A woman not under the influence: Meryl Streep in Plenty with (left to right) Nicholas Frankau, Charles Dance and John Gielgud.
(“ she was smaller and spottier in the play” ), as was that of the husband, played by Charles Dance. Ullman is known in America as a pop star, in Britain as a regular on TV variety shows; Sting, who plays Mick, is also still better known as a singer than an actor. Put them together with the 81-year-old John Gielgud, and you have some interesting interreactions. “ Gielgud, was quite extra ordinary/’ says Schepisi. “ He gets angry with himself when he gets tired and can’t remember lines, but he didn’t hold us up.” Schepisi was amused when one US critic wrote that, although the film was “ exactly the same as the play” and “ nothing major had been changed” , yet “ somehow it all seems new” . In fact, about a third of the material in the film is new, and the play has also been restructured. “ The whole play was out of chronology,” says Schepisi. “ It was a set of ideas in random time place ments, so yotr accepted the time-jumps backwards and forwards. In the film, we always went forward, though sometimes with long time-jumps, until the very end, when we go back to the beginning again.” The fact that Hare had completed shooting Wetherby before Plenty started ‘‘gave him a better understanding of what I needed,” says Schepisi. “ It made him much more helpful as a writer. He never interfered with the direction; we had an extraordinary collaboration — very happy indeed. We had excellent communication, and we talked out our differences. Sometimes he changed my ideas, sometimes I changed his.”
changed his life. He has a new, American wife, and a young family. He has survived and even prospered in a very tough world. He’s as cynical as ever, but maybe a shade less naive. I wrote once that his films were about people trapped in a situation from which it’s hard to escape. That was true of his Australian films, and turns out to have been true of his three American films too: Barbarosa, trapped in a pointless family feud; the Iceman, trapped in a strange and hostile world; Susan Traherne, trapped in a stifling postwar Britain that offers little of the ‘plenty’ she craves. But one feels that Fred Schepisi himself has broken free of his traps: he seems to be looking to the future with cheerful confidence. ★
The films of Fred Schepisi C a m e r a C o r n e r (1964-66) Series of
shorts.
Breaking the Language Barrier
Sam Neil as Lazar, with whom a wartime encounter dominates Susan’s postwar life.
(1965) Short.
The Shape of Quality (1965) Short. People Make Papers (1965) Docu mentary.
And One Was Gold (1965) Docu mentary. U p a n d O v e r D o w n U n d e r (1966)
Documentary.
Switch On (1967) Documentary. The Plus
F a c to r
(1970)
Docu
mentary.
Tom orrow ’s Canberra (1972) Documentary.
Libido (Episode ‘The Priest’ 1973)
“ David and I had excellent communication, and we talked out our differences. Sometimes he changed my ideas, sometimes I changed his” Schepisi has always been a bit cynical of critics, and Plenty hasn’t changed that. Molly Haskell, in her review, listed all the things she liked about the film, and then said the only thing she really disliked was the blunt, overly physical direction. “ But almost everything she listed as liking came about because of my input,” says Schepisi. He’s also amused when a reviewer, like Pam Cook in the Monthly Film Bulletin, reviews the film without even mentioning the director. “ It’s a compliment in a way.” And next? He plans to film a “ wonderful” Steve Tesich script for Fox about rich but emotionally under-privileged kids in Boston, and would also like to make another film in Australia. He might produce in Australia too, but his plans aren’t fully formed as yet. His six years away have certainly
Production company: Producers and Directors Guild of Australia/Producers: Christopher Muir and John B. M u rr a y /S e r i p (w rite r : T h o m as Keneally/Cast: Robyn Nevin, Arthur Dignam, Vivean Gray.
The
D e v il’s
Playground
(1976)
Production company: The Feature F ilm H o u se / P ro d u c e r : F red Schepisi/Script writer: Schepisi/Cast: Arthur Dignam, Nick Tate, Simon Burke/107 minutes.
The war is over: Streep as Susan Traherne, finding none o f the plenty she craves in postwar Britain.
The Chant of Jimmie Black smith (1978) Production company: The Film House/Producer: Fred Schepisi/Scriptwriter: Schepisi, from the novel by Thomas Keneally/Cast: Tommy Lewis, Freddy Reynolds, Ray Barrett/124 minutes. B a r b a ro s a (1981, USA) Production company: ITC/Producer: Paul N. Lazarus III/Scriptwrifer: William Witliff/Cast: Willie Nelson, Gary Busey, Gilbert Roland/90 minutes.
Iceman (1984, USA) Production company: A Norman Jewison-Patrick P alm er P r o d u c tio n /P ro d u c e rs : N orm an Jew iso n and P a tric k Palmer/Scriptwriters: Chip Proser and John Drimmer/Cast: Timothy Hutton, Lindsay Crouse, John Lone/tOl minutes. P len ty (1985, USA) Production com pany: Edward R. Pressman Produc tions for RKO/Producers: Edward R. Pressman and Joseph Papp/Scriptwriter: David H are/Cast: Meryl Streep, Sam Neill, Charles Dance/124 minutes.
Sting as M ick and Tracey Ullman as Alice: in the play, Ullman ’s part was “smaller and spottier”, says Schepisi.
CINEMA PAPERS March — 25