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to foresee and solve problems before they arise.
“You need to treat everybody equally well,” 63-year-old Michael Stevenson says, from the set of his current film, Harry Potter & The Prisoner Of Azkaban.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s Tom Cruise or Joe Bloggs the extra coming in for one day, whether it’s Steven Spielberg or the stage hand who sweeps the floor. I’ve always been brought up that way and I’ve always taught my young assistants to do that too. You try and get on with every- body as best you can.”
Testament to Stevenson’s avuncular charms came, unex- pectedly, when Daniel Day- Lewis took time out from his own winner’s speech this year to praise the positive influence Stevenson had had on him early in his career.
“It was wonderful to hear what Daniel said,” Stevenson adds. “But that just shows you, we worked together 20 years ago on The Bounty with people like Daniel, Mel Gibson, Neil Morrissey, Liam Neeson.
“The only really established actor was Anthony Hopkins. I looked after them and they remembered that. They remembered how I loved them and looked after them. I sup- pose they thought that here was somebody who really did care about them. I did and still do to this day.”
Since Doug Hermes hired him to be Third AD on Charles Crichton’s Law & Disorder in 1958 Stevenson has worked as a Second Assistant and First Assistant, and even as Unit Manager on Tony Richardson’s The Charge Of The Light Brigade, bringing his talents to bear on a variety of productions.
The highlight was one of the earliest, Lawrence Of Arabia. “That was my favourite to work on, and to watch. And it was especially good to work closely with the other ADs Roy Stevens and David Tringham.”
Since that classic Stevenson has worked on such films as Lord Jim, Ryan’s Daughter, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Heaven’s Gate, Henry V,
Shadowlands, The End Of The Affair and Proof Of Life, to name but a few. Of course from film to film to role of the AD may subtly change, depending on the size of the production and the require- ments of the director.
“In America and increasingly in England the first assistant director runs the set,” Stevenson continues, “he does all the schedules in pre-produc- tion. The key second is the guy who does the call sheet, and these days will spend more time in the office.
“They deal with the actors, calling them and getting them to the location and the studio, getting them through make up, hair and wardrobe with a PA.
“The other, second second as they call them in the States, is the key guy on the set to be with the first assistant, meeting the actors and helping with them, as well as setting up the background action. And then they have a third assistant who assists the first and the second.”
Names like Chris Carreras, Terry Needham and Brian Cook may not be all that familiar, but the fact is that these will be among the first people that Ridley Scott or Chris Columbus or any number of other house- hold name directors will call when they are setting up a film.
An experienced AD is of cru- cial importance for a less expe- rienced director, or an actor- director like Mel Gibson was on Braveheart. David Tomblin got the call for that job, and an Oscar winning film was made.
Over the years other films Tomblin has worked on such films as The Haunting, King David, The Omen, A Bridge Too Far, Superman, The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders Of The Lost Ark and its sequels, Out Of Africa, Cry Freedom. Again, the list goes on, and includes eight occasions when he was worked in collaboration with Michael Stevenson. In addition he has written, produced and directed for television.
“I’ve worked with many, many directors over the years,” Tomblin adds. “It’s hard work,
but with some – like Steven Spielberg – you know there’s going to be a little bit of magic there. The key to the relation- ship, initially, is getting on to their rhythm, their wavelength.
“Every director has an indi- vidual feel about him, you have to find it and then you can hopefully complement him, make suggestions or help him to move in the direction he wants to go in.
“Then if it’s all going smooth- ly the director should be the last one to interfere, he should be only too pleased that there are no problems,” Tomblin adds.
Photo left: Michael Caine with Michael Stevenson (left) and David Tomblin
“The key
to the relationship is getting on to their rhythm, and their wavelength.”
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