:02:01
because they didn't have
the equipment.
:02:03
So they had to shoot it
from above, but how?
:02:07
He told the cameraman,
"I want it from a fish's viewpoint."
:02:12
So the guy built a tank and shot
experiments with dolls and mirrors.
:02:17
It turned out if the water was 40 degrees,
no higher as that caused distortion,
:02:23
they could film it from above,
:02:26
looking down at a mirror reflecting
the image of William Holden.
:02:31
What's great, too,
is that it's distorted enough
:02:34
that it doesn't give the film away.
:02:37
That opening would be enough to stamp
this as one of the great movies.
:02:43
It's one of the most striking, stirring
openings I've ever seen in a movie.
:02:48
The mansion was not in the 10000
block of Sunset Boulevard,
:02:52
as Joe Gillis says
in the film's beginning.
:02:55
It was on Wilshire
and has been destroyed.
:02:58
But it was a fabulous old,
if decrepit and unused, house,
:03:02
owned by the ex-wife of J Paul Getty.
:03:05
The inside of the house was totally
created on a set.
:03:12
It was an amazing set,
and I'll tell you,
:03:16
one day I saw the cameraman
take some... it looked like pumice,
:03:23
like marble dust,
and he rubbed his hands
:03:27
and blew in front of the camera
:03:31
to give it a feeling that the corners
were a little dusty.
:03:37
That was the kind of detail that was
thought through by the film's creators.
:03:43
I was amazed.
:03:45
Wilder's camera style
is very interesting.
:03:47
He's often been said to favour
the screenplay over the image.
:03:52
He cared about his screenplays.
:03:55
His actors were never allowed
to change a word.
:03:58
We never deviated from that script.
There were no new lines.