Bunuel_Luis_My_Last_Breath

accept or refuse, but I never argue. I don't think I've ever donesomething for money that I didn't want to do; and when I don'twant to do something, no offer can change my mind. What I won'tdo for one dollar, I also won't do for a million.My second American film, The Young One, which most peoplethink was filmed in South Carolina, was in fact shot in the areaaround Acapulco, and in the Churubusco Studios in Mexico City.Pepper was the producer, while Butler and I collaborated on thescreenplay. The technicians were Mexican and the actors American,with the exception of Claudio Brook, who played the pastor and whospoke perfect English. (I worked with Claudio several times-onSimon of the Desert,The Exterminating Angel, and The Milky Way). Theactress who played the young girl was barely fourteen and had hadno acting experience. Nor did she have any particular talent for it.In addition, her formidable parents never let her out of their sight,forced her to work nonstop, and to obey the director to the letter.Sometimes she cried; but perhaps because of these conditions-herinexperience and her fear-her presence in the film is very powerful.That often happens with child actors; in fact, the best actors I'veworked with have been children and dwarves.One of the problems with The Young One was its anti-Manicheanstance, which was an anomaly at the time, although today it's allthe rage. Without quite knowing what it is, the fledgling writer inhis first youthful effort is sure to warn us of the dangers of dividingthings too clearly into black and white. In fact, the fashion for grayzones is so widespread that I've often dreamed of declaring myselfan out-and-out Manichean and acting accordingly. In any case, onceupon a time, the movies reflected the prevailing morality very closely;there were the good guys and the bad guys, and there was no questionof which was which. The Young One tried to turn the old stereotypesinside out; the black man in the movie was both good and bad, aswas the white man. In fact, the latter's confession to the black man,as he's about to be hanged for a supposed rape, is devastating: "I justcan't see you," he declares, "as a human being."