he if there's ten 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:35.280 things you need a director, and a director who's producing 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:37.720 and so hands on it his own or her own films, 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:40.200 that individual is so hands on it, there's ten things 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:42.840 they're gonna do. He would do five or six of 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:46.320 them on the deepest level. Then the other four of 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:48.320 them he relied on someone else to do. And that 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:51.960 felt to you to take care of the little boy 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:54.160 and to to to and to and to do it 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:56.959 a myriad of jobs. Forget all the technical jobs. Forget 0:09:57.000 --> 0:10:00.880 about you as a as his curator of his of 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:06.200 his film stock and so forth. In the documentary film Worker, 0:10:06.400 --> 0:10:11.040 my Guest, Leon Vitali describes what a taskmaster, Director Stanley 0:10:11.120 --> 0:10:14.360 Kubrick was if anything, you even went home, you said, 0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:19.040 it is your responsibility to make sure they understand exactly 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:22.400 what you want. And I could take two, three, four, five, 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:27.040 six tries to get it right if I felt like 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:31.640 I wasn't getting any response or people were kind of 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:35.320 for one of the better phrases, digging me around, you know, 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:38.000 saying they're gonna send something you never get sent, and 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:39.600 you've got to chase him up, and chase him up. 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:42.760 He'd say, Okay, Leon, tonight you get on the phone 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:45.520 and you say to them, if they're talking like that 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:49.120 to you, they're talking like that to me. It really 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:51.720 felt like there was a kind of a loyalty there. 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:55.920 So sometimes did you did you when you came on 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:58.400 the first job with him, after you did Barry Lyndon? 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:01.120 You shot Barry Lyndon? Of what period? You shot that 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:04.240 up for nine years? I'm kidding, Um, you shot that 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:07.079 what years? Um? I was actually told i'd got the 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:10.320 role and I went down to Salisbury where they were 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:14.439 shooting in the January of god, what was it seventy 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:18.800 three something like that? Um, time time has no meaning 0:11:18.800 --> 0:11:23.360 when you've worked with him, you know, um seventy three 0:11:23.520 --> 0:11:27.959 and I was supposed to be there for um thirteen 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:30.560 days or eight weeks, and in the end I was 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:36.000 there until the end of July seventy three. So um. 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:39.720 After that, of course, there was an incredibly long cutting 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:43.720 period and what heavy um. And then he he rang 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:49.600 me because I'd actually done another film job. I think 0:11:49.640 --> 0:11:51.720 we saw it. They went back to acting. I went, 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:54.120 I went to acting, and I thought I could use 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:57.400 what little clout I had to calm my way into 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:01.320 Did you say, yeah, so you would. We were in 0:12:01.320 --> 0:12:04.920 the editor for Frankistan Yeah, yeah, yeah. What does he 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:08.679 make next? After after after a barrel, Linda? What does 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:11.000 he make? I should know? The Shining Shining? And he 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:13.600 sent me that book. He sent me a book. I 0:12:13.679 --> 0:12:16.280 told him what I was doing that I love that. 0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:18.079 So it was an actor you can make ten films. 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:20.839 What he's thinking of his next film? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:22.480 And he said he'll come with me make my next film. 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:27.880 He started. The Shining went like nineteen no, nineteen seventy seven. 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:32.360 I was sent out here to America to look for 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:36.240 Danny and then he called me. Towards the end of 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:39.880 that process, I mean it took seven months during she 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:43.280 not to find him, but to make sure there wasn't 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:45.720 anyone better than him, because I found him very early 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:51.040 in the process, funny enough. And so just towards the 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:53.960 end of that process, he said, well, while you're there, 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:57.240 go and take some interior photographs of hotels. And I 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:01.320 started doing that and that got you know, that wasn't 0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:03.360 I thought it would just be going and take a 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:06.160 snap of a room, you know, but it wasn't. I mean, 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:09.000 we were talking about exposures and you've got to do this, 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:11.920 you got to do that night. But the only thing 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:15.840 I've never had was an instematic, you know. But it 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:17.880 was wonderful because he sort of stepped me through it 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:21.480 step by step, and he said, by the time life 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:26.320 series photography photography books, and so I did that and 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:29.120 so kind of reading those and learning and then he 0:13:29.200 --> 0:13:32.400 was telling me and so towards the very end, just 0:13:32.440 --> 0:13:35.920 before we came home, he rang me and uh, and 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:38.920 he said, what are you planning on doing after you 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:42.640 finished here? And I said I don't know. He said, okay, 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:45.680 then you're coming to London and that was it. I mean, 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:50.480 suddenly i I've got a job again. So there's some 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:52.800 people who are missing from the film in my mind, 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:55.599 or we don't appear in the film either Tom or 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:57.880 in the cold to talk about the eyes Watch experience, 0:13:58.000 --> 0:14:01.640 or members of Kubrick's family, We did you approaching them 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:05.520 to do the film. Um, I'll be honest and UM 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:08.840 say that it's really hard. If you watched, I mean 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:12.640 you just saw the film. Um. Ryan O'Neil is there 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:18.440 because Leon was his co star le Ermie obviously always 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:22.000 pretty much everything he has for Leon and and he's 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:27.440 always working. Um. We go into the status issue and 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:30.000 a lot of people are not interested in filming with 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:34.840 you to talk about an assistant, and so obviously Ryan 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:38.880 would do it because they were co actors. UM. A 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:42.320 lot of people UM in Hollywood either it's either not 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:45.280 going to get the truth or they didn't know what 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:47.760 was going on on the set. And big stars are 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:50.200 like they're wrapped up in their own world. They're really 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:53.720 not aware of what's happening because they show up obviously 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:56.640 there's a lot of work to do. UM, so very 0:14:56.680 --> 0:14:59.280 little they would really know what's going on with UM 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:06.080 the assistant who's running around and UM doing a billion things. Yeah. Yeah, 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:10.040 and families is the same thing, because, um, I don't 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:12.280 think they were going to sit with me again and say, well, 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:14.640 you know why, Yes, Stanley was really difficult and he 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:17.760 tortured ly on and I mean again, and you have 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:21.920 to be objective. It's I did approach some I wasn't 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:25.560 you know, some wan't say who. But some felt that, 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:28.560 like you know, they'll be undermining Stanley if they appear 0:15:29.080 --> 0:15:33.320 they knew the truth. But they just not going to 0:15:33.400 --> 0:15:36.480 sit in front of the camera and say, yes, this 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:39.320 man done all this stuff. So in the end, he 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:42.400 finished his eyes wide shot, he cuts eyewat eyes watching. 0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:45.560 It's his final cut, and he dies soon after that. 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:49.760 And the controversy is about about what not the final 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:51.640 It was it about protecting the final cut, or was 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:53.280 about that I was going to be printed the film? 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:56.560 The technology of that were you stepped in and helped 0:15:56.720 --> 0:16:02.720 to ensure what well, Fritzical we this um We were 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:07.400 in the midst of running tests with stocks, different stocks 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:10.320 of films for printing and what have you. Uh So 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:15.880 we resolved that impost. We talked about it, and we'd 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:20.760 favored we already sort of favoring one UM one kind 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:24.480 of film in particular, and we started sort of working 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:28.240 with and experimenting it. So I knew that was the 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:31.360 line we were going to be taking there and things 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:34.920 like all the rest of it, with the foot's and 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:37.680 the folio and the list and that, you know, all 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:40.520 those things. I followed the same pattern as we did 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:43.760 on full metal Jackets as close as we could, you know, 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:47.720 different films and what have you. But it was just 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:50.800 to follow a pattern, you know. I hate people to 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:54.080 think that. I just think, you know, wow, came up 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:57.200 with all these ideas, and you know, it was a 0:16:57.360 --> 0:16:59.560 standy sort of had a way of working. And I 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:02.200 was able to stick with it because it was so clear, 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:07.880 you know, and it sounds crazy, but the criteria was 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:12.520 to you wipe out whatever ideas you might have had 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:14.600 about it. Was just shocked, could it be more this, 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:19.840 or more beautiful, or or contrast e and get it right? 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:25.439 You just stick with what I knew he wanted whereabouts. 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:29.480 He wanted it to be here again. Tony Zaira's documentary 0:17:29.600 --> 0:17:32.760 film Workers that people think called somebody's in a system 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:37.040 for someone. You're doing layouts, you're you know, you're working 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:41.480 with lass, you're working with restoration, you're casting people, you're 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:45.399 working with the actors, and sometimes I was that the 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:48.200 title you were happy with, or was that you didn't 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:50.760 make any difference. You know something, when I traveled abroad 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:53.080 and I used to have to fill in these visas, 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:56.040 they used to say occupation. I always used to write 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:59.760 film worker. I mean, I'm a film worker. I'm a 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:05.480 That's what I do. So assistant to me is nothing 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:11.119 other than I am assisting somebody to fulfill what it 0:18:11.240 --> 0:18:15.280 is they want to get up on a screen. I 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:18.439 was Donald coj. But but seeing what you do to 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:22.399 kind of barnacle yourself to that ship to work with 0:18:22.480 --> 0:18:26.680 someone like that, I'm for one, look at this film 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:28.760 and I was just in tears when I watched this 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:31.080 film the first time in my computer because it was, 0:18:31.119 --> 0:18:32.960 like God, it was worthy. You said the goal was 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:35.480 to got it right. Do you think you guys got 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:39.040 it right with the movies that you made. The answer 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:44.840 is yes, yes, you got it right. That's Leon de 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:47.840 Tally and the man who made a movie about him, 0:18:47.880 --> 0:18:52.560 Tony Zeira. The documentary is called film Worker. Another director 0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:55.479 with a reputation for respecting the men and women behind 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:59.480 the scenes is Chris Columbus, maker of many of America's 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:04.040 favorite family films, from Adventures in Babysitting to Harry Potter 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:08.840 and The Sorcerer's Stone. That respect has deep roots. My 0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:12.800 future was basically working at either my father's aluminum factory 0:19:12.880 --> 0:19:16.600 or my mother's automotive factory in the Only Escape. Really, 0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:20.480 we're movies back then, and I would watch whatever film 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:23.920 came into town over and over, and I remember something 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:26.880 clicked when I saw Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:30.639 Here the rest of my conversation with Chris Columbus that 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:33.840 Here's the Thing dot org coming up, more of my 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:37.960 conversation with Stanley Kubrick's assistant Leon the Tally on the 0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:51.960 lack of women in many of his films. I'm Alec Baldwin, 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:55.080 and you were listening to Here's the Thing. In his 0:19:55.280 --> 0:19:59.200 new movie Film Worker, Tony Ziera has documented the whole 0:19:59.320 --> 0:20:03.040 messy pro says of making a Kubrick film. A man 0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:06.439 as obsessed as Stanley with controlling the shot might not 0:20:06.520 --> 0:20:12.879 have been pleased. Even though Zeira's documentary Film Worker is 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:16.480 an inspiring story. There's one thing I and others have 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:19.920 noticed about Kubrick's uber One thing I want to ask 0:20:19.960 --> 0:20:21.719 both of your opinion of which is, of course, there 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:25.439 are almost no women in Kubrick's films and uh women 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:29.040 without when you look at Lolita, obviously one is a 0:20:29.080 --> 0:20:33.520 young uh sexual object tormenting him and the other is 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:37.040 his kind of silly her silly mother. There has to 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:39.760 be dealt with a certain way. And from Paths of 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:42.800 Glory on, you know, you've got some flight attendants as 0:20:42.840 --> 0:20:45.360 they're taking the space shuttle up to the in two 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:47.960 thousand one. You don't have a lot of women in 0:20:48.040 --> 0:20:49.840 future role. Then you get to Nicole obviously and the 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:52.399 big featured roman eyes watching. Well, what do you think 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:55.439 that was about with him? Actually, you know, researching and 0:20:55.600 --> 0:20:58.439 talking to Leon he said the greatest thing to me, 0:20:58.440 --> 0:21:00.920 which is he said that Lulita would she was that 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:03.160 she is the one that actually she was the hero 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:04.920 at then she's the one that walked away and got 0:21:04.920 --> 0:21:09.240 her all figured out. And you could elaborate on that afterwards. Um. 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:11.440 But even the past the glory, the last scene with 0:21:11.880 --> 0:21:14.960 Christiana Kubrick's wife, I think when the women came in 0:21:15.040 --> 0:21:19.280 they were there for a very strong um message and 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:22.400 they kind of turned things around you could see obviously 0:21:22.400 --> 0:21:26.040 in I but I think Leon Ready had he could 0:21:26.080 --> 0:21:29.040 really talk about that a lot better than me. What 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:30.480 do you think that? Do you have any movies on 0:21:30.520 --> 0:21:32.640 the drawing board that were from a woman's point of view? Ever? 0:21:32.720 --> 0:21:37.000 Or no? Uh no, I wouldn't. I wouldn't say he. 0:21:38.240 --> 0:21:40.480 I don't think he ever thought about making a movie 0:21:40.480 --> 0:21:42.800 about you know, a man or a woman, or a 0:21:42.800 --> 0:21:45.560 man's world or a woman's world or whatever. I mean, 0:21:45.960 --> 0:21:48.560 it was always a story. First they called him, and 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:53.240 then very often, sadly, you know, the protagonists in most 0:21:53.280 --> 0:21:57.320 literature up until recently have been it shall be male basically, 0:21:57.320 --> 0:22:00.520 you know. Um, But this is what I've always I've 0:22:00.560 --> 0:22:02.840 always said. You know, if you do look at Lolita 0:22:03.040 --> 0:22:07.480 and you do think about what that poorgo went through 0:22:07.640 --> 0:22:12.040 and even you know she wasn't in great harmony with 0:22:12.119 --> 0:22:15.760 her mother either, Um, but she came through it all. 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:19.080 She got through it all. She was pretty tough at 0:22:19.080 --> 0:22:20.600 the end of it, if you look at it and 0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:23.760 you think about it. And she walked out for all 0:22:23.880 --> 0:22:27.640 of a better word, a winner. He died in prison, 0:22:28.280 --> 0:22:33.080 you know. Um. You know Seller's characters who one was 0:22:33.200 --> 0:22:38.840 shot and the other she escaped from too um in shining, 0:22:38.920 --> 0:22:45.359 who survives? I mean Shelley. She survived with a little boy, 0:22:45.520 --> 0:22:49.639 and um and and so I and I think the 0:22:50.440 --> 0:22:54.000 when you think about Barry Lindon, you know who survived 0:22:54.320 --> 0:22:58.040 and kept you know, even though he wanted, he tried 0:22:58.080 --> 0:23:02.080 his best to destroyed, she has, she kept her standing 0:23:02.160 --> 0:23:06.439 and her you know her what can you call it? 0:23:06.680 --> 0:23:09.720 A position in life of status and whatever? You so, 0:23:10.200 --> 0:23:12.760 you know, I really do. I don't think you thought 0:23:12.760 --> 0:23:17.359 about it in a sort of feminine, chauvinistic sort of terms. 0:23:17.359 --> 0:23:21.080 And when you come to eyes right shut is definitely 0:23:21.880 --> 0:23:26.240 it's definitely Nicole's rule. Who is the stronger one? I 0:23:26.280 --> 0:23:28.719 mean from the very off, you know, when he's getting 0:23:28.720 --> 0:23:31.080 ready to go to the party, and the first thing 0:23:31.160 --> 0:23:33.399 she does is, you know, she tells him where his 0:23:33.480 --> 0:23:35.240 keys are and blah blah blah. And as they're leaving, 0:23:36.040 --> 0:23:40.760 she looks up and down like just like that, and 0:23:40.760 --> 0:23:43.640 he sort of told me everything just that one gesture. 0:23:44.040 --> 0:23:47.560 You know that she she's she's looking at him, she's 0:23:47.640 --> 0:23:50.119 checking him out, and she's the one who thinks about 0:23:50.200 --> 0:23:53.720 things and blah blah blah. You know it's I never 0:23:53.760 --> 0:23:59.879 thought about his films as being chauvinistic at all. Was 0:24:00.040 --> 0:24:02.560 giving a good performance in a Kubrick film A difficult 0:24:02.600 --> 0:24:05.520 thing to do, uh, in terms of the pressure and 0:24:05.560 --> 0:24:07.720