Seeing Moments of Truth on TV and Film
by John Aquino on 02/29/12
I have written about the whole issue of truth in films in my book and articles about fictionalization in fact-based films. An off-shoot of this is when something actual the actor is experiencing breaks out of the fictional character. This is not about an actor flubbing his lines but when what the actor is experiencing and his or her fictional character merge.
For example, in 2002 Al Gore, who had lost the U.S. presidential race in 2000 in a controversial moment in U.S. history, was said to be considering whether or not he would campaign for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. He appeared as guest host on the tv show “Saturday Night Live in December of that year,” and in one skit pretended to reenact his deciding in 2000 who would be his vice presidential candidate. The scene ended with Gore sitting in a hot tub and drinking champagne with an actor playing Sen. Joe Leiberman, who was his vice presidential candidate. Later in the show, Gore was seen visiting the oval office set and cast of the tv show “The West Wing.” The scene ended with his being left alone by the cast and muttering in the dark while sitting in the president’s chair about decisions he would have made if he had been elected.
And I said aloud to my wife, “He’s not running! He’s telling us he’s not running! How could he run after doing that!” And it became clear when he made his announcement a few days later that he had been telling us he was not running.
Six years later on “Saturday Night Live,” Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee, appeared in a show the weekend before the election with Tina Fey, who had created a sensation on the show with her caricature of McCain’s running mate Sarah Palin. In a skit in which the candidates took part in a home shopping network-type show, Fey, playing Palin, snuck away from McCain and spoke directly to the camera saying that after McCain lost she would be running in 2012. McCain took part in this bit, saying, “Sarah, what are you doing over there?”
This was the weekend before the election! And again I said, “He’s conceding! He’s telling us he’s not going to win!” And he didn’t, of course, although it wasn’t a blowout in that McCain won 46% of the popular vote to Obama’s 53%. But McCain knew, and he told us.
In a slightly different vein, there is a scene in the 1954 movie White Christmas in which the characters played by Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye are dressed in feather boas and fans and mime the singing of the song “Sisters” to help Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen, who had sung the song earlier, escape from the sheriff. Kaye recounted in a television biography of Crosby done after his death in 1977 that prior to that scene Crosby, whose wife Dixie had died not long before, was moody and irritable on the set of what was supposed to be a warm-hearted Christmas family movie. Kaye said that he worked it out beforehand that the orchestra would vamp at the end of the song in a way it hadn’t when Clooney and Ellen had sung it. Then, miming the song with Crosby, he suddenly began strutting like rooster, swung his fan lightly like a baseball bat, and struck Crosby in the stomach. You can see in the scene Crosby reacting with surprise, because he is surprised. Kaye hits him again, and Crosby starts to laugh, and he’s really laughing. Kaye strikes him a third time and then poses with him, and Crosby is now laughing heartily.
What we’re seeing is something that’s really happening.
Kaye said that, while he didn’t take total credit for this, after that moment of genuine laughter on the set, Crosby loosened up and the filming was enjoyable, the movie a great success.
In 1960, in a western remake of the Japanese film Seven Samurai called the Magnificent Seven, Yul Brynner was starring with Steve McQueen. McQueen had made several films and had starred in the tv series “Wanted Dead or Alive,” but Brynner, who had won a Tony and later an Oscar for the King and I, was a genuine star. During a rehearsal for their first scene together, Brynner was lighting a cigar before the two of them rode off together in a hearse, and he was doing so with great flair, trying to upstage the newcomer.
In the finished scene, we see Brynner lighting the cigar and McQueen watching him. Then McQueen suddenly opens up his shotgun, takes out the shells, and shakes them, presumably to confirm they have gunpowder in them. You can see Brynner notice this out of the corner of his eye and smile at the young actor who refuses to be upstaged.
This leads to the subject of sequels, about which I hope to write more shortly. In 1966, a sequel of the Magnificent Seven was planned. The first film had been Brynner’s last big hit, although he had kept working, and McQueen had become a major star with the Great Escape and the Sand Pebbles. There are some stories that Brynner stipulated that McQueen not appear in the sequel, which would have been odd because McQueen was by then the bigger star and would have been a “catch” for the movie. The story I prefer, and think is more likely, is that Brynner called McQueen and asked him to be in the sequel. McQueen said, “Well, that would be interesting, but, the fact of it is that I don’t really like you too much.” Brynner thought about it and said, “I can understand that. I can accept that.”
All of which is in keeping with what we see in that one scene in the Magnificent Seven.
Copyright 2012 by John T. Aquino.
