Page 29 - 23_Bafta ACADEMY_Om Puri_ok

john schlesinger
Ifirst met John in the late sixties when I was lucky enough to be selected by him to be his Assistant Director on Sunday Bloody Sunday. He was a hard task master, ultimately demand- ing but also hugely appreciative and generous in the way he gave one real responsibility.
That film, very much based in his own experience, was proba- bly the most personal of all his films and he was totally deter- mined to get it right. If things did- n’t go as he hoped, and they often didn’t, then there would be a lot of shouting and screaming much of it directed at his beloved producer, Jo Janni.
But all of us, particularly Jo, were used to John’s tirades and we grew to love them because he always managed to combine his frustrated rage with a brilliant
wit and sense of humour. John was great fun to be around and although the work was deeply serious there were endless laughs and it was a great honour and a total pleasure to serve him.
Whilst we were shooting John received the news that he had won the Oscar for Midnight Cowboy and we celebrated it that night (with an Oscar bor- rowed from Guy Green) in a church hall at the end of Edwards Square where we were shooting that day.
Although both films couldn’t be more different they share John’s wonderful appreciation and celebration of both the pain and the exhilaration of loving.
One of the most memorable things about Sunday Bloody Sunday was John’s use of Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte. Music
was hugely important to him and after that film he went on to direct operas all over the world.
The next time our paths crossed we were both working at the National Theatre where John directed two productions – Julius Caesar and Heartbreak House. Again he demonstrated his extraordinary versatility. He moved between the theatre, the opera house, the TV studio and the cinema with consummate authority and skill.
The second film I did with John was Yanks. The idea for the film came from his childhood memories of American GIs over here during the war, but he and Colin Welland gathered many other stories from all over the country and used them to create the story and script.
John began his life in film as a documentary filmmaker and
used that experience brilliantly in so much of his work. His partner, Michael Childers, is at this moment seeking to establish an annual prize in John’s name to be given for the best first feature by a documentary filmmaker.
In 1996 he became a Fellow of the Academy, worthily one of a very small group of distin- guished filmmakers. All of us mourn his passing even though it meant for him a release from life which had become more and more difficult with each stroke.
He was a lovely man, a great man and we shall miss him dearly but, for those of us that were lucky enough to know him, we will always remember all the great laughs we had together. Simon Relph
1926-2003
1979 - 2003 • 24 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE
MAKE-UP SCHOOL & AGENCY
SUCCESS OF PAST STUDENTS HAS BUILT OUR REPUTATION
Intensive courses in:
■ Stage, TV & Film Make-up
■ Make-up for beauty photography, catwalk and fashion shows
■ Prosthetics and Special Effects
■ Hair cutting, blow drying and styling,
period hair work and knotting ■ Private tuition also available
Taught by ex BBC Make-up designers and visiting specialists
Greasepaint Studio & Agency, 143 Northfield Avenue, Ealing, London W13 9QT Studio & Agency Tel: 020 8840 6000 • Fax: 020 8840 3983 • Email: info@greasepaint.co.uk Web: www.greasepaint.co.uk
27