Brad Stevens - Monte Hellman - His Life and Films

22. A curiously rephrased version of Hellman's statement appears in the English-language edition of Wenders' book The Logic of Images. The text had presumably been translated into German for this book's original publication, then translated back into English.

23. Monte Hellman, NFT lecture and e-mails to the author, December 21 and 22, 2000, and February 24, 2001.

24. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, August 1, 3 and 4, 2001.

25. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, December 20, 2000, and April 5 and 6, 2001.

26. Steven Gaydos, e-mail to the author, March 28, 2001.

27. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, December 20, 2000, and January 28, 2001.

28. Peter Biskind, Easy Riders , Raging Bulls , pp. 397-398.

29. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, December 22, 2000, and January 22, and April 6, 2001.

30. Monte Hellman, e-mail to the author, January 23, 2001.

31. Monte Hellman, e-mail to the author, April 4, 2001.

32. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, January 22 and April 5, 2001.

33. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, December 22, 2000, and January 3, 2001. Orson Welles died October 10, 1985.

34. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, December 12 and 22, 2000.

35. Monte Hellman, e-mail to the author, December 22, 2000.

36. Paul Joyce, e-mail to the author, April 18, 2001.

37. " Two-Lane Revisited."

38. Jon Davison, e-mail to the author, May 1, 2001.

39. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, December 20 and 21, 2000, and January 1, April 30 and May 1, 3 and 28, 2001.

40. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, April 30 and May 28, 2001.

41. Monte Hellman, e-mail to the author, January 1, 2001.

42. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, January 1, and 3, 2001.

43. Jon Davison, e-mail to the author, May 1, 2001. It seems that none of the footage Davison shot of Kinney's death was used in Verhoeven's final cut. Although Davison claims responsibility for the final high-angle shot of Kinney — removed from Robocop 's theatrical version by the MPAA, but restored to the laserdisc and DVD — he would appear to be misremembering, since a reel of outtakes included on MGM's UK DVD (released in 2002) contains a longer take of this shot, preceded by a slate dated 22-10-86 (when Hellman was still working on the film). On the slate, second unit cinematographer R. Anderson is listed as director, since Hellman's involvement was strictly unofficial. Other Hellman-directed shots (all from the conference room scene) included on this outtake reel show Kinney standing in front of the model city as squibs explode on his chest (look carefully and you can see Hellman in the background, partially obscured by the slate) and two close-ups of hands pulling wires from a computer.

44. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, January 1, and April 30, 2001.

45. Jon Davison, e-mail to the author, June 10, 2001.

46. Monte Hellman, e-mail to the author, May 28, 2001.

47. Jon Davison, e-mail to the author, May 7, 2001.

48. Monte Hellman, e-mail to the author, April 30, 2001.

49. Ibid. On the commentary track of MGM's DVD, Paul Verhoeven incorrectly attributes these shots of troops firing at Robocop to Mark Goldblatt: "A lot of this was second unit. The long shots with Robo and everything we shot, but then Mark Goldblatt came in and stayed another couple of days to get all the close-ups and all the things that take forever to stage.... That's all Mark Goldblatt's work." According to Hellman, "Mark Goldblatt was long gone. I did some of the stuff with Robo, as well. To be charitable, maybe Verhoeven was trying to protect me. Or maybe he forgot I was even there — he barely and grudgingly acknowledged me when I was there" (e-mail to the author, February 12, 2002).

50. Ibid.

51. Monte Hellman, e-mail to the author, May 28, 2001.

52. Monte Hellman, e-mail to the author, January 22, 2001.

53. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, December 20, 2000, and April 8, 2001.

54. Steven Gaydos, e-mail to the author, March 28, 2001.

55. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, December 20, 2000, and April 8, and 16, 2001.

Chapter 15. Iguana

1. The Encantadas had loosely inspired Allan Dwan's film Enchanted Island (1958).

2. Steven Gaydos, audio commentary on the Iguana DVD (2000). Alberto Vasquez-Figueroa's novel Ebano had already been filmed by Richard Fleischer as Ashanti (1979).

3. Franco Di Nunzio is best known for having co-produced two of Ruggero Deodato's most notorious films: Cannibal Holocaust and House on the Edge of the Park. There are some similarities between House on the Edge of the Park and Iguana , both of which show individuals dominating a helpless group. Coincidentally, Deodato would himself collaborate with Alberto Vasquez-Figueroa on an unscreened television series entitled Ocean (1990), shot on location at Lanzarote two years after Iguana.

4. Monte Hellman, e-mails to the author, April 19 and August 26, 2001, audio commentary on the Iguana DVD and NFT lecture, January 3, 1995. Kent Jones' "The Cylinders Were Whispering My Name" includes a garbled and inaccurate account of the mistranslation incident: "an interpreter mistranslated a letter from an Italian producer who did not want to do the film and made it appear that he was giving Hellman a green light."

5. Steven Gaydos, audio commentary on the Iguana DVD.

6. Monte Hellman, audio commentary on the Iguana DVD.

7. Monte Hellman, audio commentary on the Iguana DVD and e-mail to the author, December 23, 2000. Melville, following Captain David Porter's account of Patrick Watkins in Voyage Into the Pacific , has Oberlus sailing to Payta, convincing a "tawny damsel" to "accompany him back to his Enchanted Isle," and finally being jailed. Another account (from Coulter's Adventures in the Pacific ) has Watkins inducing a Spaniard's wife (presumably the inspiration for Vasquez-Figueroa's Carmen) to accompany him, but being killed by the woman's husband while preparing to depart.

8. Monte Hellman, e-mail to the author, December 23, 2000.

9. Monte Hellman, audio commentary on the Iguana DVD.

10. Ibid.

11. Monte Hellman, NFT lecture and audio commentary on the Iguana DVD.

12. Monte Hellman, audio commentary on the Iguana DVD.

13. On the audio commentary of the DVD, Hellman recalls, "I got Steven Gaydos to locate Joni Mitchell and deliver her a tape of the rough cut of the picture." Mitchell was already familiar with Hellman's work, having visited James Taylor on the set of Two-Lane Blacktop (in which, according to Hellman, she can be briefly glimpsed).

14. According to the film's credits, "Oh, Love" was written by Miguel De Cervantes. Indeed, the lyrics can be found in Don Quixote (part 2, chapter 68, "The Adventure with the Hogs"). As Hellman pointed out to me, Cervantes took the verses in question from a Spanish translation of Pietro Bembo's Gli Asolani , an edition of which was published as early as 1515, while the Spanish version appeared at Salamanca in 1551.

15. Monte Hellman, e-mail to the author, December 23, 2000. Di Nunzio's cuts include the funeral of Carmen's husband (as well as some later dialogue in which she explains that he died searching for treasure in the Amazon), the introduction of Alberto, Carmen's conversation with the priest and the dialogue about The Odyssey , as well as numerous brief shots and parts of shots.