George Harrison with MadonnaPress Conference for Shanghai Surprise, London, 6 March 1986
George Harrison: Good afternoon. On behalf of us both and HandMade Films, welcome. Iād like to ask for maybe a bit of order. Whoever wants to ask a question, maybe you could say your name, what newspaper youāre from, and also your intentions at the next general election.
Question: Madonna, what kind of boss is George Harrison and were you a Beatlemaniac?Madonna: I wasnāt a Beatlemaniac. I donāt think I really appreciated their songs until I was much older. I was too young to really get caught up in the craze. But heās a great boss, very understanding and sympathetic.Question: What sort of advice has he given you?Madonna: I think heās given me more advice on how to deal with the press than how to work in the movie.Question: Is it fun working with your husband, Sean Penn?Madonna: Of course it is. Heās a pro. Heās worked on several films and his experience has helped me.Question: Has it caused any personal problems off set, do you argue at all?George: Do you row with your wife?Question: George, is it true you are playing a cameo role in the film?George: Well, yes and no, really. There is one scene in a nightclub with a band playing in the background, and because Iām writing the music to the film I decided it would be easier if I was the singer in the band.Question: Mr Harrison, are you confident that this film is going to be as successful?George: I think so, yeah.Question: It seems as though itās a more ambitious film than A Private Function.George: Well, it is certainly a larger budget film than A Private Function, but itās totally different to any of the previous films weāve made. Itās a sort of adventure film, slightly humorous. I think itās actually a very good-looking film. This will be the thing in the end because there has been so much written in the papers that has absolutely nothing to do with what the film is about, and these two people have spent the last couple of months working on this thing.Question: George, when you hired Mr Penn, did you think that there would beā¦letās face it; this film is surrounded by a lot of hypeā¦George: Well, youāre the people who create the hype, letās not get that wrong.Question: What Iām saying is; did you expect the sort of coverage youāre getting?George: I did expect a certain amount of commotion from the press, but I must admit I overestimated your intelligence.Question: George, thereās been a lot of reports that youāve had to personally separate the warring factions on the set. Do you think this will affect the film adversely, and would you work with Sean Penn again?George: Sure. I happen to like Sean very much because I donāt see him like you. I see him as an actor who we hired and the role that he plays, and has played in the past - which is one of the reasons we chose him - is of a feisty young guy. That said, heās actually a human being whoās very nice, and heās a talented actor. You just have to separate the two things, his job and his ability to do it and the sensationalism because he happened to marry Madonna.Question: Why isnāt Mr Penn here at this conference?George: Because heās busy working.Madonna: Heās in more scenes than I am.Question: Would some of the commotion have been cut down a bit if the original press conference hadnāt been cancelled? Isnāt this just one of the old Hollywood ways of getting publicity?George: The press conference was postponed because after we returned from Hong Kong the schedule had to be reorganised and, letās face it, weāre here to make a film, not hold press conferences.Question: One of the people from HandMade told me that the reason they cancelled it was that after the scene at the airport they didnāt feel like giving the press an even break. Is that true?George: Well, maybe thatās true as well. I canāt speak for whoever said that, youāll have to ask them. The purpose of this is to try and clarify some situation. I can see the attitude written all over your face. Thereās no actual point in you asking anything because youāve already predetermined what it is youāre going to say. Iād like to ask if thereās anybody who is actually honest. Thatās what we want, a bit of honesty. Because if you want the truth, youāll get it. But I donāt suppose that some people here are actually capable of recognising it when they see it. Question: George, what do you think of the so-called British film revival? Did you see Letter to Brezhnev and do you have any plans to film in Liverpool?George: Well, actually, Letter to Brezhnev resurrected my original belief in the character of the Liverpool people. Itās a fantastic example of how someone with no money and no hope can actually get through that. I think itās fabulous. Iāve not spent a great deal of time in Liverpool over the years, but Iām happy to say the film has revitalised my image of Liverpool people. I think the British Film Year was a good idea, just to try and stimulate more interest from the public. I think to a degree it helped a lot.Question: Madonna, will you be singing on the soundtrack at all?Madonna: Iām not really thinking about the musical aspects of the movie, Iām just trying to concentrate on the acting.George: At this point Iām doing the music. If she wants to sheās welcome, but she wasnāt hired as a musician.Question: Madonna, I wonder if either you or your husband would like to apologise for incidents which have involved bad behaviour on your behalf?Madonna: I have nothing to apologise for.George: I would add to that. Everything thatās been written in the papers has been started by someone in the press, either the photographer that sat on the hood of the car or the woman from the radio station who broke in and also the appalling behaviour of the journalist who actually stole photographs from the continuity woman. So thereās nothing to apologise for. I think certain elements of the press should apologise and at the same time I hope that all of them who do have intelligence will recognise that theyāre not the ones who have made us angry.Question: Do you think that situation has been antagonised by the enormous amount of security thatās being used?Madonna: We donāt have an enormous amount of security.Question: There is today.George: Yes, today. If you had been with us in the car trying to get in here, youād realise itās like a bunch of animals. Absolute animals. Do you just want us to get torn apart and beaten up? Because thatās really what those people are like.Question: You must have realised what the British press are like. Do you regret shooting the last few weeks here rather than in the States?George: Itās a British film. You know, if you like weāll all go to Australia and make our movies there in the future. Weād like to make them in England. Weād like to be reasonable and weād like you to be reasonable because it doesnāt do anyoneā¦I think in a way certain of the press have actually got in the way. You would have achieved more if you had a different attitude.Question: But big stars come over here and make films perfectly well.George: You know itās you, the press, who decide how big you want the stars to be. Letās face it, stars are actually people, human beings who have become famous for one thing or another and that is usually encouraged by the press to the point where the only thing left to do is to knock them. Itās a historical fact and itās unfortunate that she [Madonna] happens to be going through that at this time.Question: Surely it was worse in the sixties?George: It was worse because it was a new experience to me. But now I donāt give a damn what you say about me, because I know who I am and I know what I feel and I know you canāt get me any more. The press canāt get me. You can write your snide little things about me, but ultimately Iām all right. I know Iām all right. I donāt care about those kind of snide remarks. I care about the truth.Question: You depend on the media for publicity. Without the publicity no one would go to your films. So what are you standing there saying weāre wrong to be here for?George: I didnāt say you were wrong to be here. I was just making a point: he asked, āIs it any different from the sixties?ā and I said, 'Well, in the sixties it was a new experience for me, but now Iāve been through so much Iāve learnt how to deal with it.ā I didnāt say anything about what you said.Question: We have had loads of film stars over here, but have never had these sorts of fights.Madonna: When Robert De Niro comes to the airport, are there twenty photographers that sit on his limousine and donāt allow him to leave the airport?George: Those people, letās face it, are big stars but theyāre not news.Question: But Iāve never seen scenes like this.George: Yes, but itās been created by the press. All those photographers are out there to get as many pictures as they can because they sell them to everybody. They make money out of it and because sheās hot theyāre trying to make as much money as they can.Question: But thatās why you hired her.George: Yes, but we expected non-animals. Youāre all quite nice now, arenāt you?Question: Talking of animals, is it true that Sean Penn has been on the set giving ordersā¦George: What kind of introduction is that? That doesnāt even deserve an answer.Question: What about the incident at the airport?George: That was the press jumping all over the car.Question: It wasnāt the press that were at fault, there were two other people who got involved who were plain clothes detectives and they shouldnāt have been involved.George: But nevertheless he was trying to jump on the front of the car as it drove away. What do you expect? Whatever the facts, it is still something which doesnāt really justify the amount of attention itās been given.Question: How do the naked scenes fit into the film?George: Itās not that kind of movie.Madonna: There are no naked women in the movie.George: Lots of naked men, though!Question: Madonna, do you care whatās said about you in the press?Madonna: I think what George meant was he doesnāt feel it any more when bad things are written about him.George: I donāt particularly want you to say more nasty things, but Iāve learnt not to read them. Itās just water off a duckās back. Otherwise we would all be ulcerated, wouldnāt we? The sad thing is that people have got brains in their heads and maybe we should just try and use some of the other cells in our brains rather than the ones that are just to do with all this sensational stuff.Question: Whatās your favourite scene in the movie?George: I like it when she kills the monster from outer space!Question: What state of production are the other current HandMade titles in?George: Weāve got a number of films in the making, because weāve been able to break even, or have been able to come up with the funding for certain films. Some of them are scripts that are being worked on. Others are in the casting stage. For instance, thereās a film called Travelling Men, which has been in pre-production for a number of years.Question: When did you first become aware of Madonna?George: I donāt know. A couple of years agoā¦Madonna: When he wrote 'Lady Madonnaā.Question: Were you aware of her records?George: Sure, I was aware of her with all the TV, videos and stuff. The first time I heard her was on the radio when I heard her singing something about 'Living in the Material Worldā.Question: Madonna, I hear your management contract is up for sale. And George, would you like to buy it?Madonna: Youāre a little troublemaker, arenāt you!Question: Was this film written for Madonna and Sean Penn?George: It wasnāt. It was taken from a book called Farradayās Flowers and the producer wrote the screenplay. We talked about various possibilities for casting and someone suggested Madonna. Apart from the fact that everyone knew she was a famous singer, if you saw Desperately Seeking Susan you know even Barry Norman agrees that there was some potential there. She got the screenplay, and Sean Penn, who had also worked with John Combs, the producer, on a couple of other films, read the screenplay and said that he would do it too. It was quite a coincidental thing. It wasnāt any sort of huge plot to get these newlywed people; I donāt think they had even got married then. In a commercial sense, it was obviously good to have her in it because itās better than having someone nobody has ever heard of. But the rest of it was just luck. But I mean; lots of our films do have people no oneās ever heard of. Itās not any policy.Question: How many actresses had you seen for the part?George: Iām not too sure of that. I wasnāt in the country at the time. There were obviously other considerations; I know there were for Seanās part. But thereās no point in me giving you a list of people who I thought would play the part well.Question: What are your responsibilities as Executive Producer?George: Well, really, the part Iāve played in the past was to provide the film unit with the money, and apart from that, if thereās any comment I would like to make on the screenplay or the casting. It varies from film to film. Some films I have very little to do with and others, like this one, I have a lot to do with. But thereās no other way around it on this one because originally I was just going to do the music, but I got dragged in much more than I would have normally. Usually I tend to like a low-profile existence and itās been years since I got involved in the newspapers like this.Question: George, are you happy with the progress of the film despite any difficulties youāve had?George: Whatever difficulties there have been are all behind us. I hope this press conference will help us to calm things down a little. Iām very pleased with what Iām seeing on the screen, which is the main thing. Thatās all I want, to get them to be able to complete shooting with the least problems.Question: Is it true that there have been problems between director Jim Godard and Sean Penn?Madonna: No, itās not true.George: No more than in any other film, you know. Every film has discussions and debates as to how it should proceed.Question: Do you tell the director to change camera angles?Madonna: I donāt tell anyone anything and neither does Sean.George: I think most people look through the camera, because when youāre on the other side itās handy to know what is actually in and out of shot.Question: Did you say itās been a great many years since you held a press conference?George: Me personally, yeah. I think 1974 was the last time I did anything like this. I just do gardening, you know. I like a nice quiet life.Question: Despite it all, Madonna, are you happy?Madonna: I am.George: Thatās about it, thank you.Madonna: Weāre not such a bad bunch of people, are we? Bye. [x]
(Source: harrisonstories)
Comments
Post a Comment