“George Stevens had problems with Jimmy only a couple of times and that’s been blown way out of proportion. I was there when George shot that scene where Jimmy paces off the property that he inherited from Bick Benedict’s sister. We were shooting on a ranch, in Marfa, Texas, on location. There were just four of us there that day including the cameraman. It was like a second unit.” “George told Dean what he wanted– ‘I just want you to walk right straight for that fence post,’ indicating that Jimmy should measure the land with his boot steps. Dean said okay, and Stevens told the cameraman to roll it. Jimmy hardly got a few feet when Stevens yelled, ‘Cut.’ We all kind of stood there for a minute. Nobody said anything. Then, George took a page from the back of the script and started tearing it up into little pieces. Without saying a word, Stevens threw a little piece of paper down and put a rock on it. Then he went about ten feet and did the same thing. ‘What the hell is he doing?’ Jimmy asked me. I said, ‘I don’t have any idea.’ Stevens made this trail out to the fence post, then walked back, and said to Jimmy, ‘Do you think you could follow that line?’ Dean replied, ‘Yeah, I think I can.’ The camera started to roll. Jimmy walked over to the first rock, picked it up and tossed it away. Stevens yelled cut but Jimmy ignored him– he kept walking, picking up every one of those pieces of paper. Then he came back and dropped them right in the director’s lap.” “Bill, the cameraman, and I were dumbfounded. Dean stared at Stevens and said, ‘Look, if I need marks, I’ll put down my own marks. All you need to do is to tell me what you want me to do, like a director is supposed to. Then I’ll do it. Otherwise, I’m going to get my ass on a plane and go back to California.’ Stevens reacted real calm. He said, ‘Well, okay, let’s just shoot it.” “The camera began rolling again. But this time Jimmy Dean was pissed off. He reared back, and began strutting over to this windmill instead of heading toward the fence. I realized Dean was improvising, but the director wasn’t angry. He told the cameraman, ‘Stay on him, Bill. Stay with him.’ George Stevens was excited by Dean’s reaction, even though none of this was in the script. Dean climbed up on the windmill, crossed his legs, and sat up there. All the time, Stevens kept telling the cameraman, ‘Hold on to him. Keep on him. You got him, haven’t you? That’s perfect, perfect. Oh, man.’ I think George set up the whole scene. He got the reaction from James Dean that he wanted. It was part of this reverse psychology that made him so good as a director.” –Bob Hinkle, “Giant” dialogue coach https://youtube/watch?v=pLcgzEMxqGs
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 17:59:10 +0000
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