Welcome back cinephiles!
Here, we pick up where we left off in part one.
If you haven’t seen part one yet, check it out by clicking the card here.
Today, we’ll take a look at the performances of Beatrice Straight,
Robert Duvall,
Ned Beatty,
Marlene Warfield,
Kathy Cronkite,
and Arthur Burghardt.
This is Making Film...
Beatrice Straight had only been in a few movies by this time,
but she had starred in many plays on Broadway.
Producer Howard Gottfried said,
“When she came in to read for the part…
she had us weeping” (Itzkoff 93).
Script Supervisor Kay Chapin noted during the last day of rehearsal—
which focused mostly on the Winter Romance scene— Straight gave a [quote]
“printable performance [with]… tears and all” (Itzkoff 102).
Nearly all of Beatrice Straight’s screen-time was in the ‘Winter Romance’ scene
where Max tells his wife that he has been having an affair with Diana and he thinks
that he is in love with her.
The dialogue is grand and eloquent—perhaps more so
than you’d expect in real life, but it works.
This scene was filmed in one day— "on Wednesday, February 4, at Apartment 9F
of the Apthorp building at 390 West End Avenue" (Itzkoff 117).
The scene [quote] "consists of a master shot, filmed in a continuous take, which was performed
twice, and twelve coverage shots, filmed from various
angles, most of which were performed about two or
three times each" (Itzkoff 117).
Well, the most complicated shot here, where Straight gets up and walks around the
apartment ultimately ending up in the foyer was repeated a total of nine times—
more than any other shot in the film (Itzkoff 117).
There was a specific reason for this besides the difficulties in camerawork—
Sidney Lumet: “I knew that she had to get past a certain point of,
really almost exhaustion before she’d hit it right and the only way to do that is by
shooting and shooting and shooting.
And I remember it was very charming because, after about the third take and she was getting
bigger and bigger and chewing the scenery and Paddy came over
and he said, ‘Sidney, that’s much to big.’
And I said, ‘Paddy, you know about comedy, I know about divorce.
Go sit down.
It’ll be alright.”
Lumet was nearing his third divorce at the time Network was made (Itzkoff 118).
Around take six or seven, the scene began to take shape.
Lumet wanted [quote] “an emotional through-line" to it but it had to have a shape.
In working out the scene on the day, they decided the shape of the scene will start
with a burst of energy and then the energy (as well as the tempo)
slowly drains by the end of it—
much like these moments in real life (Network: The Experience).
“Oh, say something for God’s sake.”
I really think this scene could work as a stand-alone short film—
it perfectly illustrates their relationship.
They’ve been together such a long time that after an explosion of conflict,
they can fall into the same emotional wavelength.
Louise has been betrayed, but she can still find an empathy with Max
and knows that it isn’t his intention to hurt her.
There were a few issues with the scene in the editing room.
The first was that a mispronunciation of ‘emeritus’ had somehow slipped by.
Straight had been saying “e-meh-Ree-tus years” (Itzkoff 118).
I can totally relate to this,
but editor Alan Heim managed to catch this in the edit
despite never having heard the word pronounced before—
something just didn’t seem right about the line.
So, that line became one of the very few lines of dialogue
to be dubbed over in the finished film.
You can hear the difference in audio quality here:
“Your last roar of passion before you settle into your emeritus years.
Is that what’s left for me?”
The second issue was much worse.
In the screenplay, the Winter Romance scene takes place after Max and Diana’s getaway,
which, during the assembly, seemed to Chayefsky, Gottfried, and Lumet to be all wrong.
They felt that the Winter Romance scene was slowing things down.
They actually came very close to cutting the scene all together
if not for Heim making [quote] “a last-ditch plea to preserve it
by having the motel love scene come first” (Itzkoff 143).
It’s crazy to think that this scene, which earned Beatrice Straight the Best Supporting
Actress Oscar, almost didn’t make it in the film.
For the role of Frank Hackett, Lumet didn’t want to cast a New Yorker or
someone who seemed sophisticated.
At this time, a role like Frank was a departure for Robert Duvall (Commentary).
This was after he played Hagen in The Godfather, but before he played Kilgore in Apocalypse Now.
Perhaps his role in Network was partially responsible for his casting in Apocalypse Now.
Duvall was a last minute idea and Lumet said that he didn’t know why he thought of Duvall
because he is not the kind of guy you’d imagine
wearing a tuxedo (Cast and Characters).
Dunaway said that it was fun to act with Duvall because, as an actor, he never lies—
everything is happening to him and not just the character he is playing.
Duvall also never spoke in the third-person when talking about his character—
he wouldn’t say, ‘Hackett would do this,’ but instead,
‘I would do this” (Cast and Characters).
Duvall also got into character in a very interesting way.
He would occasionally open up the office window and just yell at people walking down below
and one time he dropped his pants and mooned someone on the street before a take (Itzkoff 128).
Duvall is also hilarious in this role.
I love this part where he interrupts the man he just asked to speak.
“As of this minute, over fourteen thousand telegrams—the response is sensational!
Herb, tell him…
Herb’s phone hasn’t stopped ringing.
Every Goddamned affiliate from Albuquerque to Sandusky…”
Sidney Lumet: “I needed actors that could be funny without having to BE funny,
who understood the nature of comedy, which is that it has to look like it’s perfectly natural,
but it’s not perfectly natural.
It’s a very tough, hard line to follow.”
All of Duvall’s performance in this scene after Howard Beale stops the CCA deal
was Take-1 (Commentary).
“Two-billion dollars isn’t pique!
That’s the wrath of God and the wrath of God wants Howard Beale fired!”
Ned Beatty wasn’t the first choice to play Arthur Jensen.
In fact, they had cast a different actor, but it became apparent during the rehearsal
that the original actor couldn’t give them what they wanted (Cast and Characters).
It was actually Robert Altman who suggested Ned Beatty during a lunch with Howard Gottfried.
Beatty was cast 3 days before they were to shoot his big
“Primal Forces of Nature” scene.
“You have meddled with the primal forces of nature Mr. Beale and I won’t have it!”
He flew out, memorizing his four-page speech on the plane.
He met with Lumet on a Sunday and they were shooting the scene on the following Monday.
He was very nervous because of the pressure on him to not only perform,
but to know every word exactly as Chayefsky had written it.
Beatty had done Shakespeare and approached the scene
as if it were in a Shakespeare play (Cast and Characters).
Faye Dunaway: “I will never forget looking at the pages
and there were speeches like that and everybody was very nervous about this.”
Beatty was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for this scene.
They were all set to shoot this scene in a boardroom at the New York Stock Exchange building,
but their request was denied after reading the portion of the script where Jensen says
there is “'no America’ and ‘no democracy’” instead only a handful of corporations that
run everything (Itzkoff 118).
The scene ended up being shot at the New York Public Library,
which has a Beaux-Arts boardroom and a grand lobby
that they would use as the lobby for CCA.
“The light is impending.
I bare witness to the light!”
The New York Public Library had a large amount of restrictions for using the boardroom.
They weren’t allowed to bring any external lights or riggings into the room.
Those lamps on the table and the candelabra were already there when they arrived.
Cinematographer Owen Roizman said, “You’d have to put smoke in the room,
and backlight the smoke to give rays of light,…
And I couldn’t do any of those things.
They wouldn’t allow us to use smoke or anything like that.”
However, you’ll notice that there is a spotlight on Jensen during the scene.
Roizman said, “I basically begged to hang one light on a post at the far end of the
table to light Beatty at the other end.
It’s one of the only scenes where I wasn’t crazy about what I did with that.
The light was okay, but I think I overexposed it just a little too much” (Itzkoff 122).
You can see how strange it seems that such a powerful performance is done pretty much
entirely in a long shot.
This scene has a very theatrical feeling.
Beatty has to project like he is on a stage.
“And you!
Will!
Atone!”
I imagine that if the camera had been cutting around to closer angles of Jensen,
it would lose its power.
We would get the sense that the film is trying to make the performance big instead of understanding
that it is Jensen who is trying to make his speech feel big.
The desk lamps provide a nice visual line to Jensen,
but they themselves are imposing and act as the eyes of all the faceless corporations
constantly watching every move Beale makes.
Beatty threw himself into the scene occasionally trying to make
Peter Finch crack up at his theatrics.
He even went as far as one point jumping up onto the table to shout his lines.
After the day was over, Beatty asked Chayefsky how the shoot went.
Beatty said, “without moving a single muscle, anywhere on his body,…
[Chayefsky replied,] ‘It’s okay’” (Itzkoff 123).
The part of Laureen Hobbs went to Marlene Warfield whom they knew from The Great White
Hope and an incident in which she bit a police
officer in London (Itzkoff 94).
In the scene where Hobbs meets Diana in Los Angeles
— which was actually shot in Long Island New York—
Lumet, in his direction, reminded Warfield of a satire titled The Blacks, in which [quote],
“[an] all-black cast of characters includes a royal court and a queen dressed in white
masks or whiteface makeup.”
As it turns out, Warfield was in a run of The Blacks
in the East Village during the 60s (Itzkoff 134).
Lumet told Warfield, “You are the black queen, and there is the white queen.”
Warfield said, “He hit it, man, he hit it right on the button when he said that’s
what this is about.
And from then on, we did the scene.
That’s all he had to say” (Itzkoff 134).
Warfield also noted that Lumet must have seen The Blacks listed on her resumé
and thought that it was “a stroke of genius” to bring it up in his direction (Itzkoff 134).
This character alludes to Patty Hearst— granddaughter of publishing giant William
Randolph Hearst, who was the inspiration for Citizen Kane.
Patty Hearst was kidnapped by a radical group called the Symbionese Liberation Army
and was found to have participated in a bank robbery conducted by the group.
She claimed in court that the group sexually assaulted her,
threatened to kill her, and brainwashed her into participating.
Patty Hearst is actually referenced in the movie.
“That’s not the one that kidnapped Patty Hearst…”
“No no, that’s the Symbionese Liberation Army, this is the Ecumenical Liberation Army.”
What’s interesting is that this character is played by Kathy Cronkite,
the daughter of iconic newscaster Walter Cronkite.
This adds another layer to the film’s satire of the news business.
And Kathy Cronkite herself, had to worry about the possibility of getting kidnapped
due to her father’s fame (Itzkoff 132).
Chayefsky’s script was full of tongue twisters, but one particular line was quite a mouthful
for Cronkite, who was less experienced than most of her costars.
The line is this:
“Fugginfascist!
Have you seen the movies we took at the San Marino Jail break-out
demonstrating the rising up of a seminal prisoner-class infrastructure?!” (Itzkoff 133).
Here is the clip in the film:
“You Fugginfascist!
Did you seen the film we made at the San Marino Jail break-out
demonstrating the rising up of a seminal prisoner-class infrastructure?!”
Cronkite said, "I’m coming down the stairs screaming this line of propaganda that was
so rich in politics and so convoluted, and not that accessible to me,…
This is not something that I identify with or empathize with.
Particularly when I’m coming in with that passion.
All I really want to say is, ‘F you, F you!’
I don’t want to be spouting multisyllabic propaganda.
And it was very difficult to get the words out…
I remember saying to Paddy, ‘Look, can we just say this instead?"
Cronkite says this will haunt her for the rest of her life (Itzkoff 133).
Cronkite goes on to say, “They just said, ‘Well, no.’
But they didn’t make me feel dumb or embarrassed or out of line.
They just basically said, ‘Well, let’s try it again the way it is.’
Sidney had an amazing way of saying, ‘You screwed up,’ so that you felt you were the
greatest thing in the world.
He had this amazing way of saying, ‘Oh my God, that was fabulous.
How about if we try it again, and just tweak it a little?’ (Itzkoff 133).
The film portrays the fictional Ecumenical Liberation Army lead by The Great Ahmed Khan.
Khan was played by Arthur Burghardt who, only two years before Network, was serving time
in prison for draft evasion (Itzkoff 135).
He had been transferred to a maximum security prison and,
during a peaceful protest, he was maced and beaten in his cell
and placed in solitary confinement for fifteen months (Itzkoff 135).
I mention this because he was unsure about taking on the role of Khan
because he thought it might reflect poorly on people who look like him.
Burghardt is a big guy.
Khan is a criminal, robbing banks and causing chaos
and he ultimately commits a televised murder in the film.
However, his hesitance to take on the role was not apparent during his audition
in which he burst open the door brandishing a toy gun
and threatening everybody in the room.
Burghardt said, “I went in looking very much like a deposed street punk/gangster in
the garb of a revolutionary guerrilla…
I think I put a toothpick in my mouth.
I always believe in going into auditions looking like the part.
And I thought, this may be something” (Itzkoff 94).
The stunt worked.
Howard Gottfried remarked, “[We] looked at this guy and we thought,
that’s the kind of guy we wanted” (Itzkoff 94).
Burghardt made a point to use the film’s satire to comment on the stereotype.
He said, “I decided I’d play the archetype to the hilt” (Itzkoff 136).
He was still pretty sure that he would never work again citing that [quote]
“black people won’t like me doing this role.
People on television won’t want me in television” (Itzkoff 136).
Nevertheless, he went for it opting to play this scene
while filling his mouth with fried chicken.
At one point when he said this line:
“What the f*ck are you talking about?”
chicken flew out of his mouth and landed on the side Cronkite’s face.
He was embarrassed, but Lumet said that he liked it.
It should also be noted that Burghardt is a vegetarian and very health conscious,
so take after take, he would do the scene and then spit the chicken into a bucket
and wipe his mouth out (Cast and Characters).
At one point the chicken was running low, so Burghardt had the idea to stuff his cheeks
with wads of toilet paper to get the look of a man
gorging himself on chicken (Itzkoff 136).
The performances in Network are so engaging because the script beautifully sets up conflict.
Louise wants Max, Max wants Diana,
Diana wants to use Howard Beale to make a hit show,
Laureen Hobbs wants Howard’s success to set up a time slot for her show,
Howard Beale wants to stop the CCA deal, Hackett wants to keep Arthur Jensen and CCA happy,
and Jensen wants to push forward the CCA deal.
Lumet took a theater approach, which worked well for such a dialogue-heavy script.
The environment Lumet created during the making of Network favored the actors above everything.
There is interesting stuff happening with the cinematography,
but there is nothing to detract from the performances.
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