Page 16 - Fujifilm Exposure_13 Shiner_ok

GIL TAYLOR B S C
continued from previous page
Green. He loved working for the likes of Georges Perinal and Max Greene, and feels that this opportu- nity was the kind of education lacking in today’s bud- ding cinematographers. Of the current crop of cine- matographers he cites the work of Vittorio Storaro.
He seems happy enough, and if he is not living the peaceful retirement he has earned it is only because he chooses to set himself new goals. His cheerful manner only disappears twice, once when he talks of the trend in producing faster stocks (anathema to him) and again when he recalls his frustrations at working on Star Wars. It is a film for which he must claim significant credit, but his rela- tionship with George Lucas started badly and got worse. Suffice to say they have not stayed in touch.
Lucas hired Taylor on the basis of his work on A Hard Day’s Night and Dr Strangelove, the latter being made for another director with a distinct vision - Stanley Kubrick. Taylor has described work- ing for the great man as if “his hand was on the brush and I was the paint coming off it.” Kubrick was, he elaborates, “a frustrated cameraman. He had a lot of talent, but it was a talent for using peo- ple. He got the best he could find, and then he’d ask your opinion every half an hour.”
Yet mention another of his directors during this period, Roman Polanski, and Taylor’s eyes light up.
“Roman gets inspired by things. I hated going home at the weekends when I worked on Cul-de-Sac and Repulsion. To me they were wonderful films to work on, with this man who could act them all off the screen. He used sometimes to spend three or four hours lining up, because he wanted every little bit to be perfect. We used to use zooms in the prop- er way; we’d alter the frame size as we went round the room and did things. And I did 50 per cent of the operating hand held. I loved every minute of it.”
Gil Taylor worked in movies for almost another 26 years after that occasionally taking extended leave to concentrate on his dairy herds, or doing up and selling run down houses, or painting landscapes.
“Most people never understand what they’re capable of doing,” he smiles. “A lifetime is incredi-
Photos main: Cary Fisher and Mark Hamill in Star Wars; inset above: Tony Hancock on the set of The Rebel; bottom from left: Catherine Deneuve in Repulsion; Mark Hamill, C-3P0 (Kenny Baker) and R2-D2 (Anthony Daniels) in Star Wars; Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove; Anthony Quayle, Harry Andrews, Sylvia Syms and John Mills in Ice Cold In Alex (Photos courtesy of BFI Stills, Moviestore and Kobal)
EXPOSURE • 14 & 15