Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Elstree Studios – 1987
By now I was a member of the GBCT (Guild of British Camera Technicians) an organisation you could only join by invitation from other members. It had its own diary service GAS (Guild Answering Service) and those on the books were seen as the cream of crew so jobs would come in from companies who did not know me but credibility was imbued by membership so they kept me busy. I was able to put down a deposit on my first house based on this workload, a mid-terrace Victorian house in Hanwell, West London.
And so it was through the Guild I was invited to work on Roger Rabbit at Elstree Film Studios north of London. Borehamwood was previously known as Mini Hollywood because of the cluster of studios that thrived in the 60's including ABC Borehamwood now owned by the BBC and home to 'Eastenders' and MGM Borehamwood where Stanley Kubrick made, 2001, A Space Odyssey.
I had not worked at Elstree before but did make an uninvited visit after leaving college on the way home back to Leeds for the summer. I knew they were filming, 'Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom' and just wanted to see cinematographer Douglas Slocombe at work. I admired Douggie because he was one of the last of the old school who used direct lighting rather than soft bounce light popularised in the 70's. You may know his work from the Ealing Comedies; Man in the White Suit, Lavender Hill Mob and movies such as Rollerball, The Great Gatsby and the British classic, The Italian Job. I jumped over the fence at the back of the studio which entailed going through the garden of houses bordering the studio and traversing a small brook. Once on the lot no one seemed to bother who I was; so I asked the first person I met which stage the main unit were shooting on: “try stage 2”, was the fleeting response.
The door to stage 2 had a large notice stating in graphic clarity, 'CLOSED SET NO ADMISSION WITHOUT PERMISSION' – so of course I went in. Lining the wall next to the door were directors’ chairs with names of key crew and cast, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford, and on set Spielberg was talking to Harrison while Douggie, with his trademark croupiers cap (worn to shade overhead lights shining directly in his eyes) was finishing lighting the scene (Well of Souls). A large man with a distinctive booming voice approached me within moments of taking in the sights, this was legendary Assistant Director David Tomblin, and he asked what was I doing on the stage. I replied honestly that I was a film student who just wanted to see Douggie working; he suggested I go to the production office and ask permission from Pat Carr who was the Production Manager. So I dutifully complied and on hearing my unannounced request proceeded to pop all main fuses, yelled for security and had me thrown out of the studio. Spielberg himself tells a similar story of sneaking on to the set of an Alfred Hitchcock film to see the master at work and being ejected on discovery so it couldn’t really be held against me?
Several years later I needed no permission, I was working on Roger Rabbit as a clapper/loader, but talk about a small industry, the Production Manager was the one and only PAT CARR and she clearly had an elephantine memory because already she had me down as trouble. The movie was being directed by Robert Zemeckis and produced by Steven Spielberg. Filming had not yet started just camera and lighting test days for the American Cinematographer Dean Cundey who had previously worked with Robert Zemeckis on, 'Back To The Future'. I only needed to load two film magazines all day but when it came to unloading the film I could feel it was all concertina like squished into one lump, clearly not properly connected to the take-up spool. I immediately admitted the state of the stock and was told to just wind it all back up by hand and send it off to the lab anyway with a covering note. The following day we sat in the preview theatre to watch the lighting tests. I sat next to Dean and visibly sank into the seat as great big white flashes rolled up the screen as each concertina crease jumped through the projector.
I thought that was the end of my film career when called into the office that afternoon, but to my surprise no comment was made about the camera test instead I was asked if I would like to be the camera assistant on a documentary about the making of the film for an America Director. This could not have come at a better time after four years as clapper boy and I happily accepted, the shortest, and as it transpired, wisest decision I was ever to make as the next 25 years proved.
A TURNING POINT
The guy making the 'behind the scenes' on Roger was Les Mayfield a fresh faced bespectacled Californian (think Clarke Kent) a couple of years older than me and a graduate of film studies at USC (University of Southern California). It seems he was a trusted person in Spielberg's inner circle as his Producer Frank Marshall was also a USC graduate and supported fellow alumni. Who could have envisioned at this point meeting Les was to prove one of life's unexpected chance events that would drive almost all my future career?
Roger Rabbit was the first time an entire film would involve the interaction of animated cartoon characters with live action actors. There had been short sequences in previous films doing this such as Mary Poppins and Song of the South but nothing on the scale of Roger. The live action lead was Bob Hoskins, a no nonsense cockney who would drive himself to the studio in his old light blue Mk 1 Ford Escort and eat his lunch off paper plates sat outside on the floor with crew. It was so claustrophobic on set everyone was keen to see the sun for an hour! I quickly realised that these behind the scenes documentaries meant you visited all departments covering every aspect of film production, something that was virtually impossible when welded to the camera crew as clapper-boy. Naturally I was enthusiastic and Les Mayfield pleased to have a Brit on board, as I was able to oil my way round the crew to get good access for him.
The animation element of Roger was the responsibility of Canadian born Animator Richard Williams who supervised a small army of traditional cell animators. Each frame was to be hand drawn and painted with the same techniques and skills used by Disney for over 50 years. We got to visit his studio and record this process taking place and interview Williams about how the two elements would eventually combine so Bob Hoskins could interact with the animated Roger.
While filming on Roger I was aware that Steven Spielberg was also in the studio preparing his next film, an adaptation of J.G. Ballard's semi autobiographical novel, 'Empire of the Sun'. Naturally I was harboring a passionate desire to get on that one, Steven was just about the most famous and financially successful director on the planet at that point. When I heard that the first three weeks of the shoot would be in China I brazenly went up to Producer Frank Marshall and said I would work for nothing if he took me on the shoot! Well, apparently Frank did see if a visa could be secured in time but unfortunately it was too short notice. However he did tell Les Mayfield about my enthusiasm who was suitably impressed and hired me to work with him on the rest of Empire.