Page 16 - Fujifilm Exposure_3 Michael Winner_ok

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wouldn’t mind killing her. The point is that every- one, no matter who they are, has, at some moment in their lives, wanted to kill somebody or another.”
Sex? Violence? Blood? No. Parting Shots, unlike some of Winner’s more famous past screen excesses - from Death Wish to Dirty Weekend - is strictly a comedy. “No blood, no sex, we’re talking PG here,” he grins, with a family box-office in mind.
Although he’s now very rich or ‘extremely wealthy’, as he would say, and doesn’t really need to work, Winner remains a tireless trouper, who when he’s not penning his two weekly newspaper columns - “very easy and relaxing, rather like cleaning the car” - continues actively to look for films to develop: “I still love the whole process of shooting and post-production. Shooting’s still a bit like a smash-and-grab raid. It’s only when you go back later that you find out whether you got the real gems or simply a fake. But that’s showbiz.
“Look it’s simple, I was flavour-of-the-month in Hollywood for about 15 years. The situation then came when I had to choose between a lifestyle and a career. Did I really want to spend the rest of my
life in rented accommodation over there, always putting myself about for work? There’s a wonder- ful moment when you go through what I call the fear barrier. You don’t care if you’re not making a film every six months and you don’t care if people say, ‘wasn’t your last film a year-and-a-half ago?’
“That’s the point at which you’ve achieved a life which doesn’t depend on the undoubted drug of moviemaking. It may be less of a career living over here - I’m under no illusions about that. But frankly, I’ve never been happier than I am now.”
Nor, I suspect, does Winner ever care too much what other people say about him, anyway. “Yes, of course I give a damn. Criticism of me? I must have contributed to it to some degree but I’m the first to take the mickey out of myself.
“If you took quotes by me, Winner about Winner, they’re as ribald as anyone else’s. People, for instance, say I’m always seeking publicity. But I never have. Journalists phone me up every single day for various quotes and naturally I get hurt if what is then written is total invention. Now I just write them extremely rude letters, so beware!”
These days, Winner describes himself quite
honestly as “a filmmaker who also writes articles. I’ve got another script ready to go and I’m always employing writers. Stars like Marlon Brando and many other actors would often say to me, ‘we never knew you could make films like this; it’s just wonderful. We don’t have to wait three hours between one line and the next.’ I’m very decisive and know exactly what I want. As I always edit my films, I can easily project myself on set, as it were, into the cutting room and think, ‘what piece of film will I need at this or that point during shooting?
“Mind you, nobody ever finishes a film and doesn’t say he wouldn’t have done something dif- ferently. There always some tiny thing, and some- times it’s more than just tiny! Critics have said of me ‘he’s always on time and on budget’ as if it was a putdown. A number of my films have gone over budget and schedule. But I always know what I’m doing. I always keep the script short, shoot only what I need and basically keep a very tight rein on things and especially ratios. If I cut 10 minutes dur- ing editing , that’s a lot for me. I simply won’t man- ufacture a lot footage just to throw it out.
“Do I watch other people’s films? Yes. I was
Photos this page: with Burt Lancaster on Lawman (1971) • with Marianne Faithfull on I’ll Never Forget What’s ‘is Name (1967) • with Marlon Brando on The Nightcomers (1971) and in 1997 with Felicity Kendal on Parting Shots • and Joanna Lumley, Chris Rea with Felicity Kendal from Parting Shots.
EXPOSURE • 16 & 17
Photographs by - Terry O’Neill - Sophie Baker - David Farrell - Tobi Corney - Tom Hilton - courtesy of Michael Winner