Original subtitles

[man] In all the films I've done, it ranks at the top...

...of a director carrying out an artistic vision...

...without any compromise.

John Schlesinger was a brilliant man.

An artist. A sublime artist.

I saw this movie, A Kind of Loving...

...which introduced Alan Bates and Julie Christie was in it.

And it was like my eyes...

...were seared from this.

I said, this-- It was so humanist-based.

It was so detail-oriented.

The human behavior in it was...

...was 80...

So well-observed.

A refined sensibility obviously made this film.

It was making a statement that reached your heart.

So I said, "This man knows." It was just a little story about love.

About how people come together and what they feel and stuff.

And it was so beautifully done. And I went out.

And I remember walking out of the theater and I looked at the marquee.

And it said, "John Schlesinger's A Kind of Loving."

And I wrote down "John Schlesinger."

And I said I have to work with this guy. This is my guy.

I immediately respected him...

...when I heard he didn't want to consider me.

Because I thought, "Here's a guy who's not Hollywood."

And then when I did meet him and he looked at me...

...and I found that we had the same humor--

We laughed at the same kind of stuff.

I told him jokes. He loved the jokes I selected.

And I remember him saying, "Well, you'll do quite fine.

You're not-- You're not good-looking at all, are you?"

Everything excited him.

Everything made his eyes sparkle.

He was a big worrier.

But, uh...

...other than the fact that he worried...

...about things being perfect and fretted...

...he was just full of excitement all the time.

John just had that glint in his eye.

He wanted to be surprised constantly.

There was no ego. There was no need to own it.

John was in a collaborative experience...

...which is what film is, in the most natural way...

...because he craved collaboration.

He was not-- He didn't ever act like a band leader.

He acted like simply a jazz musician in a combo.

And it was either the cinematographer or the screenwriter...

...or the production designer, or a grip would, you know--

You know, he would encourage it-- Someone would get an idea.

"What? No, go ahead. Say, what is it? What is it?" I mean, it's wonderful.

I adored John Schlesinger.

Unusual, difficult, flamboyant man that he was.

It was worth it, without reservation.

I think it's a measure of the man that actors...

...and collaborators behind the scenes...

...hold him in such high regard to this day.

You talk to anyone who worked with Schlesinger...

...and you get not just anecdotes and stories...

...but you get a feeling of great warmth...

...and a great sense of personal connection...

...that says a lot about not only his working method...

...but about the way he brought people together...

...in a shared goal of making the best movie they could.

I think John's best films...

...leave such a strong, lasting impression...

...with their love of character

and humanity and the story--

He really was passionate about telling these wonderful stories.

He was more interested, or very interested...

...in the text and story he was telling and how you fit into it.

He loved the duality in people.

Marathon Man, fantastic example.

Dustin Hoffman's character is completely torn...

...against protecting his own life...

...and the responsibility he has to his culture and his people.

Um... Midnight Cowboy." I mean, there's no better example...

...of taking two characters that in any other circumstance...

...would be just tossed away.

And by the end of that film, you want to take them in.

You want-- They could live with you for the rest of you life...

...just to save them.

And so not only does he find the duality in a character...

...but he understands that that's gonna touch the duality in an audience.

That's a gift.

He was classically aware, very well-educated.

His parents were musicians.

I mean, so he was on top of it as an artist.

Any actor who's worked with John...

...will never forget him.

L think John really had an uncanny ability...

...to capture real moments in society, in a way.

I think he was really like a kind of an anthropologist as a filmmaker.

But it was also combined with a real affection for people...

...so that he never judged any of these characters.

He really was just interested in showing the soul.

John knew everything...

...every inch of the picture he made. He...

He knew the performance level. He knew...

He knew their strength. He knew the weaknesses.

John Schlesinger was a brilliant director.

He was also a pragmatic director.

He wanted what he wanted and he knew what it was.

And he knew how to work with actors, obviously...

...and get it from them. He was brilliant working with actors.

And one of the great experiences that I got from Midnight Cowboy...

...was that all of a sudden, after getting to know those two characters...

...that are on the periphery of the norm in our society...

...and what we will interact with...

I watched people in a different fashion.

If John Schlesinger could show me how to care...

...about that, it affected how I went about my day.

I miss him.

I do miss him because you don't often come across...

...an artist who has the multifaceted abilities that he had.

Knowledge of music was extraordinary.

And yet, he was a very modest man...

...and so charming that you wanted to be in his company.

The Hollywood branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts...

...decided, along with Michael Childers...

...that it would be nice to pay tribute to John while he was still alive.

Aside from his work...

...l found John to be such a delightful man, so kind...

...and warm and encouraging to the young people around him.

I recently saw Yanks again.

And I was immediately struck by how good the film was...

...and how touching and humane it was.

And the humor that was inherent in the piece...

...but the heart that was in the piece.

The best way I can describe him possibly as an artist...

...is that he was "operatic."

That's what movies are all about.

You can't do it on the small screen, you see.

If you want to do things on the large screen...

...you have to make it worthwhile to be on the large screen.

And if you can be operatic...

...and cause a laugh, a tear...

...all within two hours, that's magic.

That was John.

I look back and say, boy, he really was...

This was a real blessing to have John Schlesinger.

It couldn't have been accomplished without John's continuous caring...

...his straining

for the real depth of the piece...

...and never, never allowing himself to proceed...

...unless he felt he had it.

Protecting and protecting it. And Jerry Hellman, around him...

...protecting him in the work. And of course, he was protecting--

John was protecting the actors in this process.

And so we were allowed to do our work.

It was a very, very special time.

He was loved. He was loved.

He was an artist that was loved.

It was a wonderful, wonderful friendship and relationship.

And it evolved over the years.

And I was lucky because I lived in England for 35 years.

I lived over here. We traveled.

We had a wonderful life together.

I'm very blessed.