Much more bang to original version of Italian Job
BRITAIN It is one of the most famous explosions in movie history thanks to Michael Caine’s rebuke: ‘‘You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off.’’
The man behind The Italian Job has told how life imitated art during filming of the scene in which Charlie Croker, played by Caine, and his team of bank robbers practise blowing up a van but get carried away.
Michael Deeley, producer of the film, said the special effects supervisor also ended up packing too many explosives into the van – resulting in the destruction of windows across the other side of the common where it was being filmed.
The British filmmaker recalled the moment in his reissued memoir, in which he also described having to set up his own escape while filming the British getaway film, directed by Peter Collinson, in Italy.
For the explosion, filmed on Sydenham Common, south London, he wrote: ‘‘We purchased an old Post Office van and sprayed it grey. I later heard when the unit returned to the studio that the rushes would be far more exciting than planned.
‘‘Pat Moore, the special effects supervisor, created an explosion that was slightly larger than the crew was anticipating. When the van exploded it was so big that it broke windows on the other side of the common. Peter was shouting, ‘ Wrap! Wrap! Wrap!’ and people were flying in all directions, jumping into cars and getting out as quickly as they could because the police were on their way.’’
Deeley also wrote how, while filming the same movie in Italy in 1968, he made preparations for a car to take him to the airport in the event of a stunt going wrong.
He had been warned that under Italian law he would be held personally responsible for any deaths in the event of an accident during a car chase sequence in Turin.
Although he took every available precaution to minimise risks to stuntmen, including a series of rehearsals of the Mini Cooper cars jumping a 60ft gap on ground level, there was still the possibility that Remy Julienne, the stunt driver, and the crew could meet with disaster.
Deeley, who also produced The Deer Hunter and the original Blade Runner, wrote that despite a successful rehearsal for the car jump it was ‘‘a different matter when those engines are revving at 80ft above ground’’ on the roof of a Fiat factory.
‘‘Not only was I concerned for the safety of the drivers, I also had my own fate to worry about,’’ he wrote. ‘‘I was told that, as the person in charge of the enterprise, I would be the one held liable if there was an accident.
‘‘I would immediately be nabbed and thrown into a Turin jail if something went wrong. Thus we arranged that there would be a getaway car by the side door of the factory where we were shooting, and a plane fuelled and ready at the airport.
‘‘If the worst happened, I could argue my case from outside the country rather than from inside an Italian prison cell.’’
Deeley, 85, said that it was a practical precaution: ‘‘I was pretty sure I could have moved faster than anyone else because I was all ready. It would have been a horrible thing that would have happened but it wouldn’t have helped, me being in jail. I didn’t think about the moral aspect of it at the time.’’
He said that although the stunt was memorable, it was ‘‘far less impressive’’ on film than it had been in reality because the director shot the scene from the wrong height. ‘‘I’m not a director, but I do know that altitude looks better shot from above than from below. Unfortunately our shots of the cars jumping were either from the same height or from below.’’
The film was a flop in America but was a success in Britain, not only in cinemas but during a revival on DVD in the 1990s and 2000s. However, Deeley said that the film is listed as never having made a profit by Paramount, its distributor, despite grossing $9.5 million against production costs of $3.5 million.
Paramount sent Deeley a statement 30 years after the film’s release that claimed The Italian Job had made a loss of $8.9 million. This was largely because of a deduction of $9.4 million of interest payments charged by the studio for loaning the money to make its own film.
Deeley said that he appreciated that studios deserved money for the risks they took. ‘‘However, I do have to say that, looking at Paramount’s ‘cumulative distribution statement’ for The Italian Job it seems to me a masterpiece of creativity to conclude that the film’s recent reported deficit is nearly three times [the production costs].
‘‘The film has in recent years been reissued theatrically, been a tremendous success with hundreds of thousands of DVDs sold and in 2003 was remade at a cost exceeding $50 million. Whenever did Hollywood remake an unprofitable picture?’’
Deeley, who rescued the original Blade Runner by raising $20 million in two weeks when its principal backer pulled out, had no involvement with Blade Runner 2049, the sequel that is projected to perform disappointingly despite favourable reviews.
He said that he wished no ill will upon its makers but thought the 163-minute running time was ‘‘indefensible because you only have time for two screenings a day instead of three’’.
He added that allowing the film to stretch well beyond two hours was ‘‘probably irresponsible and arrogant’’.
(The updated edition of Blade Runners, Deer Hunters & Blowing the Bloody Doors Off by Michael Deely and Matthew Field will be published on October 30). The Times