Michael Chapman - 'The King' (34/94)

To listen to more of Michael Chapman’s stories, go to the playlist:    • Michael Chapman (Cinematographer)  

Michael Chapman (1935-2020) was an innovative cinematographer. He worked with a number of acclaimed directors including Martin Scorsese with whom he created his two best-known films, 'Taxi Driver' and 'Raging Bull'. [Listener: Glen Ade Brown; date recorded: 2004]

TRANSCRIPT: You know, I haven't seen it in so long I can't remember much about it except it was in... made in Georgia in the summer and it was hideously hot... hideously, hideously hot, and... and not only hot but humid, and much of it took place in... as... you know, as historically it should, in churches in the black... various black communities of, in reality, Alabama, but in this case made in Georgia, and the sort of... oh I don't want to say, but let's say... not absolutely first-class producers talked the... the black communities of these towns into being extras and coming and being in these scenes and very many scenes in churches where... where King would be talking to them, and where the civil rights movement kind of coalesced, and of course we would have to... oh, 85 the windows or black out the windows and light through the windows and it would be... you know, it would be 130 degrees in there and people would be passing out and these poor local people had to come in ties and coats and... you know, dressed up as if for their Sunday best because it was just awful, awful, and the producers tried to save money by cheesing on the air conditioning, and people were passing out, and it was just... it was the... there was this sort of dark underside of movies that comes out – fairly often, actually.