The long take

Francis Ford Coppola

As I said, we had two cameras doing this. We did one take. And when the take was over, I had not barely said cut and when this guy said, lunch, you know, and everyone went off to lunch. And I often think how easy it would have been for this scene not to exist because they didn't want it. And we just got lucky, really, that we got it.

2:31:36 · jump to transcript →

Oh! This was wonderful too. I did watch this movie again last night. I certainly have seen it a few times. But I really appreciated it. I remember this. This was torture. Because it was the first time Tim undid the thingamajiggies. And Jim Sharman was screaming, "Faster! Faster! Go, do it more! Do it more!" Yeah. - And we didn't have a second chance at it. Did we? It had to work, I think. - That's right. That's right. It did. Because we were gonna put the colors into the water. Yeah. - And-- Although this was artificially induced, as you can see. - Yeah. But those colors were gonna stain the water. There was like one take on this. They were supposed to be the colors of the rainbow. Weren't they? They were supposed to be, you know, violet and indigo and red and green and whatever. You know, those five colors. I think that's what it was supposed to be.

34:54 · jump to transcript →

It's fantastic. I think we only did one single take. He understood immediately what I meant. A sudden fever attack. I also love Ladengast's voice. It's also important in "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser", an earlier film.

47:41 · jump to transcript →

light it off, and it accidentally shot off at the wrong time. We actually only got one take, I think, with Mike. That's correct. Because on the second take, it went off wrong. It almost blew his face off. And I wouldn't do it. And he refused to do it again. So we used the first take. It actually did work just fine. He's free. Good. Here goes our sound. Yeah, it's done. Good. Yeah. That's one of my favorite shots.

1:03:42 · jump to transcript →

Needless to say, we got out of the way-- For this, yeah. - -when we got to this part. And we only had one take. We had one helicopter to blow up. So all of these angles had to be shot simultaneously... ...and Scheider's reaction there was a very honest reaction. I don't think he expected the explosion to be as loud and as big as it was.

1:44:42 · jump to transcript →

Roger Moore

I suddenly realize when I look at it, and I say, well, that wasn't Martin Grace. That wasn't Bob Simmons. That actually was me. And I realize I did quite a lot. And you don't just do one take. You do it and do it again. I enjoy doing them.

2:07:35 · jump to transcript →

um and um do it all in one take for and and do it as a credit sequence and we're setting up the idea here that this is a very high-end brothel as well obviously yeah and that's kind of conveyed as much by the style that you're using as it is by the appearance of the clientele isn't it yeah correct yeah correct and it it is a brothel not um

2:51 · jump to transcript →

Eleanor Bergstein

rather embarrassed and saying, maybe I should leave. And I said, no, you don't understand. If there isn't a third person here, it's not dirty dancing. Okay, so here is Patrick doing this in one take.

1:29:26 · jump to transcript →

which is actually scripted improvisation, like most of the lines are not what's in the script, and you get one take and you move on. And so I became very good at improvisation, but I think at the time we were filming, I'm going to be very honest, I don't think I would have trusted myself to improvise that much. I was still too young to trust my instrument enough to improvise in scenes. Mac? Yeah, the moonwalk and the Dukes of Hazzard slide. That was it. That was the stuff he got to try.

1:02:51 · jump to transcript →

Barry Levinson

Raymond, just put that down. This whole sequence is one shot and one take.

1:12:11 · jump to transcript →

Watch what happens now in the next few minutes because it's all of our best work. Mark's best work, Tony's best work, our best work. And Dylan was really terrified. Donovan, rather, was really terrified because the sheet of blob going over his face gives you a feeling of being suffocated. It was safe, but you can't do a long take. That stuff being pulled up over his face, that's really his face being stretched. That is not Tony's effect yet.

22:54 · jump to transcript →

in front of the others, it's a problem. So you have to do it in such a way. And it was a very big negotiation. So the reason why that scene had to be done in one take through the underground labyrinth of this world and then to emerge in the spotlight like a king, you know, king and queen, this was the highest he could aspire to. And he hit it at a very young age.

31:41 · jump to transcript →

There he is! Now, if you freeze the film as Joe Pesci flips... ... you can actually see the stuntman Troy's face. Troy. - Through the magic of DVD. But don't do that. - No, don't. It ruins the magic of the film. - Yeah. The-- This-- Dan Stern willingly... Today, again, this would be added digitally. He agreed to have this spider put on his face for one take. Yeah, it wasn't even my hand. And he couldn't really scream. He's not screaming... ... he's just miming it. And we added it later because It would've frightened the spider. That's how concerned we were. Again, I have to say, comedically, another favorite moment of mine... ...when Dan is about to hit Joe with this crowbar coming up. see this is-- Again, the film works so well, I think, for kids... ...because it's wish fulfillment. Again, it's, like, every kid's dream is to be able to do this. But if they tried at home, the consequences could be dire. Don't do that, kids. This is great. Just the way he says, "Don't move." He's committed to this role.

1:25:20 · jump to transcript →

Was Fincher on set when you puppeteered those shots? For some of it, not all of it. But Laine Liska and his four cronies, Bill Hedge and... Forgotten the other guys' names now. Rick Fichter was my cosupervisor on the show. Did real good work. There's another good shot comin' up here where it runs across the railroad tracks. For some of these, you had plates shot, where I would run through the scene in the alien suit, for lighting reference. And I remember this one, running through, and I had to... I was almost blind in the costume, looking out through holes in the neck. And I had to run over the tracks, and also make it through the doorway, and there was at least one take, where I slammed into the side of the door. I was bruised for weeks. My whole shoulder. Slammed into it at full speed. In the take I bounce back, take a couple steps, and then run through the door. Here he comes. This shot is over in about... It's comin' up. I was disappointed you didn't have the model alien bounce off the wall. There he goes. 20 frames. - If that, huh? The very warm light at the far end of the set, I had red filters on the lamps to try and suggest heat cos they're trying to induce the alien into that pit so they can destroy it with the molten lead. So I was trying to give the feeling of terrific heat in there.

2:00:16 · jump to transcript →

I think it was right next to where Jenny was doing her suicide. That's right. One, take good care of your feet. Two, try not to do anything stupid. Lieutenant Dan was so difficult to cast, in a sense, because we had to depict a character who went through an incredible transformation. He had to be very hard and not in touch with himself and really harsh on our main character.

43:55 · jump to transcript →

That's a stunt guy, the other guy. Harrison is real. That's Harrison. This was all one take? No, it was numerous takes. Oh, we shot it for one day, as I said. Here, he throws Harrison. That's Harrison. That's Harrison. There's nothing with a double. The other guy, he has a double. That's a hard kick. This is some major dental work coming up for that guy.

44:20 · jump to transcript →

Alexander Payne

I want to point out that Reese actually fell and did that little stunt very well in one take. She didn't want to rely on a stunt person, and I didn't want to have to do that either. I like seeing the real thing, and we patted her a little bit, but she did it.

46:48 · jump to transcript →

Jonathan Lynn

That wasn't product placement either. What the hell did you do that for? I felt bad. I like him. I liked him. So you don't like him no more? Well, it's a little hard to maintain a friendship with somebody who wants to kill you. I love the joke at the end of this scene about the gap in his teeth, which Matthew ad-libbed on one take. You know, I can close that gap for you. Really? Yeah, you'd be in that one. You kidding? No, not a problem. Wonderful character touch.

39:29 · jump to transcript →

That was a one-shot shot, too, because he was pouring oil over a very expensive wig. Well, that's right, and we didn't have time to have him go back and change and dry his wig and do all that, so we got it in one take, yeah. I actually think it ruined the wig, too, didn't it? Oh, it probably did. And this scene is put together with very careful cutting.

2:36:56 · jump to transcript →

Just telling him that-- Just knowing that things are kind of screwing up... ...and he has to put... Because we had to explain... ...Why Singe was following you to the mansion. And why was he, again? - I don't remember. What's that? - Oh, shut up. Okay. - So this is-- Here we go. This is.... This is the new scene, here. - This is one we only got two takes... ...and you liked the first, and I made you do another. You were a pain in the ass about that. I remember. I think you were like, "This is cut." You did that with a lot of things. - I know, but I only did one take on this. I would be completely happy and say, "Okay, this is good." And Scott would just be torturing himself. I just like to do... - Drive me crazy. Well, sometimes that's the best one. You say you got it, and you have one just to do. Not with you. - Not with me, obviously. As much as it makes you feel good, I used take one of everything you did. No, you didn't. - No. No, you didn't. - Actually, in all seriousness... ...I did love this scene. I thought you did a great job. And I fought for quite a long time to keep it in... ...and the biggest reason was pacing, because it is the longest scene we cult. Your chin looks fabulous. - Because the lighting is good. And it was great hair. - Good harr. I was sad to see it go. - It's good to have you back, Scotty. No problem. - Now it makes sense why you got... ...an American in Budapest. - Oh, yeah. But we never said it was Budapest. You're right. It's not supposed to be Budapest. What did you say? "I just came here." You just keep it ambiguous, right? Yeah. He's non-specific. We were having a discussion about whether Scott is throaty. Oh, please. - I am throaty. I'm not saying I'm mad. I'm not terrible in this movie. I've been worse in other things, throaty-wise.

1:02:38 · jump to transcript →

Yeah, the first time we shot this scene in one take. But the second part is still in one take when she keeps disappearing. We have a lot of tricks to make her going through little doors and reappear. It's three o'clock.

35:16 · jump to transcript →

Noah Baumbach

Bill Murray, one thing about Bill, there's kind of two parts of working with Bill. I feel like the two of us have a very similar understanding of how to approach the scenes in terms of what we each have to do. He's easy for me to communicate with. He's quick to grasp what I'm thinking of. He's quick to come up with his own interpretation that gets at what I'm hoping for, what I might not be able to describe to him in words that made any sense, he can somehow make sense of. There's another part of Bill, which is this sort of wildness that he brings to the set because he's somebody who can walk into a room and immediately command it, and he can always think of something great to say, and he loves being around people and getting them behind him and getting them following him. I've never met anybody else like him that I can absolutely certify. He really has an effect on people, and he has an effect on a group of actors, and he has an effect on a crew of people who will just never forget him. This scene, I really like how they play this. Yeah, this we did with the... Cate brings a lot out of Bill, and I think she has a real effect on him. Bill has a wildness about him. - He's really on the edge here. When he points the gun at her, that was improvised in his off-camera. In one take, I saw something black pop into the bottom of the frame, and the camera bumped, and afterwards I suddenly did a... "Did you just point your gun at the pregnant reporter?" It was a nice touch. Yeah, it was such a nice touch that I think I thought we wrote it.

27:31 · jump to transcript →

Andrew Niccol

And the one coming up was gonna be a very large one since nothing explodes quite like explosives. And this was the first explosion actually that Jared's South African stunt double, Warren, had ever been part of. And we only had one take where the stunt double had to run and fall down in exactly the right place. And you can do this digitally, but I didn't have the money or the time.

1:43:53 · jump to transcript →

so that later when you, when Julia meets the guy in the hospital corridor, you hear his accent. So you know who it was. And also that it wasn't Phillip. That's right. And I remember I drove one take and went off the road. I remember that. Right there. All right, see you tomorrow, Sal. Good night, Lenny. So this was great. This was in San Pedro as well, the same day we shot Ethan and Luther. So this is Tom really driving. Now this shot is actually in Virginia, and as is that.

1:09:30 · jump to transcript →