An exotic idea

David Wood OBE, actor, played Johnny in If…., author of Filming If…. (2018)

Lindsay had a very clever, almost epigrammatic way of explaining things.  For example, in the scene in If…. where we clear stuff from under the stage, I had not realised, as we rehearsed the scene, that we were doing it as a punishment from the headmaster.  This meant that when I emerged from a trapdoor wearing a gasmask and carrying a stuffed alligator, I was unsure of my motivation!  I popped my head out, looked both ways, then climbed up carefully. Lindsay stopped me.  ‘What are you doing that for?’ he asked.  I replied that I was looking to see if anybody was coming, because perhaps we shouldn’t be doing this.  Lindsay shook his head, smiled and came out with a phrase I have never forgotten.  He said, ‘The more exotic the idea, the more matter of fact we play it’.  For the next rehearsal I just lifted out the alligator with Richard [Warwick] as though it was something I did every day of my life.  This, I think, helped the somewhat surreal nature of the scene to work.  We shot it in one take.

(Images: Photographs of making of If…. and scenes from film, ref. LA 1/6/4.)