A Chat with Jack Lemmon - Final
Now Billy turned and said, 'Take the whole thing out!' I went into rigor mortis.
Let me explain, what Billy meant. We started this story. I made the phone calls to the office. Now I'm going to the office. Suddenly I turn down a side street and we do another story to show how I feel. And then I come return to the highway and go to the office.
Billy said, 'You are going to have to cut it, and go down the street and get the film going. We know how he feels very rapidly. It is a great scene but it does not belong..."That's the supreme example of a great filmmaker.
YOU MENTIONED 'THE OUT OF TOWNERS' WAS ALSO A FAVOURITE MOVIE?
Loved working with Arthur Hiller. You know, Arthur is a sneaky director. He can direct you and you don't know your being directed.
He loves to let things fester, and than lets you come up with things your own way. That become a big cult film. It got some good reviews. But it wasn't treated as a great film.
I remember, there was a woman critic who came to the first screening of this film. Half way through the film she stormed out screaming how could Neil Simon say such terrible things about New York. New York is a wonderful city. As she stormed out of the theatre she got mugged... Lost her two front teeth and still gave the film a bad review. It's a true story. I swear to God.
WHAT IS THE TRUE GENIUS OF BILLY WILDER?
Let me make this analogy. A great director can cultivate beautiful pearls. He lays them out on black velvet. You looks at them and say wow, aren't they brilliant.
A great film-maker like Billy Wilder also cultivates the same beautiful pearls, but, and this is the important difference, Billy can scoop up the individual pearl and makes them into a string of pearls.
What I'm trying to say, like one scene in Days of Wine and Roses when I'm in the drunk tank. That was one of the best pieces of acting I've ever done. But it's one pearl, one scene. Now Billy has the intelligence and genius to string a whole lot of great scene into a brilliant film. He's a visionary who sees the wholeness, and how to fit scenes together like a glove. That's what makes
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