Interview with Jess Franco
By Robert Monell
Conducted 9.11.04: Thanks to Lina Romay with help in translation and fact authentication and to Kris Gavin for helping to arrange the interview.
RM: Jess, as we are talking you're in the middle of editing SNAKEWOMAN. Is this a remake of an older film of yours or the literary adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne you spoke with me about?
JF: No, it's based on the classic story CARMILLA, by Sheridan Le Fanu.
RM: Yes, it's been filmed by Vadim and Hammer. I see you're working with Antonio Mayans again. He hasn't been in one of your films in over a decade.
JF: It's good to be working with him again. He's fantastic as always. A very nice and cooperative actor. Very good as Al Periera in those films.
RM: I hope to see another Al Periera film from you and him in the future.
JF: It's possible, I like to go back to him.
RM: Let's go back to the beginning of your career, particularly your association with the Mexican cinema. You have said you worked with Chano Uruerta in other interviews. What did you work with him on in Mexico?
JF: I visited Mexico in the mid 1950s as a producer's rep overseeing the Spanish side of Spanish-Mexican coproductions. I worked with Chano on a comedy. I can't remember the title. I also remember working with Tito Junco [the jpopular actor] while there and a horror film. I can't remember the titles.
RM: Understandable, since that was 50 years ago!
JF: [Laughs] Yes!
RM: How did you meet Chano Uruerta and Abel Salazar, whom you worked with on the EL COYOTE films.
JF: I met them together. They came to Spain together for the COYOTE films. I met them at the house of the famous composer, Augustin Lara.
RM: Salazar was a very popular actor and an astute producer in Mexico. He produced and starred in some key horror films later. Was he a good actor in the COYOTE films?
JF: No, he was not. Not a very good actor, but a very nice person. We became good friends.
RM: I liked him as the arrogant baron in THE BRAINIAC.
JF: No, he couldn't play that kind of role. He couldn't play the bandit either. He was an average man, he could play an average man. That's all.
RM: He played that average type in the Fernando Mendez VAMPIRO films with German Robles. The hero who defeats the monster.
JF: Yes, he could play that. But he wasn't an acting genius.
RM: When we talked before you mentioned Chano Uruerta's THE HEADLESS RIDER. That film reminds me a lot of your own EL LLANERO with it's mixture of horror, action, western motifs and musical elements.
JF: Si! I had seen THE HEADLESS RIDER earlier and was very influenced by it. Chano was mad. He would tear up the script and just shoot whatever he wanted. It was crazy working with him. I worked with some very important Mexican directors at that time, Fernado Soler and Emilio Fernandez.
RM: Fernandez directed some classic Mexican films and was also in some popular Sam Peckinpah westerns like THE WILD BUNCH.
JF: Si, he was always drinking tequila. A wild man. Totally crazy! But a good actor and director.
RM: Let's move ahead to your earliest features. THE AWFUL DR ORLOF has often been discussed by you in interviews along with your first film, TENEMOS 18 ANOS. But I would like to hear about a personal favorite, VAMPIRESAS 1930 (1960).
JF: That was one of my favorites to work on because I had the means to do it right and wonderful music by Charles Trenet.
RM: Yes, "EL MAR"...
JF: Those songs were one of the main reasons I wanted to do it. VAMPS 1930 was everything it should have been and those songs by Trenet were wonderful.
RM: In your early career who were your favorite producers?
JF: Well, Sergio Newman and Marius Lesoeur, who I did VAMPS and DR ORLOF with. In fact, they are still my all time favorite producers in my career.
RM: Why?
JF: Because they gave me the means to do them right and they cared about the films. Sergio Newman was a lovely man and Marius was very clever, a good producer when he was younger. They saw to it that I had enough money. After them, I like Silberman and Safra, who I did MISS MUERTE and CARTES BOCA ARRIBA with. Do you know those films.
RM: Yes, two of my favorites of your earlier films.
JF: Si, MISS MUERTE is one of my best films and when I made it with them they gave me very good productions elements.
RM: I want to ask you about the look of your films, which is always so distinctive and changes as your career progresses. For instance, I like the look of MISS MUERTE, very dark and brooding and the earlier LA MUERTE SILBA UN BLUES (1962).
JF: LA MUERTE... was shot by one of the best cameramen I worked with, Juan Marine. I liked his style of lighting, like "black" cinema.
RM: It's often compared to Orson Welles' film noir look in TOUCH OF EVIL.
JF: Si, it's all in the way it's lit. The lighting is everything in these type films. Also in Robert Siodmak's PHANTOM LADY and THE KILLERS, both masterworks.
RM: You often mention Siodmak. I especially like the midnight jam session in PHANTOM LADY, with Elisha Cook playing the drums as he's getting sexually frustrated over the heroine.
JF: Si! That's my favorite scene also. I call it the "Jazz style", very black, film noir.
RM: Was Siodmak your favorite Hollywood director?
JF: Orson Welles...
RM: John Ford?
JF: A master... but Siodmak was one of my favorites. You know I worked with him a few years after LA MUERTE SILBA UN BLUES on one of his last films. I spent 5 months working as assistant director and his personal assistant on CUSTER OF THE WEST (196 .
RM: I didn't know that. Robert Shaw starred in that.
JF: Yes, but I didn't like him. Not a good casting choice to play General Custer. Did you know Siodmak wanted Sterling Hayden first.
RM: An excellent actor. I can see how he could have been more compelling in that role,
.
JF: Si! A very interesting actor who would have made a great Custer. But the producers made Siodmak use Shaw, he was very unhappy about that. I didn't like Robert Shaw at all and Siodmak didn't either.
RM: So, you worked as assistant director on this big budgeted Eurowestern shot in Spain. Weren't you also working on your own films as a director? How did you find the time?
JF: Yes, it was shot in Spain in 1967. I became very close friends with Siodmak and we discussed many things. I made time in my schedule to work with Siodmak and asked him to hire me because I admired his work. Siodmak had complete knowledge about film and film history, he was a very cultured person.
RM: It's a good looking film.
JF: Yes, it's very well crafted.
RM: I wanted to get back to the look of your films. You had made a number of films by the late 1960s and, of course, have now made over 200 films. Who was your all time favorite cinematographer?
JF: First I'd like to say that I admire Vilmos Zigmond a lot. I like the way he uses light.
RM: Yes, he shot the very beautiful Robert Altman film, MCCABE AND MRS MILLER (1971)...
JF: Yes, I like the look he created...
RM: Very interesting. I see a lot of similarities between you and Robert Altman, visually and in employing a lot of improvisation. But who was the best DP you worked with on YOUR films?
JF: Manuel Merino. He was the one I felt closest too. He shot EUGENIE, HER JOURNEY INTO PERVERSION just the way I wanted it to look. And then Juan Marine.
RM: How about Gerard Brissaud, who is listed as DP of some of your 70s films, like PLEASURE FOR THREE.
JF: He was Polish. A technician. A lot of people worked on these films. We had to use a lot of international technicians, and sometimes changed the names. Because of coproduction status. But he was a good technician.
RM: My favorite is Juan Soler, who shot many of your early 1980s films.
JF: Si, Juan Soler Cozar was very good. But those films were too low budget. We didn't have the money to do them right. They don't look like they should. The only one we had the money to do right was BLOODY MOON. Do you know that film?
RM: Yes, I don't like it as much as MACUMBA SEXUAL or MIL SEXOS TIENE LA NOCHE. I like those a lot better even if they are lower budgeted films.
JF: I'm glad you like those films. There hasn't been much talk about my Golden Film Productions. Which ones do you like the most?
RM: Well, MIL SEXOS... and LA NOCHE DE LOS SEXOS ABIERTOS (1981). Well talk about those later but I wanted to ask you about your use of Cinemascope, specifically the Techniscope system. Did you prefer and like to work in anamorphic 2.35:1 ratio?
JF: For some films I like Cinemascope or Techniscope, like in DRACULA CONTRA FRANKENSTEIN. I like it because it gives you more "scope", you can show more. The castles, the landscapes. It can be beautiful and gives a mysterious look to everything. You can show more on the sides of the action. But shooting in scope in moe expensive because of the anamorphic lenses. It is more expensive to shoot and edit in scope.
RM: I think you got especially good results with using scope in MIL SEXOS TIENE LA NOCHE, a very beautiful film with gorgeous colors.
JF: Thank you. I tried to make a film like Raymond Chandler with that one.
RM: That and some of your mystery thrillers remind me of the American crime writer Jim Thompson.
JF: Si! I like him a lot. Did you know Orson Welles wanted to film one of his novels, THE KILLER INSIDE ME?
RM: No, I didn't know he wanted to film that. A great novel. Burt Kennedy ended up making a pretty good film out of it. But it wasn't Orson Welles, obviously.
JF: No, not as good as Orson would have done it. He was really enthusiastic about filming it during the early 1960s.
RM: Another film of that period which I like the look of is LA NOCHE DE LOS SEXOS ABIERTOS.
JF: That showed the influence of "black cinema" on me. You know, film noir. It is a film I like a lot. A mixture of suspense, eroticism and mystery.
RM: Back to the producers of your films. Let's talk about Robert De Nesle.
JF: It's pronounced DE NELLE...
RM: Yes, thanks. You sometimes filmed "covered" versions of films he co produced with Spain, like with LA MALDICION DE FRANKENSTEIN (1972)...
JF: Yes, which version of that do you prefer?
RM: I like the shorter French version. Do you consider that YOUR preferred version?
JF: Si. It has more nudity, eroticism and horror in it. I just made an extension of it for Arturo Marcos, for Spanish distribution [Fenix Films].
RM: Yes, but I like the way those scenes in the Spanish versions are shot. Particularly those shots of the figures in white walking through the forest and I like the scenes with Lina. By the way, the Cagliostro character [Howard Vernon] mentions the writings or the sect of PANTOS or PHANTOS throughout the film. This name is also mentioned by Dr Orlof in FEMALE VAMPIRE. Is this an ancient writer or cult or something you made up?
JF: Howard Vernon, who was a very clever actor, came up with it. It's supposed to be a secret sect from Medieval times, who wrote books with forbidden knowledge. But MALDICION... wasn't my film. I did it for Arturo Marcos. The French version is the one I wanted to make.
RM: What was Robert De Nesle like as a person and a producer?
JF: A very strange man. Robert De Nesle was a madman. He was obsessed with women, he was always trying to get at the actresses in the films we made together. He was very intelligent, but timid, he loved movies. Very elegant, very nice, a very handsome man. But he was always making plays for every woman he saw. He never understood the films I was making. He loved cinema, but didn't understand what I was trying to do. He didn't have a clue. He was out of it. He was too busy playing around with the girls...[laughs]
RM: Harry Alan Towers?
JF: Could have been a better producer. A very nice fellow, but always looking for more money. He was always supportive and trying to get me more money.
RM: Did he allow you to edit and work on the post production of your flms together?
JF: They were physically cut by British editors but I was always in the editing room with them. So I supervised the final edit and post production with them.
RM: We were discussing your Golden Films Internacional productions earlier. How was Emilio Larraga as a producer? Was he good?
JF: No. I called him a soup salesman. He just wanted to use me to make a quick profit. He never gave me enough money or elements to make the films. These were made very, very quickly. Some in less than a week in very poor conditions. Then he got into trouble with the Spanish tax authorities. He tried to hide the rest of the films I made for him. Many of them were never released. He died some time ago.
RM: But did you have total freedom in preparing, shooting and editing these films.
JF: Yes, that I did have because they were so low budget. I had control of the final edit. They were completely mine: the concept, the production, the final editing. I got very little money. I got a very small salary. That's all. Just enough to live on. As I said, these films were made in terrible conditions.
RM: I like the most some of these films which you say were made with little money and under bad conditions. How did you adjust to the bigger budgeted FACELESS (198 . Of course, you must appreciate having adequate resources.
JF: I liked Rene Chateau. He gave me a very good cast with Telly Savalas, Chris Mitchum, Brigitte Lahie and Helmut Berger. I liked the photography of Maurice Fellous who shot that film, he was the brother of the famous Roger Fellous.
RM: In your ONE SHOT films you have developed a different style: shot on video, more surreal, almost cartoonish, especially KILLER BARBYS and KILLER BARBYS VS DRACULA... T
FM: Yes, I shoot on high def video because it's more like 35mm. I try to give an impression of luminosity with colors like Disney.
RM: KILLER BARBYS VS DRACULA and some of your other films have images of famous Disney characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.
FM: Yes, I like Donald Duck very much. The way he's always screaming and yelling a lot [laughs] And I like Goofy. I like to show them in my films. I like those old Disney cartoons. I like the color in them and I tried to use it in this film. I tried to get that Disney color, that Disney look. I like Walt Disney very much, the man himself not the business empire, he was very imaginative and ahead of his times. I like FANTASIA and THE THREE CABELLEROS. I especially like Mickey Mouse...
(C) 2004 Robert Monell: ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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