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Interview with Roger Young on the production of Kiss The Sky (IMDB,TMDb). For the video review click here. Held via Skype call on 06/01/18 FD: How did the project start, how were you introduced to the script? RY: The only thing I remember why it came about is I got a call from my agent to go to read this. And I loved the script. I had a meeting with MGM, with two of the studio guys and the writer; Eric Lerner, who was also the producer. They kept asking me what I wanted to change about the script. And I said: "I don't want to change a word. I love it." Which is true. And I remember Eric just smiling from cheek to cheek. Because he as the writer, he loved that idea. And we didn't change anything. So I think it only took a couple of days to put the deal together. And pretty quick after that, we were off to Manila. Why Manila, I don't remember. I had been to Manila probably 10 years before that. Scouting a picture about Vietnam, which never got made. And it was the time when Marcos was in power, and this was, of course, after him. And I remember when we first got there. With my assistent director: Craig Huston, director of photography: Don Morgan and production designer: Jim Schoppe. The town was foggy and dark, filled with smoke, because there were big fires, someplace in Indonesia. And, we thought, oh, no, we are going to be in trouble here. But it didn't take too long before it cleaned up. As much as Manila ever does clean up. And the worst of it was, in terms of Manila, the traffic is horrible there. There is only like maybe 5 or 6, if that many, major roads, sort of highways, that go through the city, and everything else is neighbourhoods, and the neighbourhoods block off the major roads, so you can not drive through the neighboorhoods. Which means that every single car in Manila has go thourgh those 4 or 5 roads. Literaly, it would take 2 hours to go one from one side of the city to the other. FD: You jumped a bit ahead. I have few more questions about the start of the producton. Do you think you were picked for this movie, or was it a chance? Did the writter want you, or were you one of the people who were considered? RY: No, he did. He wanted me. I know that he was knowlegable about my work. And when we talked afterwards, he knew a lot about what I have done. I'm assuming that either that was by accident or he had done a research. But it wasn't just a cattle call. They called me on purpose. FD: What exactly about the script intrigued you, what did you find so good about it? What was your impression? RY: I thought it was very unusual to have this kind of male viewpoint of the life cycle. It was really something I had not read before and something that I felt myself. I thought it was beautifully executed. I thought it moves...in that, something different was happening every few scenes. We got a feeling of who they were right away, and then meeting the girls, and then Kozen coming in, and then them deciding they had to leave. It just kept changing all the time. Which brought in, not only the change, but also the attidute...which I thought was fascinating. We got to see all sides of male ego, at that point. I was very sorry, as a matter of fact...I'll jump way ahead. This picture didn't get the release it should have gotten. And the reason was, we had screenings afterwards. One screeing the publicity guy from MGM came to. He was gay, and he just didn't get the picture at all. And he was the one that stopped it. Which is really a shame. FD: I personally find the film very honest and brave. Or how one character says at one point in the film, fearless. That's what really struck me about this movie. How much the writer is direct in expressing these thoughts. It's really something unique. I'm not sure I ever saw a similar story. A film that is so honest about male state of being, about what it means to be a man. RY: Exactly. I remember a guy coming up to us after a screening saying: "You've read my mail!" I thought that was well put. That's exactly what I think most men who see this picture feel. FD: Do you think women audience can take something from this film? What was your experience? Was the predominant response from women? RY: Mostly they didn't want to talk about it. I think the Sherly Lee character breaking down toward the end...I think it's hard for them to take. Because that also becomes very honest. Also, in some ways I think this picture would do a lot better if it were released today. So much of what is in this film, is now being discussed. Her attitude toward him, when they are on that balcony. She gives him what he wants...that 2018! Eric Lerner the writer, in a lot of ways, he was kind of coasing. He had spent time, I dont know if it was a monestary, but it was a sanctuary. And Leonard Cohen, was good friend of Eric's. Leonard came to a couple of screenings, and he pretty much gave us his music. And he spent a lot of time in a Budhist monestary, and has just gotten out from, I dont know, how many days in a monestary, when we had the screenings of a picture, and he showed up and said: "This is the first time I had a suit on in a year." FD: Before the filming, was there some process between you and Eric, a dialogue regarding the script, small changes, or the script wasn't touched at all. Changes maybe more related to technical issues. RY: Not that I remember. I don't think so. Eric was there the entire time. He was always on the set. Which was great. He was always sitting right next to me. I just don't have any memory that we changed anything. If we did, it was really small. FD: Regarding the production and the budget. Did you feel constrained by it? Was it an issue regarding the filming of this picture? RY: I don't recall that is was a huge issue. It's always an issue. Unless you have a 150 mil dollars, it's always a problem. I know the art department wanted more money to try to build the hotel. I think that didn't get as big as they wanted it to be, or I wanted it to be, before it fell down. FD: Yeah, maybe it would be more dramatic if it was more complete before falling down. RY: Yeah. And that's a story too. It was supposed to fall towards the camera. We meausred it all out, I set the cameras so that it would fall right into the the lens. It fell exactly the opposite way. * laughing * I was next to the last day, I think. I remember the camerman saying: "What do we do now.?" I said: "We keep shooting." * laughing * Anyway, I don't remember what the budget was, and it's never enough. But I don't remember it became a huge problem. FD: Can you tell me a bit about the casting, and how much you were given freedom to choose the main cast? Were you happy with the casting choices and the subsequent collaboration on the set? Would you like to talk more about the relationships you had with certain actors? RY: MGM was pretty set on who they wanted in the picture when I came in. I didn't really know Petersen all that well. I was very aware of Gary Cole's career, and loved that idea, and the same thing with Sheryl Lee. Patricia Charbonneau was my suggestion. Terence...I think Terence (Stamp) was like the last one who came in. I think they were trying to get somebody with a bigger name. And I believe that Eric was really Terence's champion. And he was right. I thought Terence did a terrific job. Althought, I didn't have a close relationship with him at all. He came in...he's pretty much, this is what I do, get out of the way, this is what I'm going to do. * laughing* Petersen is an intellectual guy. He likes to talk about the motivation, etc. That was all fine. We had no reherseal. They just came in, like the day before, and we started. The first scenes we shot in the movie were when they come out of that building and say how we got here. The next thing that I shot, that day actually, were the massage tables, when they are talking about what drugs they take. So we kind of just threw them in the top of the show, and we were off. I didn't have any trouble with anybody. Sheryl was fantastic. Because, she spends so much time nude. And she never resisted that. She never had a problem with it. As a matter of fact, I think she added to it. Because she felt that was really what the character needed. So from the standpoint of the cast, it was no problem at all. They showed up on time, and knew their stuff. FD: The chemistry between Cole, Petersen and Lee? Was it ok, since there was a lot of demanding scenes that required a lot of trust? RY: They were cast well becuase that's the kind of people they were. I remember one thing in particular. We were gonna have the threesome sex scene. Billy (William Petersen) came to me and said: "I would like to take Gary and Sheryl and spend a few hours when you are not shooting with us, figuring out body positions for that threesome scene." He said: "I know if we get in to shooting it, and you have to hurry, you're not going to get he beauty and different angles and positions you want." I said: "That's great." Three of them kind of worked that out. When we got to shoot that scene, I basically took what they have brought me. So, from the standpoint of them working together, it was dreamy. FD: You already mentioned shooting in Manila. What else would you like to mention regarding prinicipal photography? How many days for the shooting you had, can you tell me a bit about the logistic challenges of filming on multiple locations. Was it filmed all in Phillipines? What was your overall experience of the actually shooting of this film? RY: We started out in Manila, and it became very obvious that we couldn't stay in Manila very long, because transportation was just awful. But we shot on the roof of the Shangri-La hotel, that roof swimming pool scene. I think we shot the airport there. The driving scenes. The opium den. It was interesting because we figured we would have to go back in LA to shoot the scene where they were supposed to be in LA. When they drive up to their houses, and the interior scenes. And we found a whole neighbourhood, two blocks long, and a block wide, in Manila, a development, where the house were all built like they were in America. They looked exactly like American houses. Except kitchens, which were filled with all the appliances that were not hooked up. So nobody used the kitchen! This was a kind of rich area. They build a little house outside the main house, where the Filipino maids would prepare the meals, in the way they normaly did, which was over an open fire. FD: And the resort scenes? RY: We moved to a place called Maya Reef Club, which is about, maybe 1.5, 2 hours south of Manila. We shot the bus on the way, we shot them arraving above the lake there, and then moved into the Reef Club. We were there most of the time and we stayed in the cabins. We litteraly would wake up and go to work, 5 feet away. It was great. We pretty much had a drinking party every night. When we shut down for the day, everybody would move to the bar. * laughing* FD: The film has a scene of a parade, celebration. Was that authentic? RY: That was authentic. We put it together. But it was their parade. We used what they did on some festival day. We just moved the festival day up and hired all those people. We moved to a town near the lake Taal, where we shoot that stuff on the boat. And we pretty much took over that town that night. And it was great. They really got into it. I thought it looked good. FD: Regarding the post production process, was it a stressful aspect of making of this film? Were you happy with the available footage? Can you talk about some specific challenges you had at that stage? RY: I always use the same editor, Ben Weissman. The first cut he put together was really good. I remember MGM was upset with me because I didn't shoot closeups of the scene when Jeff and Marty are smoking cigars outside the house, and Marty is saying that his nut is 11,000 dollars every month. I thought that played really well in the two shot, and I didn't shoot any close ups. MGM kept asking me, where are the closeups, I said: "There aren't any!" Anyway, I don't think we eliminated much, if anything. I had a fun time on this picture. I really loved the script, thought it was well cast. I watched it now, in preparation for this talk. I do wish I would have held Gary back a little more. I felt maybe he was pushing in way I wouldn't do it today. FD: Can you recal some conversations with Eric Lerner about the story? How was he communicating the story to you? RY: This was Eric's life in a lot of ways. He had gone through this, and was still in it, when were were doing this. So it was really a chatarsis for him to sit and watch this being played out. I remember one morning I got up and went up to go to work. And Eric was still sitting at the bar in the same stool I left him the night before. And I sat down next to him, they brought me some coffee and I said: "Have you been sitting here all night?" He said: "Yeah." I asked: "Why?" He said: "Two reasons. One. The scene we shot last night. And two. I've drank an entire bottle of tequila." * laughing* And I don't remember what the scene was. But whatever it was...he was living this thing. He would go up and down with the scenes. He would just be thrilled with something we did. And then the next day he would just be so depressed. Not that something was wrong, but by the fact he had to live throught it. I guess he and his wife were going through this. I know we talked about it a lot. But I think mostly I just listened. He was a fascinating guy. As I told you, I'm really sorry I've lost track of him. I went looking for him, he doesn't have an agent, he hasn't done anything, he just disappeared. FD: He did release a book about Pinkerton, some 9 years ago. RY: Yeah, he really wanted me to get involved with that story. And I couldn't get it sold. Nobody was interested. He got very disappointed by that, and that was it. Last time I've heard from him. FD: When was that when you talked about this project? RY: The Pinkert one? Probabably a year after the book was released. I came to him and said: "Why aren't we doing something else? You and I had such a great time." He said: "Well, read my book." And I did. But we just couldn't get it made. FD: Would you like to add any final thoughts on the movie? RY: No, just to repeat. I'm just so sad the movie isn't out there. Because it's so "now". FD: What kind of distribution it had in the end? RY: It was on HBO. FD: In theaters? RY: No. We shot it to be in theaters. Like I said, that one guy, he just didn't get it and he was the marketing man. They listened to him. He said nobody is going to watch this. And he wouldn't listen to me. And that was it. It just got lost. I was surprised when it came out on DVD. FD: The movie features several Leonard Cohen tracks, and I found online a portrait of Eric Lerner by Leonard Cohen. They seemed to have been friends. Can you tell me a little bit about incorporating Leonard Cohen's music into the film? RY: Eric was such good friends with Leonard, he was adamant about using his music. And of course, I was thrilled. Leonard just said: "Use whatever you want." I don't even know that we paid him for it. Because he wanted to do it for Eric. When I watched it this week I said: I mean, the music is really good in this. FD: Anything you are working on at the moment, or are you retired? RY: I have 3 project that are up in the air. Two of which I think are going to get made. TV mini-series. FD: You are still enyjoing the work? RY: I love directing. I'm passionate about it. And I haven't done it for a couple of years now. It's sad. FD: You are becoming restless? RY: Yeah. I hate the idea that it's over. I hope it's not over. But I am of the age now that they are not looking in my direction. I understand that. FD: Thank you for this interview and your time. RY: I appreciate your interest. Copyright by Film Drifter 2018