why was Kim Novak crying ?

[classiccinemafan]

In that interview TCM aired yesterday before Vertigo, Kim Novak was speaking to Robert about that last film she was in. Why was she upset ?

[Sepiatone]

Maybe she didn't WANT it to be her last?

 

Sepiatone

[JamesJazGuitar]

In 1991, she played the role of a terminally ill writer with a mysterious past in the thriller Liebestraum opposite Kevin Anderson and Bill Pullman. However, owing to battles with director Mike Figgis over how to play her character, most of her scenes were cut. "I know he thinks I'm a total ****," Novak later told Hollywood Life magazine in 2005. "That role was fabulous, full of depth. When I interpreted it the way I thought was evident in the incredible script, he said, 'We're not making a Kim Novak movie, just say the lines. If you continue to play the role this way, I'm going to cut you out of the movie,' and he pretty much did that." In the interview, Novak admitted she was "unprofessional" not to obey her director.

 

Since then, Novak has usually cited the Liebestraum experience as the reason for her decision to retire from the film industry. In 2004, she told the Associated Press:

 

I got so burned out on that picture that I wanted to leave the business, but then if you wait long enough you think, "Oh, I miss certain things." The making of a movie is wonderful. What's difficult is afterward when you have to go around and try to sell it. The actual filming, when you have a good script?which isn't often?nothing beats it.

[DownGoesFrazier]

...although she also said that her film career REALLY ended much earlier, after Harry Cohn died. That is not really true. She was in a few decent '60s films, including STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET, BOYS NIGHT OUT, and THE NOTORIOUS LANDLADY, none of which was mentioned by either of them in the interview.

[Hibi]

Yes, she didnt leave Hollywood till the late 60s/early 70s. Dunno why she implied she left a decade earlier. She made Lylah Clare in 69 I believe.....I think that was her last Hollywood film for awhile.........She did replace Rita Hayworth (ironically) in some British episodic horror film in the 70s...

[Hibi]

Well, it sounds a bit unprofessional to have cut her out of the film as well. Maybe that's why it bombed............

[John2Bad]

I think a lot of movie stars have rather selective memories. She was

still active up until the mid 1960s, but her career wasn't what it had

been ten years before, so the late 1950s was more of a rough divid-

ing line than a sudden stop to her acting career.

 

I felt bad for Uncle Bob when she started crying. Not much you can

do or say in that situation. Best to let it past for the most part. You

expect the old timers to laugh a bit or grow serious, but not to start

sobbing out loud. Yikes.

[Hibi]

I checked imdb and there's a 3 year gap between Moll Flanders in 65 and Lylah Clare in 68. So maybe she did leave Hollywood around then and returned for a few more films. (werent too many)....

[twinkeee]

< You expect the old timers to laugh a bit, not to start sobbing out loud. Yikes. >

 

If you were 80 years old, you would cry too !

[DownGoesFrazier]

He could have said, "Now, now....", and offered her a tissue.

[Hibi]

He WAS holding her hand. There was an edit after that. I assume they stopped filming for awhile. It switched to a discussion of Vertigo from there.........

[mrroberts]

This was such a great interview. Kim Novak was so open, so honest. And obviously some of these memories are very painful for her. And a big thumbs up to Robert Osborne. He's very sensitive to her. He asks her a question, if she gets too emotional, he backs off a little, or even changes the subject. No gotcha stuff here and in the long run he gets the most out of the interview. I would believe most anyone would be comfortable sitting with him and conversing (like we see with the Johnny Carson interviews).

[DownGoesFrazier]

Maybe O.J. Simpson would feel comfortable sitting down with RO.

[Dargo2]

Well, word IS O.J. cried a little bit ALSO after he killed those two people.

 

(...and ironically, it was ONLY because he knew that that would be the end of HIS film career TOO!!!)

[twinkeee]

< Maybe O. J. Simpson would feel comfortable sitting down with RO >

 

...but daddy O. ?!...not so much !

[DownGoesFrazier]

Would RO call him "Juice"?

[Dargo2]

Maybe, but whatever he'd call him, wouldn't it be kinda cool if Bob would ask him slip on a pair of gloves while he interviewed him?

 

(...just as sort of a "re-creation" of the "greatest performance" that he ever gave, ya see...you know how most actors just LOVE to relive their most triumphant moments, doncha?!)

[Dargo2]

Btw finance, maybe we ought'a get back to Kim here, as I got me a feelin' not everybody is happy that we've taken this baby in this direction.

 

(...you "bad influence", you!!!)

 

LOL

[John2Bad]

Things did get a little spotty after the mid to late 1960s for Kim.

She likely could have soldiered on, but I suppose she decided

she had better things to do. Probably a wise decision.

 

I don't know. If I reach 80 I'd just be happy to be alive.

 

And if "now, now..." didn't work, he could have tried "there, there...."

From what I recall, she was still thinking of her hard childhood also.

Maybe it's not so straange that something so long in the past could

produce that reaction. I like Kim and enjoyed the interview, but I was

hoping she would have talked a little bit more about the directors and

actors she worked with. She didn't go into much detail as I recall.

 

If the gab doesn't fit, you must acquit.

[DownGoesFrazier]

Her unwillingness to fight for roles is what took her career downhill.

[Hibi]

Well, the 60s pretty much stalled or ended many 50s female stars careers. A whole new crop came up with the big cultural shift in the late 60s. Liz continued for awhile, but she was no longer box office. Grace retired, Audrey retired etc. Kim's last few 60s films flopped so she probably saw the writing on the wall..........

[Dargo2]

Very good point, Hibi.

 

Yep, this was the era when newcomers such as Faye Dunaway(Bette Davis' favorite co-star LOL) would come on the Hollywood scene and seem to replace the stars of the late studio era.

[Hibi]

LOL "Not for a million dollars, Faye Dunaway!"....

[JamesJazGuitar]

Since you listed Grace Kelly and then Audrey Hepburn as retired I just want to clarity that Kelly retired in the 50s and Hepburn 10 years later in 1967. One could say that Hepburn's best decade was the 60s. (I'm sure you knew that but it might of been confusing to others).

 

But I agree with what you're saying here. In the late 60s the early studio era stars were too old (as defined by Hollywood), and for most second 'wave' stars (ones that got their start in the late 40s early 50s), their career stalled.

 

Of course now you got me interested. I wonder who where the top box offices actresses of the late 60s into the 70s. i.e. when did the new crop pass the second wave at the box office.

[Hibi]

Yes, I know Grace retired much earlier, but I've no doubt she would not have continued on either. It wasnt just age, but the type of films that were made as well from 1968 or so on. The stars werent comfortable with nudity/swearing etc and the newer filmmakers no doubt thought of them as passe. Male stars had an easier time of it, but even then had limited film choices, particularly as the western genre died out. There really were few female box office stars in the 70s outside of Streisand until late in the 70s when Jane Fonda and a few others broke out of the pack. Dunaway started out well, but then floundered. Glenda Jackson had prestige, but her vehicles rarely brought in money......