Articles/Interviews
Return to Listing'I'm three-quarters done'
says OLIVER REED
to James CAMERON-WILSON The black mamba is the most deadly and aggressive snake in the world. It is of such a nervous and unpredictable disposition that it often strikes without any provocation whatsoever. It can also hit a man standing 12 to 15 feet away far faster than he could possibly react. The mamba's speed downhill can reach a momentum of 20 miles an hour and its jaws can open to an angle of 180 degrees, and when it strikes, it will do so repeatedly. And a ten foot mamba can strike a man in the face. If all that makes an encounter with the said ophidian sound an unsavoury prospect, listen to this. An untreated black mamba bite will cause collapse within five minutes to half an hour and then certain death. But before blessed surcease, the venom will directly attack the nervous system causing an initial state of shock, profuse sweating, cramps throughout the body, swelling of the lips and paralysis of the throat muscles, the last malfunction allowing an alternative of demises due to suffocation on saliva or vomit. If you're still in reasonably good health, the diaphragm and chest muscles will then fail, bringing about the cessation of your breathing capabilities. Unfortunately, it is impossible to milk the poisonous glands of the black mamba completely, remembering, of course, that it only takes one drop of venom to kill. Last month I visited Elstree studios to take lunch with Oliver Reed, only a hundred yards or so a way from a seething nest of black mambas. Not my idea of a safe lunch, but Mr Reed was there filming his role in Venom, a heart-stopping tale about a gang of kidnappers holed up in a wealthy residence in which they find themselves in the daunting presence of a mamba on the loose - accidentally switched for a pet house snake. If one black mamba in the studio wasn't enough, the film-makers have installed six, just in case anything happened to their precious original. Along with Oliver Reed and the little black mamba (all ten feet of it!), Venom boasts an impressive line-up of larger-than-life actors and beautiful women, including Susan George, Klaus Kinski, Sterling Hayden, Nicol Williamson, Sarah Miles and the delectable Cornelia Sharpe. Originally Tobe Hooper was scheduled to direct - he made those nerve-rending classics The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Death Trap - but because of an illness in the family he had to return to America, to be replaced at short notice by Piers Haggard, who directed Peter Sellers' last film The Fiendish Plot Of Dr Fu Manchu. In Venom, Olly plays Dave, a conspiratorial chauffeur who plots the fatal kidnap with Klaus Kinski. "I was going to play Dave with a Cockney accent," Olly lamented while tucking into a massive steak, "but the powers-that-be said an American audience wouldn't understand a word he uttered, so I've had to change it to a 'London' accent. Regrettably." So much has been written and said about Oliver Reed that there is little left to be appended; but, like my colleagues before me, I found the actor courteous and a gentleman and from here I will let him speak for himself. I asked him about his reptilian co-star and other strange encounters of the past. "I am no more scared of a snake than the next man," Olly started, "though I do consider I have a healthy regard of anything highly poisonous or dangerous, including lions. The snake in this movie bites me in a very private area, but I suspect the one they will use for that scene will be plastic with a rubber head and clockwork derriere. Otherwise, my strangest co-star to date has been Klaus Kinski!" "I did have a very nasty scrape in Canada once, while making The Trap [with Rita Tushingham]. They shoved me into this big bullring surrounded by a high wall and overlooked by three Mounties armed with high-powered rifles. They then stuck this mountain lion on a tree above me, with the camera mounted behind, and pushed it into the ring. I was supposed to shoot it. The owner told me not to worry because if the lion sprung on me, by the time it actually made contact the Mounties would have shot it. In fact it only missed me by inches. I was also seriously hurt while making the same film by a pack of alsatians posing as wolves. I still have the scars from that attack." Reed's last film to be seen on these shores was also Canadian, David Cronenberg's The Brood; and before that he made Tomorrow Never Comes, shot in Laval, Quebec, with Susan George, and almost filmed The Mad Trapper in Canada as well, but it folded at the last minute due to a withdrawal of funds. "I enjoy filming in Canada," Olly continued, "and I like working in the States, too. At least they speak your language there and do your laundry fairly quickly. If one works in Communist countries it's very difficult to understand the people, let alone their political attitudes. Although I admit they're quite good at understanding you - especially in restaurants. But they couldn't care a damn whether you complain about the food or not - you have what you're given." "Then there are the semi-Communist countries that accept tips even, but then you go to Bulgaria and it's against the law. I was actually working in Czechoslovakia two days before the tanks moved in. An actor goes wherever he's told nowadays. Instead of working from a donkey he works out of the back of a 707." "Exotic locations used to be an attraction, but not anymore. You don't see your family, you don't see your home, you don't see your friends and you don't see your local. What do I want to be stuck out in the middle of Durango for, when my children are at home being looked after by the people I love?" "But if you have responsibilities like alimony, school fees and ex-girlfriends, you can only afford to spend so much time in England working. It's still a ridiculous situation, which is why Michael Caine left even after Thatcher got in. Especially with inflation and if you're keeping a large house and staff. But I've been away from England so long I've decided to stay one year and pay the tax. And then they always find something new to tax you on. I've just sold a big home after spending a fortune on it, and because the house is now worth more than I originally paid for it - and I wasn't in it for a killing, let me tell you - I now have to pay for capital appreciation. If the socialist government gets in again I will be off, without a doubt." "And now there's this deal with pop singers. Because a pop singer's life is only so long, they will be allowed to pay a lump sum and then be tax free. But for me, I'm only allowed 62 days in my own country. A lot of people of course would prefer to make their home in Los Angeles or France." "I recently bought some land in Vermont. I could live there. It's farming land with development possibilities. That will give me an element of freedom to do and be what I want. I would like to build lakes and ski lifts and a lot of things." "The trouble is, now that the 'bankable' English stars live outside the country, they're not prepared to sell up their homes - wherever they might live - and come back to this country, even under Thatcher, in case the socialists get in and they have to sell up again. Even John Hurt, who's been around a long time and has finally made a success, is in Los Angeles. I don't think he'll come back. And the fellow I made The Musketeers with [Michael York] is in Monte Carlo. If they live and work outside England they're allowed more time here than if they live here." "I'm not even sure I want to be acting anymore. I used to whistle and sing on the way to the studio, but there's only so much you can give and then you burn yourself out. I'm three-quarters done. But I've still got that spark, I still give them what I can." "Then I constantly surprise myself, and I might have to suddenly pay a large tax bill or I may get excited over a new film. Last time I thought I'd retire at 35, but when I said that I didn't realise I was going to get divorced and have to pay alimony, fall in love again and have another baby. I also didn't realise I'd fall in love with my big house and pay hundreds of thousands of pounds on it. And I didn't realise I was going to get involved with race horses. I didn't realise I'd split up again and then have to educate the new baby... But providing I have financial freedom and that my firework is still sparkling, I could probably go on for another five years - just." As we were both dropping into the abyss of eternal gloom, the voluptuous Susie George bounced over to our table to extricate the interviewee from the interrogator. Olly, I may add, brightened up considerably. "I love, women," he sighed, between kisses, and excused himself to line up a shot with the dreaded Klaus Kinski. I think I noticed an imperceptible bounce in his walk as he exited the restaurant. I still think Mr Reed enjoys a challenge.
James Cameron-Wilson, Film Review, March 1981
Return to Listing
to James CAMERON-WILSON The black mamba is the most deadly and aggressive snake in the world. It is of such a nervous and unpredictable disposition that it often strikes without any provocation whatsoever. It can also hit a man standing 12 to 15 feet away far faster than he could possibly react. The mamba's speed downhill can reach a momentum of 20 miles an hour and its jaws can open to an angle of 180 degrees, and when it strikes, it will do so repeatedly. And a ten foot mamba can strike a man in the face. If all that makes an encounter with the said ophidian sound an unsavoury prospect, listen to this. An untreated black mamba bite will cause collapse within five minutes to half an hour and then certain death. But before blessed surcease, the venom will directly attack the nervous system causing an initial state of shock, profuse sweating, cramps throughout the body, swelling of the lips and paralysis of the throat muscles, the last malfunction allowing an alternative of demises due to suffocation on saliva or vomit. If you're still in reasonably good health, the diaphragm and chest muscles will then fail, bringing about the cessation of your breathing capabilities. Unfortunately, it is impossible to milk the poisonous glands of the black mamba completely, remembering, of course, that it only takes one drop of venom to kill. Last month I visited Elstree studios to take lunch with Oliver Reed, only a hundred yards or so a way from a seething nest of black mambas. Not my idea of a safe lunch, but Mr Reed was there filming his role in Venom, a heart-stopping tale about a gang of kidnappers holed up in a wealthy residence in which they find themselves in the daunting presence of a mamba on the loose - accidentally switched for a pet house snake. If one black mamba in the studio wasn't enough, the film-makers have installed six, just in case anything happened to their precious original. Along with Oliver Reed and the little black mamba (all ten feet of it!), Venom boasts an impressive line-up of larger-than-life actors and beautiful women, including Susan George, Klaus Kinski, Sterling Hayden, Nicol Williamson, Sarah Miles and the delectable Cornelia Sharpe. Originally Tobe Hooper was scheduled to direct - he made those nerve-rending classics The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Death Trap - but because of an illness in the family he had to return to America, to be replaced at short notice by Piers Haggard, who directed Peter Sellers' last film The Fiendish Plot Of Dr Fu Manchu. In Venom, Olly plays Dave, a conspiratorial chauffeur who plots the fatal kidnap with Klaus Kinski. "I was going to play Dave with a Cockney accent," Olly lamented while tucking into a massive steak, "but the powers-that-be said an American audience wouldn't understand a word he uttered, so I've had to change it to a 'London' accent. Regrettably." So much has been written and said about Oliver Reed that there is little left to be appended; but, like my colleagues before me, I found the actor courteous and a gentleman and from here I will let him speak for himself. I asked him about his reptilian co-star and other strange encounters of the past. "I am no more scared of a snake than the next man," Olly started, "though I do consider I have a healthy regard of anything highly poisonous or dangerous, including lions. The snake in this movie bites me in a very private area, but I suspect the one they will use for that scene will be plastic with a rubber head and clockwork derriere. Otherwise, my strangest co-star to date has been Klaus Kinski!" "I did have a very nasty scrape in Canada once, while making The Trap [with Rita Tushingham]. They shoved me into this big bullring surrounded by a high wall and overlooked by three Mounties armed with high-powered rifles. They then stuck this mountain lion on a tree above me, with the camera mounted behind, and pushed it into the ring. I was supposed to shoot it. The owner told me not to worry because if the lion sprung on me, by the time it actually made contact the Mounties would have shot it. In fact it only missed me by inches. I was also seriously hurt while making the same film by a pack of alsatians posing as wolves. I still have the scars from that attack." Reed's last film to be seen on these shores was also Canadian, David Cronenberg's The Brood; and before that he made Tomorrow Never Comes, shot in Laval, Quebec, with Susan George, and almost filmed The Mad Trapper in Canada as well, but it folded at the last minute due to a withdrawal of funds. "I enjoy filming in Canada," Olly continued, "and I like working in the States, too. At least they speak your language there and do your laundry fairly quickly. If one works in Communist countries it's very difficult to understand the people, let alone their political attitudes. Although I admit they're quite good at understanding you - especially in restaurants. But they couldn't care a damn whether you complain about the food or not - you have what you're given." "Then there are the semi-Communist countries that accept tips even, but then you go to Bulgaria and it's against the law. I was actually working in Czechoslovakia two days before the tanks moved in. An actor goes wherever he's told nowadays. Instead of working from a donkey he works out of the back of a 707." "Exotic locations used to be an attraction, but not anymore. You don't see your family, you don't see your home, you don't see your friends and you don't see your local. What do I want to be stuck out in the middle of Durango for, when my children are at home being looked after by the people I love?" "But if you have responsibilities like alimony, school fees and ex-girlfriends, you can only afford to spend so much time in England working. It's still a ridiculous situation, which is why Michael Caine left even after Thatcher got in. Especially with inflation and if you're keeping a large house and staff. But I've been away from England so long I've decided to stay one year and pay the tax. And then they always find something new to tax you on. I've just sold a big home after spending a fortune on it, and because the house is now worth more than I originally paid for it - and I wasn't in it for a killing, let me tell you - I now have to pay for capital appreciation. If the socialist government gets in again I will be off, without a doubt." "And now there's this deal with pop singers. Because a pop singer's life is only so long, they will be allowed to pay a lump sum and then be tax free. But for me, I'm only allowed 62 days in my own country. A lot of people of course would prefer to make their home in Los Angeles or France." "I recently bought some land in Vermont. I could live there. It's farming land with development possibilities. That will give me an element of freedom to do and be what I want. I would like to build lakes and ski lifts and a lot of things." "The trouble is, now that the 'bankable' English stars live outside the country, they're not prepared to sell up their homes - wherever they might live - and come back to this country, even under Thatcher, in case the socialists get in and they have to sell up again. Even John Hurt, who's been around a long time and has finally made a success, is in Los Angeles. I don't think he'll come back. And the fellow I made The Musketeers with [Michael York] is in Monte Carlo. If they live and work outside England they're allowed more time here than if they live here." "I'm not even sure I want to be acting anymore. I used to whistle and sing on the way to the studio, but there's only so much you can give and then you burn yourself out. I'm three-quarters done. But I've still got that spark, I still give them what I can." "Then I constantly surprise myself, and I might have to suddenly pay a large tax bill or I may get excited over a new film. Last time I thought I'd retire at 35, but when I said that I didn't realise I was going to get divorced and have to pay alimony, fall in love again and have another baby. I also didn't realise I'd fall in love with my big house and pay hundreds of thousands of pounds on it. And I didn't realise I was going to get involved with race horses. I didn't realise I'd split up again and then have to educate the new baby... But providing I have financial freedom and that my firework is still sparkling, I could probably go on for another five years - just." As we were both dropping into the abyss of eternal gloom, the voluptuous Susie George bounced over to our table to extricate the interviewee from the interrogator. Olly, I may add, brightened up considerably. "I love, women," he sighed, between kisses, and excused himself to line up a shot with the dreaded Klaus Kinski. I think I noticed an imperceptible bounce in his walk as he exited the restaurant. I still think Mr Reed enjoys a challenge.