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Exclusive interviews with Billy Wilder, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and others
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Finally, on about sixty-eight or so when she blew it towards the end again, Billy just frowned and he said, 'Marilyn...' and she said, 'Don't talk to me now, I'll forget how I want to play it.' And I've never seen Billy stopped cold before, but that really got him. Tony and I both were in hysterics: 'I'll forget how I want to play it.' She hasn't said the fucking words in seventy takes. Oh God, that was funny... As Billy said, 'My aunt in [Vienna] could remember these lines, but then who the hell is going to pay a dollar to see my aunt?'
***
Tony Curtis: He [Billy] told Jack and I, he said, 'Now listen guys, you'd better get it right from day one, first shot, every time you get it right, because when she gets it right I'm gonna print it, so if you got your finger stuck in some orifice that's what is gonna be in the shot.'
***
Walter Mirisch: Jack Lemmon once told me, he said, 'I wake up in the middle of the night in a sweat, and I've dreamt that we are on take fifty-five and Marilyn has gotten her lines right and I blew it.'
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Audrey Wilder: Marilyn would have trouble sometimes and I tell you, [Billy would] end up with a terrible backache. He had to have a therapist in the morning to get him out of bed. The minute after the final 'cut!', no backache. Marilyn didn't pick on him. Ask any director who directed her-she was late, and if you wanted her you put up with her. And as he said, he'd loved to have made another picture with her because what came out was worth it when it was all over.
***
Russ Elwell: Every time Billy Wilder would ask her to do something again and she would immediately ask, 'What did I do wrong?' She didn't look that healthy in person-kind of white and pale, kind of soft. She just seemed fragile. I remember Arthur Miller coming and going, and a maid always accompanied her. But she kept to herself and stayed in the cottage.
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Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Finally, on about sixty-eight or so when she blew it towards the end again, Billy just frowned and he said, 'Marilyn...' and she said, 'Don't talk to me now, I'll forget how I want to play it.' And I've never seen Billy stopped cold before, but that really got him. Tony and I both were in hysterics: 'I'll forget how I want to play it.' She hasn't said the fucking words in seventy takes. Oh God, that was funny... As Billy said, 'My aunt in [Vienna] could remember these lines, but then who the hell is going to pay a dollar to see my aunt?'
***
Tony Curtis: He [Billy] told Jack and I, he said, 'Now listen guys, you'd better get it right from day one, first shot, every time you get it right, because when she gets it right I'm gonna print it, so if you got your finger stuck in some orifice that's what is gonna be in the shot.'
***
Walter Mirisch: Jack Lemmon once told me, he said, 'I wake up in the middle of the night in a sweat, and I've dreamt that we are on take fifty-five and Marilyn has gotten her lines right and I blew it.'
***
Audrey Wilder: Marilyn would have trouble sometimes and I tell you, [Billy would] end up with a terrible backache. He had to have a therapist in the morning to get him out of bed. The minute after the final 'cut!', no backache. Marilyn didn't pick on him. Ask any director who directed her-she was late, and if you wanted her you put up with her. And as he said, he'd loved to have made another picture with her because what came out was worth it when it was all over.
***
Russ Elwell: Every time Billy Wilder would ask her to do something again and she would immediately ask, 'What did I do wrong?' She didn't look that healthy in person-kind of white and pale, kind of soft. She just seemed fragile. I remember Arthur Miller coming and going, and a maid always accompanied her. But she kept to herself and stayed in the cottage.
***
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Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon lounging around the set, p. 259 (United Artists - Courtesy of MoMa)
