The_Film_That_Changed_My_Life

154 Michael Polish
because he was under contract, it was chopped up and put in chronological
order for the U.S. release—which, of course, bombed.
Polish: James Woods still says to this day, it was the assistant editor on
Police Academy who did it. He told me that before I even saw the DVD, on
which he says that, too.
Isn’t he being hyperbolic?
Polish: James Woods being hyperbolic, that’s an understatement.
In working with Woods, did he tell you any stories that were insightful
or illuminating as to the making of the film?
Polish: Any time I asked him about it, Woods was more than willing to
say, “Hey, this is how you set up a shot; this is how you do it.” Leone would
walk everyone through it. Woods did one of his last scenes in high heels
because the shoot was so long they would do anything to keep themselves
entertained. He still has those high heels.
It was weird to hear it wasn’t story-motivated by actors or by time schedule.
It was set-driven. When a set was ready, they were chasing sets, which
is weird to me. In Northfork, we were set-driven just because whenever the
ark was ready, we’d go use it.
Leone biographer Christopher Frayling suggests that time is like the
central character and theme of this film.
Polish: That’s the same with Once Upon a Time in the West, in particular,
for which I discovered time is the central character. When Noodles [Robert
De Niro] comes in and visits and the clock stops. And Leone starts the clock
back up; it’s a great little thing.
That kind of subtle detail means everything to the story. I hate to agree
with that guy, but time is a theme. But you also have the theme of trust: the
overall nature of trust, trust with loved ones, trust with a girl, trust with your
best friend, trust with your family, and trust of faith.
There’s a great story about director John Landis, who heard Sergio
Leone made a film on Jewish gangsters. But, when he saw it, Landis
breathed a sigh of relief because “it was about Italians after all.”