Soames. He was a character, tough as
nails. We were pulling stuff out of the hat
but he knew every trick in the book. Daly
made the difference. When it was the 24th
hour and about to tip over, he put more
money in to save us. In fact, I didn’t shoot
the beginning and the ending until after
the shoot, which was a great thing
because there was no money. They
cancelled us out in Mexico on the 47th
day and we were kicked out for non-
payment of bills with the union. It was
a serious business.
What are your memories of the film
coming out?
It was a nightmare. It was like, after all
that work, you think you’d get a break.
Orion Pictures turned off the reel. They
thought it was too violent and too sexy,
it would never get a rating. It was never
going to be material for a main studio
and Orion was our last hope because they
were semi-independent. So we knew we
were fucked and nobody would release
that film. Daly again stepped up and
formed Hemdale Distribution. Even
Daly was pressing me to cut things, but
I like letting it all hang out. When you
go to Salvador, you cross an invisible
line or a mirror. It’s another world
down there especially during civil
war time. It’s not like normal reality.
What did you make of the
film’s reception?
The reviews were interesting.
There were some very good ones
and I was forgiven for some of my
early transgressions by the critics.
The film was actually recognised by
the cognoscenti and got two Oscar
nominations, one for Best Screenplay
for Boyle and I. Boyle going to the Oscars
is another story. He rented a tuxedo
from, I don’t know, a junkyard. He was
loaded to the gills. He was a demon
taking centre-stage all the time. Woods
got a nomination too and I think he
would have won it but it was the
sentimental Paul Newman year. He’d
been nominated six or seven times.
Jimmy went all out. That was Jimmy.
Is it fair to saySalvadorwas eclipsed
byPlatoon?
If I had Daly’s offer again, I would
have donePlatoonfirst.Salvadorwould
have got a hell of a lot more attention as
a second film. Frankly I don’t regret it
because I learned a lot and I certainly
proved I could work under the worst
pressure of all. If I could survive that,
I could survive anything.IAN FREER
SALVADORIS OUT NOW ON BLU-RAY
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