"My room with a view
(below). I had been looking forward to filming in Florence — we were housed a little
outside the old city!"
L to R: Guido,Penelope Keith. Janet Suzman, Stanley, Christopher Miles, Ian McKellen, Ava
Gardner, Jorge Riveras
"The steam-train had been brought out of retirement and,
for this publicity shot, renamed"
|
The Lawrences’ bed-time disturbed by a Mexican earthquake
"Such effects take a long time to set up and this one was so
complicated it could only be filmed once by the three cameras shooting simultaneously.
Janet and I were to sit up in bed and on cue re-act to the quake’s rumble as cracks
appeared in the wall. Under the bed stage-hands shook its frame as plaster and debris fell
from the mock ceiling. At last this one-off shot was ready for 'action' — everything went
according to plan until the last moment when I had to leap from the bed to safety. As I
pulled back the bedclothes they revealed my lighter, the gold packet of 20 Benson and
Hedges cigarettes and my half-finished crossword in the previous morning’s copy of
the London Times newspaper!" — Ian McKellen, August 1999
Lawrence sailing near Lake Guarda in northern Italy
"Two game extras enlivened the scene - signing autographs is the
director's sister Sarah Miles, accompanied by my lover the (temporarily) non-speaking Sean
Mathias" |
