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A PROPOSITO DE BUNUEL (REGARDING LUIS BUNUEL) -- SCREENPLAY |
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[Roberto Cordoba, Bartender] He loved to drink his famous martinis, he loved them. Prepared like he said. [Serge Silberman, Producer] You normally put in the Noilly Prat (the vermouth) in the mixing glass so that the ice soaks up the Noilly Prat. Then the whisky, a few drops of bitters, then you pour it in the glass. [Luis Bunuel] Everyone knows I'm not an alcoholic. At times I have been falling-down drunk, but usually it's a delicate ritual that leads not to drunkenness, but to a calm feeling of well-being, like the effect of a light drug. It helps me live and work. I've always had something to drink. [Pere Portabella, Producer "Viridiana"] He said, "You're missing something. You don't drink, and a person that doesn't drink is missing something." He'd get up and guzzle down a "bunueloni," his drink. [Luis Bunuel] What's in a "bunueloni?" Three parts gin, two parts Carpano, and one sweet Cinzano. [Jean Claude Carriere, Screenwriter] He looked at me, his eyes attentive, with his famous sideways stare, and asked, "Do you drink wine?" "Do you drink wine?" That was a deep question. What kind of man I was. When I answered that not only did I drink, but that I made wine, his face lit up, he glowed, and he ordered two bottles. From then on we had something in common. [AB-11] [Luis Bunuel] In Mexico, we had fun in the bar of the Hotel San Jose Purua in Michoacan, where for 30 years I went to write screenplays. The hotel is on the side of a semi-tropical canyon, and the window opened up to a splendid view. Outside the window, hiding the view, there was a "zirando," a tree with light branches that intertwined like a nest of snakes. I let my eyes wander over those branches, following them like plots of endless stories, and seeing among them owls or at times a naked woman. [Serge Silberman, Producer] He loved to go to Madrid, to Chicote, because of their martinis. [Luis Bunuel] I've spent lovely hours in bars. A bar is a place for meditation, necessary for life. An old custom, stronger with the years. I've spent hours daydreaming in bars, rarely talking to the bartender, and almost always alone, invaded by the most surprising of imaginings. In Madrid, I love Chicote. It's a place for company, not solitude. [Jose Bello, Friend] He began to worry about his health and his hearing. He'd say, "I can go till a certain time, but if we go out to dinner, I have to be in bed by 10:30 ..." Irrational things. I'd say, "Then don't have another martini." "Yes, but I like them." "I know, but since you're taking care of yourself ..." He drank martinis like they were going out of style. I like drinking too, I can hold a lot. Then he said to the waiter, "Martinis aren't served in these glasses." He was like that. You remember? [The Discreet Charm] "Martinis should be served in a cone-shaped glass." "Like this one." [Jose Bello, Friend] It was like a religion for him. [Jose Luis Barros, Doctor and Friend] He took care of himself except for smoking and drinking. [Luis Bunuel] In the last few years, my sexual desire has disappeared bit by bit, even in dreams. I'm glad. I've been freed from a tyrant. If Mephistopheles offered to return to me what they call virility, I'd answer, "No, thank you. But strengthen my liver and lungs so I can drink and smoke." [Eduardo Ducay, Producer "Tristana"] For him, Toledo was the center of many things. The day after the ministry authorized the shooting, he grabbed the car, went to Toledo with the production people, and had all the locations set in one morning. He already knew where everything had to happen. [Tristana] "I didn't bring you, you insisted." [Eduardo Ducay, Producer "Tristana"] Except for Catherine Deneuve and Franco Nero, the film cost 27 million pesetas.
[Jesus Fernandez, Actor] I'm not sure if it's true, but I think Catherine Deneuve cost 20 million, and he [Fernando Rey] was given 300 or 700 thousand. I got by with just 40,000. [Eduardo Ducay, Producer "Tristana"] He said, "How can this screenplay interest a French actress? It's too Spanish." He was surprised, and didn't think it was universal. He thought making it a co-production was crazy, and only the Spanish would like it because it was local subject matter. He was completely wrong. [Tristana] "It smells good." "They're migas. Try some." "I've always liked migas." [Jesus Fernandez, Actor] You see that she's not Spanish there, that Deneuve's never eaten migas. She eats them like a tourist. With that expression on her face. A Spanish woman would just spoon those migas in.
[Rafael Garcia Martos, Electrician "Tristana"] The time she gets her leg cut off, Bunuel wanted her to be ugly, but Aguayo wanted her beautiful. They had to repeat shots because she was just too beautiful, and he didn't want that. Also, once we were in a street in Toledo at night, and he tells Aguayo, "I know this won't work, but do you see that lamppost? When she goes by the lamppost, I want us to see her, and when she goes, I want her to disappear. I want the light in the film like it is here in this street." [Jesus Fernandez, Actor] The people thing was on the first day. "Throw pebbles." I was eating peanuts and he said, "Throw pebbles." When I saw it [Catherine's leg prosthesis], I thought, "That bastard Bunuel!" [Jean Claude Carriere, Screenwriter] That aspect of the "perverse child," the "Bunuelesque child" that was important to him in his life, became very strict in his films. His films are anything but arbitrary. They follow a narrow path through many dangers: too much fantasy, too much absurdity, too much mystification, too many jokes ... He was always careful to tread on a narrow path without falling to one side. He wanted his films to have a power of strangeness without being strange. [Unidentified Movie] "Commissioner, there's a call for you."
[Jean Rochefort, Actor] The police commissioner called. "Your sister is on the phone." "But she's dead!" Cut. We go to the next scene, the family tomb. Don Luis says, "Camera!" Then he says "Cut!" "Go get me a phone." His assistant goes and gets a phone. On a stack of coffins, Bunuel pushes one of the coffins and puts the phone on the coffin beneath it. So, we can immediately imagine an arm coming out to call the brother. I said, "That, Don Luis, is a great idea." He answered. "Yes, Rochefort, and it's cheap." [Luis Bunuel] Much has been said about my films, that I thought about them, about instantaneous apparitions of things that attract me. I easily criticize, but I like them and I don't belong to any political party or church. I like them. Some people don't? Fine. Others do? That's great. I don't systematically look for eroticism or subversion or anything. I'm just like that." [Jean Claude Carriere, Screenwriter] Everything except the breakdown was done in advance. He did that on the last day. He'd arrive with his view-finder. He never used a written breakdown, and never changed anything in the script. It was completely [in]coherent down to the last detail before filming started.
[Laurent Terzieff, Actor] We'd be filming for about two weeks, and he'd say with that great accent, "It seems you were good on film." I was surprised and asked, "Why 'seems'?" "The film editor told me." Because he never went to see the filmed material.
[Jean Pierre Cassel, Actor] He was talking to the cameraman, and I heard them. I think he wanted me to. He was asked, "What kind of lens do I use? A 50?" "A 50. If the actor's good, put on a 75." Of course, I was very good and got a close-up.
[Bulle Ogier, Actress] Whoever walked fastest got the close-up, they'd get to the camera first. Everyone went very fast, because all actors love close-ups. [Claudio Isaac, Friend] He had a curious theory, that the worse a Mexican actor was, the more he'd move his head. "Tell your mama I brought her some tamales." The best actor was the one whose neck was stillest. [Jacqueline Andere, Actress] He taught me something very important: not to move my eyebrows, because I was always, "What? What?" [Juan Luis Bunuel, Son] In Mexico, they use, "Ill kill you ..." ... their eyebrows a lot. "Less eyebrows, less nodding." That's all he'd say. [Paco Rabal, Actor and Friend] "Cut! Good, Paco, good. A little exaggerated. I'll imitate you.: 'Is this my father?' It's just too much." I said, "Right, now I've got it. You want me to be indifferent." "But you know know how." "Come on!" So we do another take. I say, "Is this my father?" "Too much." "Cut. Very good, Paco. Very good this time." "You see? I knew it." And he says, "Print the other one." [Claudio Isaac, Friend] Hitchcock said actors were cattle. So Carole Lombard had a stable built on the set and when Hitchcock arrived, the actors were in the stable mooing. I tell Luis about this, and he says, "Cattle? They're cockroaches! I'll smash them with a newspaper!" [Luis Bunuel] A lazy person's profession. I'd like to do that. In another life, a lazy person's job. I get to the studio, get made up ... it's uncomfortable, but I'm well-paid. I sit down and the director says, "Close up. You say, 'I won't go to the dance.' Camera." "I won't go to the dance." "Don't talk with your hands. Take two." "I won't go to the dance." "Over-acted. Take three." "I won't go to the dance." "Fine." It's the easiest thing in the world. [Angela Molina, Actress] He said, "Right before I say 'Action,' tell Fernando his feet stink." I never would have thought that, right then I was thinking about love. I said, "Fernando, sorry, but your feet really smell." "Action!" Fernando's face was red the whole scene. I don't know if he was still acting or not. It was a beautiful scene. When it was over we started laughing and Fernando knew something was up. [Unidentified Movie] "Conchita. Where are you going, Conchita?" "Conchita!" "Conchita!" [Jean Claude Carriere, Screenwriter] It's not the kind of idea that comes out of nowhere. We were doing the last version of the script in San Jose de Purua, and we began to talk about how the character of the woman in "The Woman and the Puppet" doesn't really exist. The character is completely unpredictable, and we thought we could have two actresses play the same role. As if the man had an ideal of a woman who wasn't that particular woman. We could have one actress who was elegant, discreet, refined. A little haughty. The other one would be more common, cheerful, and apparently easy.
[Carole Bouquet, Actress] He said, "You're not the only actress." "Really?" "No, a Spanish actress is coming to audition with you." [Jean Claude Carriere, Screenwriter] Bunuel had started filming with one actress, then he saw that wouldn't work for some reason. He called Silberman, and he must have remembered the work we'd done. I wasn't there that day. And that possibility of dividing the role was taken up again. So he selected two of the actresses who'd done the audition, Carole Bouquet and Angela Molina. [Carole Bouquet, Actress] I wanted that role so much I'd have shared it with four, six, eight, or twelve actresses! [Angela Molina, Actress] The fusion of two women in one was perfect. Carole gave the character what I couldn't. [Carole Bouquet, Actress] Angela wanted to talk to him constantly. I was shyer, less experienced. She'd tap him on the back and say, "Don Luis." He would, "What did she say?" And he'd leave. [Angela Molina, Actress] Carole had a big notebook full of questions and she'd say to him, "Don Luis, I have some questions." He'd say, "No, none of those actor questions." [Carole Bouquet, Actress] His eyes were laughing the whole time. His eyes were watching everything, but they were never serious. He was like a child, always ready for mischief. [Jean Claude Carriere, Screenwriter] One day I went to his room, and found him dead. When I say dead, I mean sprawled out on the floor, his shirt undone, one foot on the table. I was shocked, but it was just a joke. [Lucia Bose, Actress] I decided to play a joke on Bunuel. He'd ordered 20 bicycles. I added a few zeros and made it 20,000 bicycles. The production people didn't know what to do. 20,000 bicycles? They went to ask him if he could get by with 200 bicycles. He said, "I only ordered 20." Surprised, they said, "The order of the day asks for 20,000." He realized I'd done it. [Stephane Audran, Actress] Bunuel was a child. A naughty child, a rascal. [Lucia Bose, Actress] So the next day he started to say, "And she wants a child, too ..." Everyone said, "What? She's happy." And he said, "Haven't you heard? The bullfighter was gored and now he's impotent." He paid back the joke. [Jean Claude Carriere, Screenwriter] Once we were in a hotel lobby, sitting waiting for someone. It was in Spain. We saw a man come through who was very, very old. He walked like this, very slowly, with a cane. Bunuel watched him and said to the people next to him, that he didn't know, "Did you see Bunuel? Look at Bunuel. A year ago he was fine, but look at him now." [Luis Bunuel] Another thing before I die, the will. I'll die, and ten days later the lawyer will call my sons and Jeanne for the will. My immense fortune is in the will. The lawyer will call them, those named are Dona Juana Bunuel, Jose Luis, Rafael ... We can't start because Mr. Nelson Rockefeller said he'd be here at 12:00 and so Nelson comes and the will is read: 'I leave my fortune [to Nelson] and leave my family penniless." So I die and my corpse is spat on by my friends, my wife, my kids ... An ugly way to scorn humanity, dying spat on by all my friends." [Carlos Saura, Film Director and Friend] He wrote me a beautiful letter saying that his last few years had appeared quickly and terribly, and all he had left was to wait for death. He said it very lucidly.
[Elena Poniatowska, Writer and Friend] At the end, the one who he talked to most, and he lived in a Franciscan cell with a cot for a bed, was Father Julian. [Father Julian Pablo, Priest and Friend] He wasn't afraid of death. He was obsessed with it, but not afraid. He was more afraid of physical deterioration. [Jean Claude Carriere, Screenwriter] He held me in his arms for his despedida (farewell), a Spanish word that is a lovely word. When I held him in my arms, I felt his bones. He was thin, close to death. I could feel it. He looked at me, then turned without a word and left. That was the last time. Father Julian and I went out together, and Julian said, I remember, "Hard, isn't it?" [Serge Silberman, Producer] He felt he was going to die. He made some martinis. He called for his wife and sons. He took out his will and read it. Since he couldn't drink, he moistened his fingers and put them on his lips. Three days later, he went to the hospital, where he died. [Jean Claude Carriere, Screenwriter] He had the death he wanted. I mean, he wouldn't have wanted to die unconscious. He wanted to feel himself die as the last action of his life. As Jeanne told us, his last words were "I'm dying now." [Serge Silberman, Producer] Everything that happens disappears in the end. I'll always live with Bunuel near me. It was 20 years, the best years of my life. I didn't think I'd make films without him. I didn't want to after him. When I did, it was because Kurosawa made me. I loved ... I loved Luis as a human being ... It's strange ... That's life. [Paco Rabal, Actor and Friend] "I only regret one thing: not knowing what will happen. Leaving the world when it's moving, like in the middle of a novel. I'll make a confession: as much as I hate information, I'd like to be able to rise from the dead every ten years, walk to a newsstand, and buy a few newspapers. I wouldn't ask for anything more. With my papers under my arm, pale, brushing against the walls, I'd return to the cemetery and read about the world's disasters before going back to sleep satisfied, in the calming refuge of the grave." THE END. _______________ American Buddha Librarian's Comments: [AB-11] This man is so full of shit. "Deep question," my ass! "What kind of person are you, a drinker or a non-drinker?" -- OH, THAT'S VERY, VERY DEEP! What's deep is not what you think, but whether you drink! SHOCKINGLY RETARDED MINDS! I keep thinking of the mafia here. They are the big alcohol pushers. Among other things. Like guns.
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