In my previous film, Midnight Express I could take an actor like Brad Davis or John Hurt aside and explain what I needed and be pretty certain they could deliver each time. Nearly all but not all of these kids were extremely self-obsessed, capricious and irritating to work with. Also the fluctuations in their performances, enthusiasm and energy levels took me by surprise. To get the proper responses from the players I had to be father confessor, older brother, demanding schoolteacher and maniacal despot.
I would have to wear a different hat each day depending on which actor I was directing. I had chosen the kids largely because their own personalities were close to the characters they were portraying, and they often lacked the basic skills to make my job easier. With such young performers their approach is often more intuitive than it is intellectual. This manifested itself in a surly, bratty awkwardness that drove the crew nuts. There were three scenes where Barry had to break down and each one was traumatic.
He was a talented actor and a great deal of the pain and emotion that he reached for were his own, as I selfishly, almost sadistically, repeated the scene over and over. At the end of each day we would view our dailies. I invited the whole crew, as was custom on my films, and gradually more and more would turn up to see their work.
Many however stayed away as they had grown up under a system where only the studio, director and producer were ever allowed to see the dailies. Also, more to the point, In New York they considered attendance at such screenings to be unpaid overtime which was a less than attractive proposition. One of the more enjoyable scenes to shoot was at the 8 th Street Playhouse where we filmed the audience involved with the on-screen Rocky Horror Show.
What began as a funky banter at midnight screenings — reacting vocally to kitch lines — had developed into a full scale, highly eccentric, theatrical event. Now, everyone dressed in costume and communally blurted out their now finely honed, audience invented script. Our biggest logistical challenge on Fame was the musical pandemonium outside the school where the kids flood into the 46 th street traffic, creating anarchic musical mayhem.
Louis had choreographed eight different routines which he allocated amongst his dancers. We then randomly sprinkled the fifty dancers among regular kids — the non-dancers — to raise the quality of the bedlam and achieve the choreographed chaos we were after.
The evening before the big day we were shaken by the news that my camera operator, John Stanier, had returned to England for personal reasons. Filming was suddenly stopped and the crew froze as a large black limousine pulled up in the middle of 46th street and out climbed a posse of union representatives, all absurdly dressed in black suits with pork-pie hats and dark glasses. Hard to believe, but true.
We were told that the DP was forbidden to operate and that we would only be allowed to continue filming if we took on an operator from their union. The alternative was that they would close us down permanently. Within an hour we had resumed filming with a cocky, captious New Yorker as replacement operator, who managed to throw spanners into every shot, impeding our momentum, but we soldiered on.
The upside of the three days was that my assistant director Bob Colesberry — imperious among the insanity and crackling of fifty walkie-talkies — marshaled the enormous cast and crew with all the authority of the Vietnam platoon commander he had once been, only a few years before. We patiently put together the shots I had planned as we coped with a mammoth camera crane, a laborious, belligerent camera crew and an increasingly complaining cast.
No sooner had we started on the second day and the dancers went on strike. I left the stoical Alan Marshall to haggle with the union reps in the middle of the street, wondering whether he had broken a mirror. I have a nightmare memory of sitting on an aluminium camera box on the 46 th street sidewalk, no longer angry, but full of fear, looking at the traffic jam we had caused as far as the Hudson River, wondering how the hell I was ever going to complete the scene.
How would we ever finish? As always on a film the great adversary is not parsimonious, meddling studios, caviling producers or syphilitic, snorting actors, but the ticking of the clock. Each day, in the heat of battle, I wondered why I put myself through the perverse masochistic act of shooting in the centre of a real city.
It was so much easier in the old days when they shot these kinds of scenes on the back-lot, or even inside a stage at MGM. Miraculously, three tortuous days after the scene came to an end.
That evening, co-incidentally, my friend the producer, David Picker arranged dinner with one of my heroes, the great Bob Fosse. Or even one without music. Faced with the dilemma of our missing operator, I brought in Garrett Brown from Philadelphia.
This allows for wonderfullly fluid movement of the camera in places no dolly could get to. Although widely used across the world, Garrett was still the greatest exponent of his own invention. Make sure that you get the director's version which contains additional scenes that were cut from the original print.
As for movie itself,its worth seeing. FAQ 3. Is "Fame" based on a book? What did Doris mean when she said to Michael: "See you at Schwab's"? Details Edit.
Release date May 16, United States. United States. English Spanish French Russian. Hot Lunch. Box office Edit. Technical specs Edit. Runtime 2 hours 14 minutes. Dolby Stereo. Related news. Feb 4 Gold Derby. Jan 29 Rollingstone. Contribute to this page Suggest an edit or add missing content. Top Gap. And success is love. Sign In. Play trailer Comedy Drama Musical. Director Kevin Tancharoen. Allison Burnett screenplay Christopher Gore motion picture "Fame". Top credits Director Kevin Tancharoen.
See more at IMDbPro. Music Video Trailer Fame: Trailer 2. Fame -- Trailer 2. Fame: Teaser Trailer. Fame: Meet the Cast. Clip Fame: "Hold Your Dream". Fame: "Graduation Drums". Fame: "Get on the Floor".
Fame: "Halloween Dance". Fame: "Out Here on My Own". Photos Top cast Edit. Kelsey Grammer Mr. Martin Cranston as Mr. Martin Cranston. Bebe Neuwirth Ms. Kraft as Ms. Megan Mullally Ms. Fran Rowan as Ms. Fran Rowan. Charles S. The flick also put the whole world on notice that the unbridled physicality of dancer Gene Anthony Ray would inhabit our imaginations forever.
And I was cast as Lydia, who was originally written as an older student. After the film was edited, I was turned into a young teacher. But Fame was a game changer for the acclaimed dancer. Nearly 35 years later, Tracee Ellis Ross would follow in her footsteps to become only the second black actress to triumph in that category.
For Allen — who has gone on to amass an impressive film and TV resume since Fame was released in — shooting the film was an amazing experience. She had played Carnegie Hall and already had such a long track record before she did Fame. Michael DeLorenzo New York Undercover , who was a dancer in the movie, went on to have a much bigger part on the show. I went on to direct and co-produce A Different World. There was a lot of young talent in that ensemble.
It was a glorious experience. Although Cara received critical and fan praise for her acting in the musical, the powers-that-be behind Fame wanted to explore her vulnerability and range. Both came in handy when her character, Coco Hernandez, had a nasty encounter with a skeevy amateur porn director. All of my auditions were just for acting. The producers knew I could sing. It was wonderful for me, mainly because I had worked a lot around New York and was known as a prominent child performer.
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