:54:00
You might not think it
to look at me now,
:54:02
but there was a time when I was
at the very pinnacle of my profession.
:54:05
The horror movies
were behind me.
:54:07
I'd made Showboat.
Major success. Big box office.
:54:11
So now I was to do
something important.
:54:14
The picture was called
The Road Back.
:54:16
It was an indictment of the Great War
and what it did to Germany.
:54:19
It was going to be
my masterpiece.
:54:21
- What happened?
- The fucking studio butchered it.
:54:24
They took the guts
out of my picture.
:54:26
They brought in another director
to add some slapstick...
:54:29
and the movie laid an egg.
:54:31
A great, expensive bomb
for which I was blamed.
:54:35
And after that
I was out of fashion.
:54:38
I could no longer command
the best projects, so I walked away.
:54:42
Why should I spend my time working
in this dreadful business?
:54:47
- Do you miss it?
- Mmm.
:54:50
Oh, it was
all so long ago.
:54:52
Fifteen years.
:54:57
Making movies is
the most wonderful thing in the world.
:55:03
Working with friends,
entertaining people.
:55:07
Yes,
I suppose I miss it.
:55:11
But I chose freedom.
:55:15
David, of course,
was still in the thick of it,
:55:18
a life chockablock with anxiety
and studio intrigue.
:55:21
I didn't fancy spending my golden years
as "the friend,"
:55:25
so I finally drew down the curtain
and closed the show.
:55:33
And, um,
:55:35
when the fetters
are loosened,
:55:39
a certain hedonism creeps in,
don't you think?
:55:42
Oh, there was a time when this house
was full of young men.
:55:46
Some of them even posed for me,
right where you're sitting now.
:55:50
Of course, they weren't
nearly so bashful.
:55:53
Oh, no, this studio
was full of bare buttocks and pricks...
:55:57
Mmm.
Hard, arrogant pricks.