Reasons to Love New York
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She called me in to read for John Schlesinger.
And Schlesinger had seen me inHow Now, Dow Jones, a musical.
This was on Broadway?It was a musical on Broadway.
I just, I didnt know what to do.
They wouldnt stop applauding.
They wouldnt stop screaming and applauding.
I said, Thank you.
After, George Abbott gave me the lesson of a lifetime.
He came back, he was furious.
He stomped into my dressing room and said, Dont you ever thank the audience again.
Dont you ever bow and thank the audience when you stop the show.
I said, I never stopped the show.
He was furious at me.
He went fucking nuts.
So Schlesinger had seen you in this show?Yes.
But he didnt think I was right for the part inMidnight Cowboy.
So I went in and I audition.
She was so sexy, I loved her.
She had come in and read.
And he thought she was more razor-edge.
He thought I was too like, Hi, Im your mistress.
Too friendly, too sweet, too nice.
He wanted somebody who could knock you down with a razor in two seconds.
He didnt like Jon Voight.Well, he wanted that other boy that he couldnt get.Michael Sarrazin.
He couldnt get him.
So Jon was a secondary choice.
He didnt want Dustin Hoffman.
He didnt know that he was right.
He didnt think that that was Ratso.
So Dusty called him up and said, Im going to take you downtown.
He took him down to the Meatpacking area.
And Dusty said, Thats Ratso.
And John Schlesinger hired him on the spot.
How was your character written?
How was she described?
She worked for David Susskind as a casting agent.
I cant think of her name now.
She was casting for David.
But I have my card.
She said, Oh, Ill probably lose that.
And she threw my card away.
I said, Excuse me.
I said, Those are my cards.
If you cant use it, perhaps Ill find someone who could.
She looked at me like, Youll never work.
She gave me this look thats like a leopard.
Maybeon the phone call, which was improvised.
That phone call was improvised?Yeah.
He let me improvise it.
How did you convince Schlesinger to cast you?I read four times.
And then finally, he brought Jon Voight in and we sat there and laughed and had the chemistry.
We had so much fun.
I think after that, he just decided that I could be bitchy enough.
Its avery gay movie.Yes, it is.
Did you know while you were making it?I didnt think about it.
I didnt see a lot of what Schlesinger was doing.
Tell me aboutthe famous love scenewith you.Yes, I said, Im so nervous.
How was it written?
Was it written?Nude.
And what did you say?
Had you done nude before?No.
Id only done one movie before this, withGarson Kaninin Vegas.
So obviously this came out and it was X-rated.
It was the first X-rated film that was nominated for an Oscar.Thats right.
Well, its an X-rated, darling.
It just never occurred to me.
I cant imagine.Ann Rothsaved my life withthe fox-fur coat.
Did you say, Im not going to do it?No.
Schlesinger said, Dont worry.
Well work things out.
But Julie Christie takes her pasties and throws them off.
Youll probably hate them too.
And then Ann Roth came up with the fox coat, and Schlesinger saw it.
And I walked on the set, and he said, I love it.
Isnt that great that he said that?
I have a picture.
First day on the set picture.
Let me see if I can find this picture.
Youre going to love it.
Now thats the first day.
See the fox coat?
That was the first day on the set.
He was a bitch.
He would do things that were bitchy.
But he loved bawdy jokes.
And he had a great sense of humor.
And I loved him.
I just thought he was wonderful.
What was the first scene you did?
There were three.The first day was horrible.
And he never got the camera in the room.
Dont ask me why.
Adam Hollander was a cinematographer.
And for some reason, they couldnt get the camera into the room.
And both Jon and I looked at each other.
I had pasties on.
He had a thing over his crotch.
And were lying in bed all day, like, What are we going to do?
Schlesinger says good-bye and were both like, Oh my God.
So we had to come back the next day and do it all over again.
But one of the funniest stories is with that handheld camera, and Adam Hollander was holding it.
John is in front of the handheld camera.
Im now slipped off the bed with my coat flared open and my two tits exposed.
Anyway, Im on the floor.
And hes over here, and hes going, All right, Jon, pump on.
Pump on?Or something like that.
And then hes down really low, with the light on my face and on Jon.
He says, Come now, darling.
Well, both of us started laughing because wed never heard of anybody that would …
I mean, in our lives, can you imagine if a director said, Come now, darling?
I mean, he was so funny.
And he wanted me also to claw the back of Jon to draw blood.
I said, Im not doing that, John.
I refuse to do that.
So that was the scene where they playScribbage.
That looked like it hurt.
Well, I thought you might.
You do see in the movie somebody clawing his back.
One thing about Schlesinger I forgot to tell you, he let us come tothe rushes.
It was so much fun.
He would invite us in like it was a party.
Hed let us sit there and watch the rushes.
And indeed, thats how he told me that my improvised scene was going to be in the movie.
In the script, it was just she gives him 20.
Thats such a great moment.I left the rushes, he said, Actually, darling, you are right.
Did you shoot that in an apartment in New York?Yes, it was like a loft.
You had to climb up the stairs.
And we shot the scene on the stairs, in that same building.
Tell me everything you remember about that party scene.Oh, it was so crazy.
They were all on drugs.
What was the deal?
We had fucking crazy people.
I walked into my dressing room, and there were two people fucking on the bed.
I said, Hello.
I closed the door.
I went to Burtt Harris, who was the AD.
And I said, Burtt.
Whats the matter, honey?
I said, You got to get these people out of my room.
Who were they?I dont know.
They were just extras.
They had a billion extras show up.
There was a girl with a green monkey.
She dyed the monkey green.
Her hair was green.
Her nails were green.
She said, Me and the monkey are in a tree.
And I went, Thats good.
So what were these people on?Acid.
Were you guys doing acid?I didnt do anything.
They roll it like a joint, but it wasnt a joint.
Who knew where they took the acid?
We didnt know anything.
And so how long did that scene take to shoot?Oh, my God.
Did it just take a week?
I think I saw six days of shooting.Well, I wasnt there every day.
I just remember all these people walking around.
I dont think Schlesinger was really happy about it.
They were all wacked.
I think it pissed him off because everybodys so undisciplined.
It was hard to direct people to stand over here.
Theyd move around without telling you they changed their move.
I think he had a hard time.
How competitive were Hoffman and Voight?I didnt think that at all.
Hes so busy being Ratso that he was so involved in that.
And Jon Voight was caring about his body.
Does it look better this way, Adam?
He was so into being a young, beautiful, kind of Dutch-looking, gorgeous man.
Were you attracted to either one of them?Neither one.
Honestly, they were not attractive.
I never thought about it then.
I loveSylvia Miless contentious anger at the fact that he thought she would take money.
Thats an interesting question because thats something Schlesinger dealt with in the movie.
Everybody was being paid.
Everyone was being paid.
What do you mean?For sex.
Even the boy in the bathroom, Bob Balaban.
Everybody was being paid.
It was all about money.
Whole thing was about money.
This film sort of Changed everything.
Did it reflect the world that you knew at that point, a counterculture world?
Or was it sort of predicting something?It definitely explained New York at that time.
When he hits that cab Im walking here.
You know, that scene.
That cab was definitely a New York cab at that time in this city.
That was New York all the way.
Tell me your thoughts when you saw the full movie.
Were you at all shocked?
I thought it was brilliant.
I thought it surprised me, the whole Texas stuff he did.
I think I was overwhelmed with the music.
I was in love withHarry Nilsson.
What did your mother think?My mother loved it.
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