Earthbound

Susan Compo

Description

‘Before there was Star Wars … before there was Close Encounters … there was The Man Who Fell To Earth.’

Earthbound is the first book-length exploration of a true classic of twentieth-century science-fiction cinema, shot under the heavy, ethereal skies of New Mexico by the legendary British director Nicolas Roeg and starring David Bowie in a role he seemed born for as an extraterrestrial named Thomas Newton who comes to Earth in search of water. Based on a novel by the highly regarded American writer Walter Tevis, this dreamy, distressing, and visionary film resonates even more strongly in the twenty-first century than it did on its original release during the year of the US Bicentennial.

Drawing on extensive research and exclusive first-hand interviews with members of the cast and crew, Earthbound begins with a look at Tevis’s 1963 novel before moving into a detailed analysis of a film described by its director as ‘a sci-fi film without a lot of sci-fi tools’ and starring a group of actors—Bowie, Buck Henry, Candy Clark, Rip Torn—later described by one of them (Henry) as ‘not a cast but a dinner party.’ It also seeks to uncover the mysteries surrounding Bowie’s rejected soundtrack to the film (elements of which later ended up his groundbreaking 1977 album Low) and closes with a look at his return to the themes and characters of The Man Who Fell To Earth in one of his final works, the acclaimed musical production Lazarus.

Sujets

• Musique
• Histoire de la musique
• Music
• Musician
• Individual Composer

Informations

• Publié par: Jawbone Press
• Date de parution: 01 octobre 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781911036265
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

A Jawbone ebook
First edition 2017
Published in the UK and the USA by
Jawbone Press
3.1D Union Court
20–22 Union Road
London SW4 6JP
England
www.jawbonepress.com

Text copyright © Susan Compo. Volume copyright © 2017 Outline Press Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this book covered by the copyrights hereon may be reproduced or copied in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles or reviews where the source should be made clear. For more information contact the publishers.

With love to Helen and Gordon Anderson

CONTENTS
Foreword by Graeme Clifford
Preface: A Mask With A Past
Chapter 1: Genesis Of Alien
Chapter 2: On Roxbury Drive
Chapter 3: Zia Stardust
Chapter 4: Duke City
Chapter 5: White Noise
Chapter 6: Being Geniuses Together
Chapter 7: Thin Alabaster Clotheshorse
Chapter 8: Shadow Soundtrack
Chapter 9: Cut To The Chaste
Chapter 10: How We Live Here
Chapter 11: Afterlife
Chapter 12: Lazarus Walks
Postscript: A Note On The Type
Extra #1: Scene And Seen Again
Extra #2: Original Soundtrack 2016
Extra #3: The Final Four
Plate Section
Endnotes
Acknowledgments
FOREWORD
BY GRAEME CLIFFORD
In May of 1975, Hank Aaron broke the career record for RBIs, Smokey Bear was retired from service, David Beckham was born, and a British film crew was landing in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to begin filming a sci-fi movie about a visitor from outer space starring David Bowie. It was the first (and only) time an entirely British crew had been given permission to do so, but because at the time New Mexico was a ‘right to work’ state, permission had been granted. The movie was to be directed by another Brit, Nicolas Roeg, a former master of the camera on Lawrence Of Arabia , Fahrenheit 451 , Petulia , etc. He had previously directed (with Donald Cammell) the startling Performance , starring Mick Jagger, and Walkabout , a mesmerizing film shot in the Australian outback starring Jenny Agutter and Nic’s little son Luke. This new film was based on a novel by Walter Tevis, whose first book, The Hustler , had already been made into an Oscar-winning movie starring Paul Newman. The stars were aligned!
The movie that was about to be shot was THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH .
Julie Christie had said to me, ‘You should meet Nic Roeg’ whilst we were shooting McCabe & Mrs. Miller , a gritty Robert Altman Pacific Northwest ‘western’ also starring Warren Beatty. We had been discussing film editing, and she told me she had just committed to star in Don’t Look Now . Since I was already a fan of Nic’s work, it didn’t take me long to find myself on a plane to London as soon as McCabe had wrapped. Nic and I met one evening in a London pub, and as we stumbled outside after closing time, he mumbled, in his idiosyncratic way, ‘Well, I suppose you’ve got the job.’
Thus began a lifelong friendship with a man who has had a profound effect on my career. After editing Don’t Look Now , in which Donald Sutherland starred opposite Julie, we moved on to The Man Who Fell To Earth ( TMWFTE ). Parking my massive rented Chevy Impala in the equally massive Hilton parking lot in midtown Albuquerque for the first time, I gazed up at the hotel encircled by a stunning cobalt blue sky. This was to be my home and ‘office’ for the next few months. Preproduction was already underway as Rodney Glenn and Melinda Rees, my assistants, and I supervised the setup of our editing equipment in a couple of rooms down the hall from the production offices. I was cutting on moviolas in those days, as I still preferred them to the then-current ‘flatbeds.’ I loved the feel of film running thru my fingers, turning them grey with the dirt and dust of its imbedded information. This personal tactile contact with your material has been lost in today’s digital age, and I still miss it.
During Nic’s busy preproduction schedule I would corner him as often as possible to discuss the script as it evolved. This was made easy because of the working relationship we already had from Don’t Look Now . Getting inside Nic’s head was my ultimate goal.
A crystal clear sunrise greeted the start of shooting at an abandoned coalmine near Los Lunas on June 2, 1975. It was the first scene of the movie, Newton’s (David Bowie’s) arrival on earth. David slid gingerly down a pink backlit mountain of coal shale, his face in shadow, features indistinct. An unidentified man in suit and tie observed his arrival. For me, this one wordless scene set up the mysteries and danger to follow.
And these mysteries and dangers were not lost on David. As shooting progressed and I spent more time with him, usually late at night, we wound up discussing the many allusions one could associate with TMWFTE , such as the fall of Icarus, Jesus (the savior), Stranger In A Strange Land , The Wizard Of Oz (his three helpers being Mary-Lou, Farnsworth, and Bryce) … even Charles Bukowski was in the mix. But the similarities to Howard Hughes occupied most of our attention. Particularly his later disappearance from public view, as with Newton, and indeed with David’s personal life and his search for solitude and privacy. He was a hugely talented, intelligent, imaginative yet unassuming man, and my time with him in the ether of New Mexico remains a personal treasure.
Back in the cutting rooms in London, my real work began. Whilst on location, I had fallen behind with my assembly because I had spent so much time on the set—valuable time for an editor to observe, discuss, and offer hopefully objective suggestions. Many shooting decisions are made based upon editing requirements. So whilst Nic went to Los Angeles to shoot the remaining scenes, I returned to London to complete the assembly.
When Nic arrived we looked at the assembly together to see what we had. Editing is a giant jigsaw puzzle. Scenes and dialogue can be rearranged, shortened, or completely eliminated. A limited amount of new dialogue can be incorporated without re-shooting. Working with Nic in the cutting room was an intellectual exercise. We would often discuss the merits of each decision long into the night, often spending hours on topics not related to the film at all. All-nighters were not infrequent. With Nic, what was going on behind each scene was as important as what you saw on the screen. This was what made my time with Nic so valuable to me. To explore the not so obvious, the true grammar of film.
TMWFTE is now a cult classic, admired by many. But when it was first screened in the US it was considered ‘confusing,’ ‘obtuse,’ ‘hard to follow,’ and too long. An attempt by the distributor to shorten it rendered it even more ‘confusing,’ ‘obtuse,’ and ‘hard to follow.’ Nevertheless, this shortened version opened in cinemas in August of 1976. Fortunately, in Europe, the original version, which had premiered in March, remained intact. This original version was finally restored in the US and re-released in 2011.
Nic has always regarded the slavish adherence to ‘plot’ to be largely unnecessary. His focus has mostly leaned toward the exploration of inner feelings, visible emotion, and the (resultant) effect of ‘plot’ on the human psyche. In other words, to get inside his characters. He designs his visuals and edits his dialogue in an attempt to achieve this aim. Consequently, his movies require more attention and concentration on the part of the viewer. In fact, he regards the audience as a participant in the movie. As in life, one doesn’t always understand what is happening or why at any particular point in time. So it is in Nic’s movies. But if you allow yourself to be immersed in what is going on, rather than becoming frustrated by trying to figure it out right then, his movies become more accessible.
In this book, Susan Compo has done a marvelous job of laying bare the intricacies, disappointments, and triumphs Nic faced in bringing TMWFTE to the screen. Every movie has its tale, its cast of behind-the-scene characters, the liaisons, the fights, the backroom deals, and Susan seems to have found her way to all of them. She deftly exposes the movie within the movie without pulling any punches. Even though I was personally involved in production for almost a year, I found myself engrossed in story after story, detail after detail, that I had known nothing about or had just plain forgotten. Her exhaustive research and the sheer number of people she interviewed is impressive. There have been many books written about movies and celebrities, but this one stands out. You are about to be taken on a fascinating ride.
Graeme Clifford, TMWFTE film editor, July 2017
PREFACE
A MASK WITH A PAST
In early 1975, Mark Wardel was preparing to watch Alan Yentob’s documentary Cracked Actor . ‘I had just turned seventeen and was still living with my aunt and uncle in New Brighton,’ he recalled. ‘The program was a big deal for me as I was at the height of my Bowie obsession, and up until then there had been very little TV coverage of him in Britain. I was beyond excited at the prospect of an hour devoted to his coolest and most mysterious phase in the then impossibly far away myth-land of America, a phase I had been religiously following through tantalizing reports in the weekly music magazines.
‘All week before the broadcast I had obsessed about the program and read and re-read the double-page Radio Times feature on it by Anthony Haden Guest. (I still have the cutting to this day.) I was stomach-churningly uncertain as to whether I would be able to watch it. There was only one TV set in the house and only one Bowie obsessive: me.’
The young Bowie aficionado caught a lucky break. ‘The film went out on a Sunday evening and didn’t clash with anyone else’s regular viewing, and so after a lot of pleading, I was allowed sole possession of the lounge and (brand new!) colour TV for one of the most affecting hour’s viewings of my life,’ he said.
In particular, Wardel was int