It's Alive! Frankenheimer Talks Games

INTERVIEW

John Frankenhimer

Director of Reindeer Games

John Frankenhimer

Director of Reindeer Games

By RICHARD HO

CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

"I like flowers," says John Frankenheimer, pointing to a vase of flowers resting on the coffee table by the side of his armchair.

The setting? A hotel room high within the warm confines of the Ritz Carlton. Outside, the snow-covered streets and gloomy sky create a somewhat fitting backdrop for an interview with the director of Reindeer Games, whose newest film is the latest product of a long and distinguished career. The creative mind behind films such as Manchurian Candidate, Birdman of Alcatraz,and Ronin is using the flowers as an example of props on a movie set making a statement. He has a few statements of his own to make, as Crimson Arts catches up with the legendary director.

The Harvard Crimson: Why did you choose Reindeer Games?

John Frankenheimer: There are three ways in which you can get involved in a movie as a director. One of them is to find or create a project yourself and hire a writer to do it. The other is to find a novel and have a studio or producer buy it, and then hire a writer. The third way is to have somebody, a studio or producer, send you a script. And that's what happened here. Bob Weinstein sent me the script of Reindeer Games...I read it, I loved it. In fact, I decided to do this picture faster than I've ever decided to do a movie.

THC: Did you cast Ben Affleck?

JF: I did. He was my first choice. I wanted Everyman for this, I wanted the Everyman character. I wanted a young James Stewart. I wanted somebody that men could relate to, that women could relate to. I wanted somebody that didn't look like a hardened criminal, because he was in there for car theft, not for murder. I wanted somebody who was intelligent, that you believe could think on his feet like this. I wanted an actor who could do the comedy, the funny lines. And I wanted someone whom I like around me. I don't like working with people that I don't feel comfortable being around. And all of those things I feel with Ben.

THC: Why wasn't Reindeer Games released at Christmas?

JF: The truth is, I wasn't ready. I just am not very quick when it comes to the final process of the music and the editing and all of that. And I knew I wasn't going to be ready when we finished shooting it.

THC: Aren't you bothered by movies with unrealistic settings? For example, when a writer can afford a luxurious loft?

JF: Yeah, doesn't that drive you crazy? I go through this all the time with set designers and costume designers and set dressers. I say, you cannot give them this! This is a bloody palace! You're not going to able to afford this on so and so's salary, you wouldn't have accessories like this. I think everything on a set, and every costume, has to make a statement. Even if it's a prop, if it's this vase of flowers. I like flowers. Some men don't. I do. I think that makes a statement about me that those are there, that I didn't have them thrown out of the room. Everything in a movie has to make a statement, everything has to be there for a reason--otherwise, don't have it there. It's the old theatrical saying, that if you have two crossed swords over the fireplace in the first act, you damn well better use them in the third act. And that's the point.

THC: They showed Black Sunday [Frankenheimer's 1977 thriller in which terrorists attempt to blow up the Super Bowl] yesterday.

JF: Oh, did they? They do every year.

THC: You were in the control booth for one scene?

JF: Yes. The reason for that was, one, I used to be an actor; two, I was a television director; and three, I wanted Sammy Grossman, who was the real director of the Super Bowl, to do it, and the day before we were going to shoot the scene, Grossman's agent called me and said that he wanted $15,000 for Grossman to do this one day's work. That would be the equivalent today of about $100,000. And I said, you know what, there's no way. I figured it was going to be a one-shot, so I just did it myself. Theoretically, you have to join the Screen Actors Guild, but they give you a one-shot thing, so you can do it without joining. But then, I was recently asked to play a general in The General's Daughter, which I did. And so I had to join the damn Screen Actor's Guild anyway.

THC: It seems that the bulk of your career has been working in thrillers. How did that come about?

JF: Well, I did 152 live television shows, most of which were not thrillers. I won the Emmy four consecutive years, just recently, doing cable films (Against the Wall, The Burning Season, Andersonville, George Wallace), none of which were thrillers. Some of my best movies are not thrillers (Birdman of Alcatraz, Grand Prix). I did Manchurian Candidate, and it was a huge success, and I got offered a lot of these things. And then, for a while, my career didn't do that well, and then I made a big comeback doing Black Sunday, and then I tried to get away from it doing some other things. And it just so happens that people just think of me in terms of those movies, like Ronin and now Reindeer Games. I must say I like [doing them]. It's the old story: if nine people tell you you're drunk, maybe you shouldn't drive. If everybody keeps telling you you know how to do these movies, maybe you should do them, you know what I mean? I like doing suspense pictures. I like doing character-driven thrillers, which is what I would consider Manchurian Candidate, Ronin, etc.

THC: Back to what you were saying about directors making fewer films now--there are a lot of the older directors who worked really quickly, making two or three films per year.

JF: But don't forget: a lot of those directors didn't cut their movies. They'd do a three day thing with the editor, and then on to the next movie, and the producers and studios would cut them. That we've changed. We edit our own films, for the most part. There are some people that don't, but I certainly do. And I'm also involved with the Director's Guild (chairman of the Creative Rights Committee), and one of the things we're making directors do is exercise their creative rights.

THC: You've directed probably more than anybody else (38 films, 152 live television shows). Is that some sort of a record?

JF: I don't know, I've never tried to compare. [laughs]

THC: It's just remarkable how much you've done in comparison to other directors.

JF: Well, I think that's a problem with a lot of modern day directors, the fact that they don't work enough. I don't think you get to be a better director by having meetings and giving interviews and talking about it, and pontificating about it. I think that you become a better director by working, and by doing it. Having to face the everyday problems, and solve them. Boy, I tell you, you get better. I'm better now than I was twenty years ago. I think I have much more of a grip on stories. I know much more about what I want.

It's a pretty good bet that, as long as he continues to direct, there will always be open doors for John Frankenheimer in Hollywood. And, at the very least, you can bet that each and every one of his movies will make a statement.