Billy Williams - Agreeing to work with John Schlesinger on 'Sunday, Bloody Sunday' (66/172)

Описание: To listen to more of Billy Williams’s stories, go to the playlist:    • Billy Williams (Film-maker)  

Born in London in 1929, cinematographer Billy Williams shot more than 40 high profile films throughout his career, being nominated for an Oscar for ‘On Golden Pond’ and ‘Women in Love’, then winning the Oscar for ‘Gandhi’ in 1983. He received an OBE in 2009. [Listener: Neil Binney]

TRANSCRIPT: We had a crew scree... screening of... of 'Women In Love' before it was released and John Schlesinger, with his producer — Joe Janni — came to the screening and at the end John came up to me, as I'd worked with him before on commercials, and said how much he enjoyed the film, he liked my work and would I be interested in photographing his next film, and I said: ’Yes of course I'd be delighted.’ So I was sent the script and then went up to meet John to discuss it. Well, it was very controversial because it was a story about a Jewish doctor and a professional woman who were both in love with the same man — a young man — a much younger man, and so, obviously, the doctor was homosexual and the two older people both knew of the existence of the younger lover. So, you know, it was an exploration of... of homosexuality and bisexuality and so on, and initially I was a bit wary of this. I wasn't quite sure, you know, how things were going to be handled and it was going to be the first screen... screen kiss between two men. And so I... I went to John and, you know, explained my concerns and he was very understanding and, you know, he explained to me how it was going to be done and so on, and... of course, as it turned out, it... it was a very personal film for him because he's homosexual and his father was a doctor. So that Peter Finch, who was playing the homosexual doctor, was... was sort of very close to John's feelings and family background, and so on. So, you know, he persuaded me that... that it was the right thing to do.