“I am fascinated by these nuts”
–D.L.
Happiest alone
in front of
an editing machine,
white-gloved
admiring the panoramas
he shot on location.
Blowing out holes
in mountains
for A Passage to India,
sweeping the desert clean
in Lawrence,
waiting for the morning frost
to look just right–
embroidering
Zhivago’s window.
Painstaking, patient
and more concerned
about ‘the shot’
and its composition
than his actors’ performances.
Explaining the script
ahead of time
to all his cast
leaving nothing to chance.
“This is my vision, my script.
I hope you like it.”
Unapologetic.
Supremely confident.
“Tea anyone?”
Days waiting to shoot,
waiting for every cloud to clear
or for a certain mountain look.
“Could you change that red shirt
down the road 300 yards
for a yellow one?”
Asking that a train be repainted
while thousands of extras
stood idly around.
Knew precisely what he wanted.
Exactly. Control.
“Here is how you stand, Bob.
Here is how you touch her.”
(To Robert Mitchum no less!)
Every detail and then some.
So much beyond the story
or literature that inspired him.
David Lean:
A gentleman’s gentleman
and rich visual artist.
Tasteful.
Romantic.
Passionate.
All ways.
Life and movies
mattered to him,
and never the money.
Genius.
Old school.
Timeless.
White gloves
at an editing machine.
Seriously sensuous.
Would have died
rather than use CGI.
Nary a false frame
in his epic sensibility
or grand classics sublime.
Notes:
(David Lean: director of visual epics
Bridge on the River Kwai, Dr. Zhivago,
Lawrence of Arabia, A Passage to India,
Ryan’s Daughter
CGI: computer-generated imaging