“I drink, I gamble and I write...: ‘The Making of Barfly’”
Bukowski: “No matter what you do in life, people are gonna say you do it for another reason than what you’re doing it. I just do it because I do it, like a spider makes a web, a fish swims – I drink and I gamble and I write.”
Narrator: “We’re on the set of ‘Barfly’, a film that marks the screenwriting debut of veteran poet Charles Bukowski. ‘Barfly’ is shot entirely on the streets and in the bars of down-town Los Angeles. “I come from the streets and I know the streets”, writes Bukowski, but what does Bukowski know about the life of a barfly?”
Bukowski: “I was a barfly. And I would open the bar and I would close the bar. And I had no money. I was a place to be. It was my home.”
Clip: Faye Dunaway as ‘Wanda’: “(Laughs) You’re the damndest barfly I’ve ever seen.”
Narrator: “‘Barfly’ is an autobiographical film. It portrays three days of Bukowski’s life when he was 24 years old. ‘Henry’, a young alcoholic writer, falls in love with ‘Wanda’, also a barfly, and while his success as a writer leads him towards a more conventional life, ‘Henry’ fights to maintain his personality and integrity. “This is a film”, says Bukowski “that celebrates the madness of Henry and Wanda who refuse to accept the death dictated by habit.” But what inspired Bukowski to write a screenplay?”
Bukowski: “I hate movies. Barbet Schroeder talked me into doing this. He telephoned one night. There came this French voice, he said “Oh my name is so and so, I want you to write a screenplay.” I was a little drunk, I said “Go to hell!” and I slammed the ’phone down. So, it rang again. So I picked it up, he said “Now, don’t hang up now. I’m very serious about this. I want you to write a screenplay.” I said “Hey, fuck you man!”, I started to hang it up and I heard him say “$20,000”. I said “When can you come over?””
Clip: Wanda: “How’d your face get so beat up? Go ahead. Grab the stuff and follow me. We’ll try my place.”
Narrator: “‘Barfly’ is being made because of the determination of French director Barbet Schroeder, who went to Cannon Films and threatened to cut off his own finger with and electric saw if they didn’t finance his film. But why such passion for Bukowski?”
Schroeder: “He shows a side of America that is rarely shown, but also what really attracts me to him is his dark view of the world his philosophical side, you know, which is very hidden. That attracts me, the mixture of pessimism and humour.”
Narrator: “‘Barfly’ is presented by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Tom Luddy and Fred Roos.”
Fred Roos: “So I tried very hard seven years ago to get the money, to get the where-with-all to produce the film, but it was very unusual kind of material for Hollywood movies.”
Narrator: “‘Barfly’ stars Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway. It’s a fascinating experience for Bukowski to see his life portrayed on-screen by these actors.”
Bukowski: “Yeah, he’s, I’m just not saying this to say it, I’m really very pleased with his acting and what he’s doing with the character. It’s magic.”
Bukowski: “But Mickey doesn’t only imitate me, he’s improved upon me. He’s created his own character with this thing. He has lent to me, he has added to me. He’s brought his own inventiveness and I really appreciate it.
Narrator: “What interests Mickey Rourke about his character?”
Rourke: “He was a man who, he’s just got nothing left except, just sort of, he’s dead inside and he just does what he wants to do and he just exists. You know its like, he’s not enamoured by all the bullshit. He’s very much real. And but yet there’s a side of him that’s so cut off that he’s damaged, but he’s still free.”
Rourke: “One of my favourite lines is when she says “I’ve discovered you” and he says “Well I always thought that I’d be discovered after I was dead.”
Clip: Alice Krige as ‘Tully’: “We’ve discovered you.”
Rourke as ‘Henry’: “Hmmm I had an idea that I’d be discovered after my death.”
Clip: ‘Wanda’: “What happened to you along the way? You’re weird.”
Clip: ‘Henry’: “You know every time I get with a woman, something happens.”
Clip: ‘Wanda’: “Nothing ever works right in this life.”
Narrator: “Bukowski wrote “the majority of Americans are inspired when they are intoxicated. I am one of these Americans.” Bukowski is one of Americans most controversial literary personalities. His books are veiled by a deep sense of pessimism and humour. They don’t attempt to be moral or political. He writes, “I don’t want to save the world, I write to save myself.””
Bukowski: “I’ve always wanted to commit suicide. I’m suicidal. And alcohol’s the slowest form of suicide that there is. Just, so, I’ve been working on it a long time. I’m slowly dying, I’m 68 – 67 – I’m gonna get there.”
Clip: ‘Henry’: “Sometimes I just get tired of thinking of all the things that I don’t wanna do, all the things I don’t wanna be.”
Bukowski: “When I write, I drink. Writing and drinking are, go together. Well, I’ll write a novel about it. It’ll be called ‘Hollywood’. And I think it’ll be a little different than most Hollywood novels. So at least I’ll get a novel out of it.”
Narrator: “But Bukowski does not have to wait for his Hollywood novel to feel that he has gained something from this film experience. He’s already a celebrity, having a wide variety of media exposure. But how does he feel about his success?”
Bukowski: “I might be more recognised yes. Success is always dangerous. It can make an asshole out of anybody. And I don’t know what it will do to me. Er, that’s all.”
Linda Bukowski: “Is it making you tired, my baby? Huh? Is it wearing you out?”
Bukowski: “Yes, I can’t bear it anymore...”
Linda: “Aah, poor thing...”
Bukowski: “...turn off the cameras!!”
Linda: “(Laughs) All right!”
Scene – Interior - Wanda’s Apartment ‘Henry’: (Kisses ‘Wanda’) “Hmmm”
‘Wanda’: (Pulls away) “I smell it! Perfume.”
Scene - Interior - Tully’s House ‘Tully’: (Drunkenly holding onto ‘Henry’) (Laughing)
Scene – Interior - Wanda’s Apartment ‘Wanda’: “Get away from me, you... PIG!”
Scene - Interior - Tully’s House ‘Henry’ to ‘Tully’: “Hmmm, where’s the bedroom?”
Scene - Interior - Golden Horn Bar ‘Wanda’ to ‘Tully’: “You get out of here or I’m gonna peel you away from your perfume.”
Scene - Interior - Tully’s House ‘Henry’: “Baby, look around - it’s a cage with golden bars.”
Scene - Interior - Golden Horn Bar ‘Henry’: “We don’t have to be barflies right down to the grave.”
Scene – Interior - Wanda’s Apartment ‘Wanda’: “Just one thing... I don’t ever want to fall in love.”
‘Henry’: “Don’t worry. Nobody’s ever loved me yet.”
Bukowski: “I would say it’s best not to trust any of this. I’ll be glad when it’s all over and I’m sitting in my room alone again with the bottle and a typewriter and the radio on. and I’m being all alone again and filling up again and being myself again.”
Narrator: “But will Bukowski manage to remain himself, as does his character ‘Henry’ in ‘Barfly’?”
TITLES:
Produced, Written & Directed by: Cecilia Miniucchi.
Composed & Mixed by: Jeffrey Coulter
Edited By: Betty Kaplan
Photography By: Mark Gerard and Phedon Papamichael
(C) Tango Productions 1986