Bunuel_Luis_My_Last_Breath

Paris (1925-1929) 89Epstein agreed, much to my surprise. Mauprat, which was shotin Paris, Romorantin, and Chiiteauroux, was my first real experiencebehind the scenes at a shoot. I did a little bit of everything; I operateda waterfall, and even played a gendarme during the reign of LouisXV (or was it XVI?) who was supposed to get himself shot duringa battle and fall from a height of about ten feet. During the shoot,I met the actors Maurice Schultz and Sandra Milovanov, which wasvery exciting; but what fascinated me even more was the cameratself. Albert Duverger, the cameraman, had no assistant; he changedhis own film and developed his own prints. I can still see himstanding there, steadily cranking the handle of his camera.Since these films were silents, no one had bothered to soundproofthe studios; and some of them-the one at Epinay, for examplehad glass walls. The projectors and reflectors gave off such a blindinglight that we had to wear leaded glasses to protect our eyes. Epsteinkept me mostly on the sidelines, perhaps because I had a certaintalent for making the actors laugh at the wrong moments. I remember,too, meeting and having coffee with the legendary MauriceMaeterlinck at Romorantin. He was already quite old, and livingwith his secretary in the hotel where we stayed.After Mauprat, Epstein began The Fall of the House of Usher,starring Jean Debucourt and Abel Gance's wife, Marguerite. He tookme on as second assistant, in charge of the interiors. I did fine untilone day when the stage manager, Maurice Morlot, sent me to thepharmacy to buy some hemoglobin. Unfortunately, the druggist wasa rabid xenophobe. He knew I was a metique from my accent and,after swearing at me violently, refused to sell it to me.There was another difficult moment one evening, after we'd completedthe interiors. Morlot was telling everyone when to meet atthe station the following morning, as we were all going to shootsome scenes in the Dordogne."Stay a minute with the cameraman, Luis," Epstein suddenlysaid to me. "Abel Gance is going to audition two girls, and youmight be able to give him a hand. "