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ISMAIL MERCHANT
“If you don’t feel passionately about it, there’s no point in doing the film”
continued from page 8
Along with all the other various new MIP projects in the pipeline, Merchant is actively preparing his own next directing assignment - an adaptation of VS Naipaul’s Trinidad- set novel Mystic Masseur.
The location will be far removed from his last stint, Cotton Mary, set post-Raj in the faded grandeur of Cochin, South India. The film reunited many of the players who have dotted the MIP landscape down the years, like Madhur Jaffrey, James Wilby and Greta Scacchi.
Scacchi was just 22 when she
made her first star-making appear-
ance in Heat And Dust back in 1983.
On Cotton Mary she was pushing 40 as well as being the mother of a demanding three-month-old baby. She provided a fascinating insight into the family-ori- ented film-making world of Merchant Ivory.
“When I said to Ismail I couldn’t come out to India because the baby would be too young, that I’d still be feeding and would be too tired, he replied ‘not to worry.’ He told me the part was perfect for me and if the baby needed feeding they’d stop shooting. And sure enough, they did. I had to do my best to keep the baby away from the set because otherwise we’d never have got anything done. But Ismail was always helping me.
“When Ismail’s directing, he’s a very democratic person and that’s a characteristic I enjoyed. But he was still trying to do perhaps too many things. He can’t not be the producer. I remember asking before I went out to India about the accommodation and, for example, whether I could have a bath tub. The next thing I knew, Ismail was on to me saying, ‘What’s all this about a bath tub? Of course you can have one.’
“I wondered why these things had to be dis- cussed with my director. I suppose I kept trying to divide these things because I wanted to have a rela- tionship with him that was just about the work. But
he just can’t help wanting to organise everything. It was amazing he could do all that too.” Incidentally, her baby also got a role in the film.
From Merchant’s stance, “I think it’s very important when you bring people thousands of miles with chil- dren that you take personal charge. You must make them comfortable. So apart from my director’s duties, I believe I must also show hospitality... in this case, proper Indian hospitality.
“I always listen to my actors. When we make a movie, it’s not just a case of writing the script and giving the actors their parts. They have contribu- tions to make, too. Listening to people
is a wonderful way of making the film better, whether it’s the actors, composer [long-time collaborator, Richard Robbins] or cameraman [on Cotton Mary, another regular Pierre Lhomme]. But in the end, it’s my decision to do or not to do.” ■ QUENTIN FALK
The Golden Bowl, photographed by Tony Pierce-Roberts BSC, Cotton Mary, Surviving Picasso and A Room With A View, Heat And Dust and Jefferson In Paris were originat- ed on Fujicolor Motion Picture Negative ISMAIL MERCHANT’S PARIS: FILMING AND FEASTING IN
Photos top: Nick Nolte as Mr Verver in The Golden Bowl;
above from left: In Custody starring Shashi Kapoor; Jeremy Northam and Uma Thurman in The Golden Bowl James Fox in Remains Of The Day (courtesy BFI Stills & Posters)
EXPOSURE • 10