Spanish interview transcript
TV3, 1994
**thanks to Isabel Ortiz
"I think that Coppola wanted
to do a trilogy, Frankenstein and the man wolf were the other
two. I think he is very fond of gothic world and he was very
helpful when he became producer and he gave me advice about the
screenplay and talked to me about his experiences in Dracula.
He saw the last shots and the early prints of the film and he
helped me a lot because he protected me against the study when
they were nervous for some reason. The passion he felt about
this subject was very helpful to me".
"The book is full of details
but there are too some holes in the biggest cinematographic scenes,
like the creation. For me was difficult to find a style that
fited but my work with Shakespeare has helped me to not being
frightened about the stories that are larger than life, with
that kind of dialoges. So I was not frightened of doing a non-realistic
work. I was happy of using great sets, primary colors and a gothic
side. I enjoyed a lot trying to make a big cinematographic sperience.
The most difficult scenes were the creation ones, because the
meovements in the laboratory were difficult. It was a kind of
cathedral with big beams and it was hard to do what I wanted,
big camera movements, but I needed them to transport the audience
to the excitement of Victor Frankenstein".
"The worst moment of this
project was when we began the film and when we shot the big scenes
like the sea tempest, for which we built a replica of a russian
whale ship and there were a lot of cameras. I haven't done some
like that before and I was terrified".
About the stairway: "For
me it was a central image of one of my ideas: gothic, fairy tales,
happiness. It was images of blood running down that scales, something
rotten, something from a story book. I just had a feeling that
it was right and it had some phases. The designer wanted to put
a handrail but no, I wanted scales that went up to heaven or
down to hell or simply something very intense, non-realistic
and misterious" (then he smiles).
About Robert De Niro: "He
was very very involved. I think he wanted some moments of the
performance to be very simple and gentle. They are the moments
when he reacts and looks the camera. He uses only his eyes in
his activity to made feel terror truly to the audience. De Niro
noticed that it was something he hadn't quite done before, that
combination". "There's nothing similar to the versions
of Boris Karloff, that were excellent. From that moment on there
had been lots of good versions of this story. But we wanted a
patchwork man that had a look painful and tortured. Somebody
that we could understand. Somebody who learns how to talk as
he does in the film and that was convincing meanwhile. Robert
De Niro was decided to do it in as unique and original as we
could."
"If we could in some years
to create life or win the battle to death, it will be a funny
but terrifying idea. Who controls that power? Who would decide
which kind of life are we going to create? The governments? Would
they use this power to create super-man armys? If we prevent
death, what will happen with thw Earth and the excess of population?
Those are frightening issues and I think that scientists and
governments hadn't been always responsible, had not always the
imagination to deal with the power they have. Science, yes, it
could advance, but always with some sense of what the consequences
of their actions might be. That's the argument the creature gives
to their father: think about the consequences".
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