 |
| GWTW Publicity: Leigh, Gable, Mitchell, Selznick, De Havilland |
David O.
Selznick. Producer in “old”
Hollywood. Said to have added the middle
initial for flourish and musicality. In
many ways, the master mind behind 1939’s groundbreaking Gone with the Wind (GWTW).
He was also a
man who got invested in the seemingly unimportant details like lace trim on
petticoats and pantolettes. Items that didn’t
particularly matter to a movie audience.
One of the actresses playing Scarlett’s sisters recounted a story in the
documentary about making GWTW. She basically pulled Mr. Selznick aside and told
him he was wasting a ton of money and time including this level of workmanship
on their costumes. In almost any shot, no
one would even know it was there.
“You’ll know it’s there,” he reportedly
said. “Now finish getting fitted.”
 |
| Mammy helping Scarlett dress |
The creative
mind knows more than it shows. There is always
a backstage we don’t get to see from the audience. The producer believes in nuance that is
layered. Ready to be peeled away if the
right moment comes (i.e. a telling scene between Scarlett and Mammy).
I was
chatting with a coworker the other day, and she also happens to believe writing
is important to sanity. Editing, we
agreed, is both the bane and blessing of every writer. Sometimes we edit even before the words make
it onto the page. Hours of research may
yield only a paragraph. We may know the
full case history of every character before we ever introduce them to someone
else. I’d call it all a calculated
risk.
It’s like
sewing lace on an antebellum petticoat, the whole time asking yourself if anyone
will ever even know. The labor? The love?
It’s an
intimate process, but it must be done.
Somewhere out
there, someone is asking “why?” Because if
you’re going to commit to this act of creativity, you have to COMMIT. You have to pull a Selznick and have your characters wear fine lace undergarments while
you schedule a huge fire.
Yes, a fire.
First of all, you have to schedule a fire is because you have to clear the way for new production. In GWTW,
there’s a huge sequence around the burning of Atlanta. In the 1930s, however, CG was not as
sophisticated as we’ve grown accustomed to.
Based on the lace anecdote, you shouldn’t be surprised when I tell you
that Selznick wasn’t going to be fine and dandy with some miniatures being
burned or an artistic rendering of faux flames at work. Instead, the solution was burning down sets
of previous films, creating nearly 2 hours of footage for the famous scenes.
That was
different twist on “out with the old and in with the new.” Or as (arguably) Faulkner said, “Kill your darlings.” No previous labor should stand so powerful in
your mental landscape that you can’t set fire to it for the sake of building
something new. As one of my mentors
would say, “cling loosely” to those darlings.
A word of
warning however: don’t expect to get off
scot-free. You may lose something in
setting fire to the old stuff. That
little fire stunt cost the GWTW
project roughly $25k. And residents in
surrounding areas were calling the fire department in genuine worry; they
didn’t know it was a planned burn. In
essence, stripping away the old doesn’t come without a price or
misunderstanding bystanders.
The second
reason for that enormous fire is as a backdrop for new action. A beneficial corollary of burning down old
movie sets was that Selznick’s crew could then build new sets for the rest of the film.
Consider it
Gestalt in action. The fire and lace
interludes become a part of the producer.
If nothing else, it is added to his repertoire as something completed in
the past and therefore possible in the future.
Even better, it leads his imagination toward a blank slate. A freshly installed playground for …
Matte
paintings. Interior sets on GWTW didn’t have ceilings; they were all
matte paintings. This allowed Selznick
to propagate the embarrassingly elegant (to Margaret Mitchell) vibe. He was going for visual extremes. Realism wasn’t a priority unless he wanted it
to be. What producer would claim any
different?
Tenuous,
step-by-step on the wire is the life of a producer. Let's get real: creator.
By most accounts, Selznick never flourished again quite like he did in
the furnace of GWTW. If we’re honest, we can only guess why. It doesn’t matter though. Most of those subsequent films are
inconsequential to the average person. And so I will leave you with one thought: if you were
only remembered for one thing you did, would that be enough?
Think about
it.
 |
| Selznick with Leigh at the Academy Awards |
No comments:
Post a Comment