Wonderland Burlesque's
Let's All Go To The Movies:
It's In His Kiss
Part V
It's in his kiss.
Isn't that where it all begins?
A caress of the lips. A deep longing. Sharing a single breath?
On the silver screen such a kiss can be captured forever, frozen in time.
Or so these films would have us believe.
So, let's kiss and tell and spill the beans on these everlasting smacks, smooches, and snogs.
Yes, things can get pretty heated.
Chapstick exists for a reason, you know!
Grab a seat on the aisle.
Popcorn at the ready.
Pucker up and roll film!
- uptonking from Wonderland Burlesque
--- ---
El Beso de Judas
AKA: The Kiss of Judas, Il Bacio di Giuda
(1954)
The story of Judas Iscariot with the infamous kiss of him betraying Jesus to the Romans in exchange for a few coins.
Gérard Tichy, who plays Pontius Pilate, would play Joseph, husband of Mary, six years later in the Hollywood epic King of Kings, where his speaking voice was dubbed by another actor.
The magazines and media of the time rapturously described the spectacular nature of El beso de Judas, rarely seen before in Spanish cinema. The journalist Barreira ended one of his reports by pointing out: "Never was such a gigantic film presented in Spain, a display of presentation as was required in this one, dealing with the exalted theme of the crucifixion of Christ."
You can view this film in its entirety for free on YouTube.
--- ---
The Kiss of the Vampire
(1963)
AKA: Kiss of Evil
The rubber bats used in the movie were bought from a local branch of Woolworths.
When Universal released a version of the film for television, they deleted nearly all of the climatic ending. Turns out it was borrowed material; the climax of the film was originally written for the climax of The Brides of Dracula (1960).
You can view this film in its entirety for free on YouTube.
--- ---
Kiss Me Monster
(1969)
A sequel to Two Under Cover Angels, AKA: Sadist Erotica. It premiered in Austria on May 31, 1969, and debuted in the US in November of 1972.
You can view this film in it's entirety for free on YouTube.
--- ---
Kiss Of The Spider Woman
(1985)
Based on the 1976 novel of the same name by Manuel Puig, this drama was directed by Héctor Babenco and stars William Hurt, Raul Julia, Sônia Braga, José Lewgoy, Milton Gonçalves, and Denise Dumont.
Burt Lancaster was originally offered the lead role of Luis Molina. When health issues and unwelcome speculation about his personal life led Lancaster to withdraw, he was replaced by William Hurt. Director Hector Babenco originally felt that William Hurt was too well-built and handsome for the part, but at the first readthrough the actor brought Babenco to tears, quelling the director's fears. Richard Gere was originally set to play Valentin before being replaced by Raul Julia. Although Gere was seen as a stronger box office draw, Julia's casting allayed some of the fears that the film, adapted from a Argentine novel, was becoming too Anglicized.
Reportedly, William Hurt and Raul Julia worked for nothing but the payment for their air tickets and hotel bills in Brazil, where the film was shot.
During rehearsals, the two actors had trouble finding the chemistry they needed for their scenes together. To better understand what each needed from the other's role, William Hurt suggested they try an experiment where they would switch roles, with Hurt as Valentin and Raul Julia as Molina. The role-switching rehearsal went so well that Hurt initially suggested to director Hector Babenco that they should switch parts for the film as well. Obviously, the switch did not occur, but Hurt states that it was a very useful experiment in helping them more fully understand their own characters.
William Hurt and Raul Julia would work all hours, even coming in on Sundays. Later in the process, they went to the studio where the jail set was being constructed. According to Hurt, the crew stayed out of sight and just watched the actors rehearse for four hours, visibly touched that they put so much effort and passion into their work. "I don't know two men who got into each other's souls as thoroughly as these two guys," producer David Weisman said.
William Hurt initially struggled with developing characterization and mannerisms for Luis, until he became inspired to portray the character not necessarily as a homosexual, but more like "a woman trapped in a man's body." Hector Babenco agonized all through rehearsals over how William Hurt would ever find the gay character in himself. To help Hurt tackle the part, and because author Manuel Puig was not available, Babenco put him with Patricio Bisso, who was set to play the small role of Molina's friend Greta and design the film's costumes. Bisso is gay, had been in jail himself, and was close to his mother, like Molina in many ways. Hurt toured Sao Paulo with him, often visiting gay cinemas, looking for clues to the character. Bisso got fed up translating the films for him and started making up the stories instead. Bisso later said Hurt used him as a "sacrificial lamb" for his process, playing cat and mouse games with him to get a sense of how Molina would react in similar circumstances. During one such session, Hurt took Bisso to a nice restaurant, but Bisso couldn't eat because Hurt's prodding and game-playing had made him cry.
By his own admission, William Hurt was already gaining a reputation for being difficult. He often pushed too hard and was not always diplomatic, but said, "Raul never saw any of the pushing I did as being offensive." Tensions started early on in the process between William Hurt and Hector Babenco. David Weisman later remarked that Hurt had a wonderful mastery of language and spoke in "great metaphorical ellipses that are hard to follow even if English is your native language." For Babenco it was impossible. He became frustrated by Hurt talking "for hours" and learned to just nod and pretend to agree in order to keep the conversations relatively short.
There were constant revisions from screenwriter Leonard Schrader and director Manuel Puig throughout every day. William Hurt began to complain that he felt like he was working on a television soap opera, and tensions on set began to rise. The relationship between William Hurt and Hector Babenco steadily deteriorated to the point where they didn't even speak to each other any more. Assistant director Amilcar Monteiro Claro became the go-between, since he spoke both English and Brazilian Portuguese. Claro said the tension was terrible but actually good for the film because it helped Hurt with his performance.
In an interview with National Public Radio, William Hurt stated that during a day off from production, he and a female companion were abducted at gunpoint by multiple gunmen in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He was reportedly told to face a wall, at which point her was certain the gunman was going to execute both of them. Hurt refused and after a brief shouting exchange, all of the kidnappers left the scene. The incident was not reported to the production company at the time as he (Hurt) was certain that filming would be shut down, putting completion of the film in jeopardy.
Sonia Braga did not speak English at the time of production, and had to recite her lines phonetically. Choreographer Mara Borba was originally set to play the Spider Woman. (Shots exist of her in costume.) At the last minute, Sonia Braga suggested that she play the part since it would cause confusion for the audience to see her as Valentin's girlfriend and Leni Lamaison but not the third female. She called Borba first with the idea before taking it to Babenco. Borba said she was sad at first to lose the part but realized Braga was right and that playing the part was much less important than her true role in the film, which was her collaboration with William Hurt.
Initial screenings did not go well. Raul Julia was furious after watching the first cut: "What happened to the movie? What happened to all our great work?!" After seven months of post-production, the film was sent to the New York Film Festival. The selection committee rejected it without even watching the whole movie. William Hurt wasn't too concerned about this until he saw the first cut himself and realized why they dismissed it so abruptly. The fantasy film sequences were too long and overwhelmed the story of the relationship between the two men. He wanted to buy the print and burn it so it would never be released.
William Hurt and Raul Julia spent five weeks in post-production dubbing the film. This gave screenwriter Leonard Schrader the chance to rewrite most of the off-screen dialogue for the actors to record, giving the film a totally different feel and bringing the original intentions back into focus. After 14 months of post-production, the film was finished.
The first independent film to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. William Hurt's Best Actor Oscar was the first Academy Award won by an actor for playing an openly gay character. Hurt is also seen in drag in this movie, the Oscar win being a rare occasion in which an Oscar for acting has been won with an actor in drag.
--- ---
Vampire's Kiss
(1988)
This American black comedy horror film was directed by Robert Bierman and stars Nicolas Cage, María Conchita Alonso, Jennifer Beals, and Elizabeth Ashley.
Joseph Minion was initially to direct the film, however he found it too dark and disturbing and turned it over to Robert Bierman, who up to that point had only done short films and commercials. At that point, Cage dropped out at the urging of his agent. Cage changed his mind.
Cage and Beals reportedly did not get along on set, with their friction stemming from the part of Rachel going to Beals rather than Cage's then-girlfriend, Patricia Arquette.
According to associate producer and casting director Marcia Shulman, in order to get turned on, Cage asked to have hot yogurt poured over his toes while he was doing a love scene with Jennifer Beals.
Nicolas Cage ate a real cockroach for this film - it reportedly took three takes. He once said about the experience, "Every muscle in my body didn't want to do it, but I did it anyway." The 'cockroach scene' was entirely Nicolas Cage's idea, a decision he greatly regretted later on. Cage also received a number of calls from animal rights activists about the scene and defended his actions by asking them if they could honestly declare that they'd never used a can of 'Raid' in their homes.
The scene where all the furniture and glass is broken had to be done in a single take because it was all real furniture and glass and they didn't have the budget to replace it.
In a 2018 GQ interview, Nicolas Cage stated that this is the favorite movie he had made.
This was a non-union production, and as such, had to deal with union demonstrations throughout filming, including union members taunting the production using megaphones.
--- ---
And that's all for now, folks.
Tune in next time...
Same place, same channel.
Kiss of the Vampire - Movie Trailer
(1963)
Kiss of the Spider Woman - Movie Trailer
(1985)
Vampire's Kiss - Movie Trailer
(1988)
No comments:
Post a Comment