Bunuel_Luis_My_Last_Breath

Batcheff, the actor who played the lead in Chien andulou. (Later shemarried Roland Tual.) Out of the blue, she asked if I was interestedin returning to France to do the film version of Lorca's The House ofBemarda Alba, which had been a terrific hit in Paris but which Ididn't very much like. Nevertheless, I agreed to give it a try, andsince Denise had to spend a few days in Mexico City, I went withher. Once there, I phoned Paquito, Lorca's brother, in New York,who told me that some British producers had just offered him twicewhat Denise had for the rights to the play. And so once again thedeal fell through, and once again I found myself jobless, this timein a strange city. Denise introduced me to the producer Oscar Dancigers,whom I'd met with Jacques Pr6vert before the war at theDeux Magots."I just may have something for you," Oscar said to me. "Butwould you mind staying in Mexico?"When people ask me if I regret not having become a Hollywooddirector, like so many other European filmmakers, I say that I don'tknow. Chance is a matter of one-shots; it rarely takes anything backor gives you a second opportunity. Given the Hollywood system andthe enormous budgets, I'm sure my films would have been verydifferent, and should you ask which films, I'd again have to say Idon't know. (Since I never made them, I don't have any regrets.)Years later, in Madrid, Nicholas Ray invited me to lunch andasked how I'd managed to make such interesting movies on suchsmall budgets. I told him that money had never been a problem forme; what I'd had, I'd had. It was either that or nothing at all; all Ihad to do was arrange my story to fit my budget. In Mexico, I neverhad a shooting schedule longer than twenty-four days (except forRobinson Crusoe). In fact, I felt strongly that the size of my budgetswas a measure of my freedom."You're a famous director," I said to Ray. '"Why not try anexperiment? You've just finished a picture that cost five milliondollars. Why not try one for four hundred thousand dollars and seefor yourself how much freer you are?"