Daviau:
There must have been a terrific amount of trust placed in you when they were being photographed in such chilling temperatures with nudity involved. How do you help keep actors comfortable in that situation? Suschitzky:
We were a very small family group on that shoot, and the atmosphere was very conducive to just doing the work, having a nice time, and laughing a lot. Daviau:
I always find this a difficult question to answer, but is there a sequence that you are most proud of in the picture? Suschitzky:
Well, I like the look of some of the love scenes, particularly the one between Ballard and his wife. I tried to make that more attractive to look at; I didn't try to be hard and gritty. Daviau:
That's certainly an oasis in the middle of the film. Stephen Pizzello:
Did Helmut Newton's photography factor into any of the discussions you had with Cronenberg? The opening sequence, beginning with the shot of Debra Unger's shoes beneath an airplane wing, is reminiscent of his work. Suschitzky:
No, but I did at one point joke to David that Roseanna Arquette's character is sort of a cross between Pinnochio and a Helmut Newton model. [Laughs.] Of course, I'm very familiar with Helmut's work, and we have actually worked together occasionally on commercials. Daviau:
Was it calmly assumed at the beginning of the shoot that you would be getting an NC-17 rating? Was Fine Line [the distributor] comfortable with that? Suschitzky:
That was all decided up front. There was no way this film could have been made without that assumption up front. Daviau:
The picture certainly makes its commitment to [that rating] early on. Even though you have done three other films with Cronenberg, what discussions did you go through to decide the look of this picture, and what questions were asked by each of you? Suschitzky:
I hope I'm not going to disappoint you, but David and I have a very instinctive relationship and work together very easily without many words. We don't often talk about the specifics of the look. On my first experience with David, after I had read the script for Dead Ringers, we did go through a lot of that. We were on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, just talking on the telephone, and I expressed how I saw that picture as being quite cold and elegant. On Naked Lunch, I simply explained that I felt it needed an Expressionistic approach. [The setting] reminded me of paintings of that era - 1910 to 1935 - which are very important to how I see things. We didn't really make the film look like that, but those ideas were in my subconscious. On Crash, I've already described the hard look I was after, but we drove around Toronto a bit in his car and looked at the roads we would be using. Still, we didn't discuss things too specifically. David loves driving, and he took me around some very fast bends. [Laughs.] David E. Williams:
Photographically, the crash sequences seemed to be done in a way that would actually drain away any suspense or excitement in the usual cinematic sense. Suschitzky:
What David said was, 'We don't have the money to make this an action movie, and that's not my intention anyway.' So the crashes were planned in a very minimalist way. For instance, for Vaughan's crash at the end of the picture, we couldn't shoot him going over the edge of the overpass. We didn't have that kind of budget, and we were faced with a very strict time limit imposed by our agreement with the police and the highway department - just six hours of shooting each night. We couldn't afford to shoot long and break that good will. Daviau:
What kinds of safety precautions did you take for the car scenes? Suschitzky:
We often used toy cars on a little road, with our stunt coordinator showing what could be done in a given situation. It then became a negotiation, with David asking, 'Well, then can we do this?' and the scene or shot being worked out from there. Fortunately, since he himself is an amateur race diver of Formula One cars of the '50s, David is very 'car-aware.' Daviau:
Was there a piece of equipment that you really could have used for the driving scenes that hasn't been invented yet? Suschitzky:
[Laughs] Yes, the Pana-Hot Seat - something to keep us warm! Daviau:
When I think about the visual concept for any picture I'm doing, I always like to use the term 'design and discovery.' You start out with some kind design, but you discover what the look of the picture will be along the way. I find that it has a lot to do with the actors - learning to appreciate what their performances are like, and what you discover in their faces. Suschitzky:
I always like to shoot makeup tests just to get to know their faces and to learn which direction the light should fall on them. That also breaks the ice between you and the performer, especially if you don't know each other. Elmes:
It's great to get the director to sit with you in the theater during test dailies. You might have five minutes of an actor standing there on screen, looking in different directions with different wardrobe and hairstyles, and if you can be objective for a moment, you can really discuss what things look like. Many directors don't feel the need to do that, but they usually love it after they've done it. Williams:
What was running through your mind while shooting graphic scenes that you knew would put the audience on edge or possibly distance them from the material? Suschitzky:
I knew going into the film that it would be controversial, but we more or less forgot about that once the production began. Of course, it's impossible to me to ever experience the picture the way any audience will ever see it. I have seen many more explicitly violent or explicitly sexual scenes in films, and I'm not sure why ours have aroused so much controversy except that they are confrontational and make some people feel awkward. The sex scenes are not just interludes which can be cut out, but part of the structure of the film. Elmes:
Controversial films pose some interesting dilemmas. When you are engrossed in the production, you work very hard to make the film as affecting as you can. Only when you view the results with an audience do you realize the cumulative effect of your efforts. Williams:
An example of that might be the scene in which Ballard and his wife are making love while she fantasizes about the idea of her husband having sex with Vaughan. The sequence is certainly longer than most filmmakers would have dared to make it, with very few shots. Suschitzky:
David has the final choice as the director, but neither of us are what you might call 'fast cutters.' I'm tired of seeing films that are cut and paced like commercials just because there is always a fear of boring an audience. David also likes the idea of intellectual confrontation, so the film is confrontational. He's not going to give you a chance to look away with your mind or your eye. And that feels right. In that particular lovemaking scene, it feels right to hold on that shot of the two of them. You have to strive to find the right tone for every scene that you shoot.
