Original subtitles

- A 3D film had not been made for many years.

My interest in 3D grew when Roman and I made a film

of Macbeth, and we used the Todd-AC) lens system and cameras,

which they had developed.

Todd-AC) was a very big camera company at the time,

developed lenses and cameras.

During filming, Todd-AO sent across their chief engineer.

He introduced me to a whole new 3D system

that they had built; new cameras, lenses,

and I was really interested,

and I asked him to ship all the equipment over

so we could shoot some tests and see what it looked like,

and how easy or difficult it was to use.

And my idea at the time was that Roman and I

would make a 3D film.

We did the tests and indeed, it did look interesting.

Roman lost interest in this

and we went on to develop another project,

but I was determined to make a 3D film.

In its essence, it's a kind of a gimmick,

because what is striking about 3D,

is when things jump out of the screen.

(intense orchestral music)

I realized that the horror genre was ideal,

because anything goes.

The other thing is editing, the cutting. Especially then.

It's extremely difficult, you have to plan the cuts ahead.

And so, a great friend of mine who was working with me said,

"Listen, what you need is a director who does long takes."

So, I said, yeah, okay, that makes sense.

Can you suggest anyone?

He said, "Yes, Paul Morrissey,

he's partners with Andy Warhol, he would be perfect."

I was living in London, so I said, get me his number.

So, he got me his number, and I called him up

and I introduced myself and I said,

"Paul, I'd like to make these two horror films,

Frankenstein and Dracula, and I want to make them in 3D."

He said yes, I mean, just immediately yes.

And I have to say that Paul is a remarkable fellow,

extremely friendly, extremely friendly.

And I think our friendship started on that telephone call

and we agreed to do it and he would write and direct it,

because that's how he worked.

The scripts that he Writes, they're not traditional scripts.

He improvises quite a bit.

Paul is very conservative in his political beliefs

to put it mildly.

And I had another close friend,

a Brazilian film maker called Glauber Rocha,

who was a very famous Brazilian director,

extremely left Wing, who in fact had to run from Brazil

in order not to be executed.

There was a military junta in Brazil at the time,

and so he came to live in Rome,

where we became very good friends.

And at least a couple of times a week,

the three of us would have lunch together at my house,

and they became very close friends,

which is quite interesting.

Paul is of the extreme right,

and Glauber, who is of the extreme left,

and together, we had a very close understanding

and friendship, and that was one of the things

that I remember well of the time.

(soft music)

Shooting with Paul is a real pleasure.

He listens to suggestions, one is able to discuss them,

when he's got a point, I go along with it.

When I have a point, he went along with it.

The shooting went faultlessly on time, on budget,

the usual minor problems, an actress getting upset,

this person, the normal kind of things that happen

during the making of a film.

At the end of Frankenstein, Paul came to me and said,

"Andy, I beg you, don't make me shoot the Dracula in 3D.

It's just too difficult for me.

I said, " Paul, what is the problem?"

Ancl he said, "I can't see out of one eye very well."

And so, I immediately conceded the point.

I realized that to force him to make it in 3D

was simply not a good idea.

So, that's the reason that the Frankenstein was in 3D

and Dracula was not.

We started showing it to distributors

and everybody turned it down.

Finally, I was getting desperate,

and there was the meister distributor

in the United States, called Joe Levine.

He was the king of exploitation,

but on a very big scale.

He made some very big Hollywood movies,

not a particularly nice fellow,

exactly what one would imagine.

But anyway, we arranged a screening in New York,

and right in the beginning,

if you produce or direct a film, or write a film,

and you're sitting in a screening,

you develop a sixth sensibility to what is going on.

Every breath, every heartbeat, you can feel.

And after about five or 'IO minutes,

I realized that things were not going well.

I felt, I didn't realize,

and suddenly Joe Levine shouted from the back,

"Switch off this crap, I'm getting out of here."

So, (laughs) everybody left sort of muttering

under their breath, "what crap," going along with the leader

and I was left alone in the projection theater,

scratching my head and wondering what to do next.

(soft orchestral music)

I had met a film sales guy.

He asked me whether I knew

a fellow called Herbert [indecipherable].

I said no, I've never heard of him, who is he?

He said, "He might be very interested in buying this."

I said, what has he done?

He said, "Well, he's only clone one film, really.

It's called The Devil in Miss Jones."

The Devil in Miss Jones came out after Deep Throat.

Deep Throat was the first porno movie

which had widespread distribution

and made, at that time, 10 or $20 million,

which now would mean $100 million.

Ancl it was followed a year later

by The Devil in Miss Jones.

A slightly more intellectual, if I may say, porno movie,

which was also a gigantic success.

And these guys made a lot of money,

because they four wall the cinemas,

which means they rented the cinemas, put the thing in,

and took the box office.

So, this was not the regular form of distribution.

Anyway, Herbert, who is a big man,

well over six foot, saw the movie and made me an offer.

Then he told me that he had made a tie up

with a firm called Bryanston.

The owners were an Italian family, called Peraino.

Let's say they were very involved.

And I had sold it to him,

and I told him that in the distribution of the film,

there was the added expense which cinemas resisted,

and that is that they would need to put in a silver screen,

because the amount of light necessary on the screen

was not adequate with a normal screen.

This was expensive at the time, two or three thousand

dollars in each cinema,

which obviously, the cinema wouldn't pay,

but they paid for, and they released it in a lot of cinemas.

I can't remember how many, but releases then

and today are not comparable,

but it was a lot of cinemas for the time,

and it was a huge hit.

They didn't want to buy Dracula,

but the Frankenstein was a huge hit.

When I say huge, relatively speaking,

it made millions of dollars.

(woman groans)

The film was successful largely because of the 3D,

because it hadn't been done for so many years,

that indeed, in the sort of grizzly moments

when something jumped out of the screen,

people enjoyed the shock.

When I think of that time, I feel good.

It was a good experience with people I liked

and no big problems.

You tend to remember when there were horror problems,

which does happen, but certainly, they were just --

it was a good time, it was very easy.

(eerie piano music)