All language subtitles for Interview with set decorator and second-unit director Lisa Leone_track3_[eng]

I'm Lisa Leone,
and I was the set decorator,

I acted,

I did all the research pictures,

and I was second unit director
of Eyes Wide Shut.

♪♪ [mysterious piano]

[Leone] Born and raised in New York City.
Fourth generation New Yorker.

I went to High School of Art and Design,

also known as the High School
of Graffiti and Break dancing in the 80s.

I was a b-girl in the 80s, friends
with a lot of the guys from Rock Steady,

and graffiti writers
that were starting to get fame

and have gallery shows for the first time,

what people call the Golden Age of Rap.

I was the only photographer
in the Illmatic session

with Nas and Q-Tip, and Large Professor.

I was the only photographer on set
a lot of times. It was pre-digital.

It just allowed photographers to actually
just stay and feel what's happening

in the room and capture the moment.

It was actually a director,
Craig Henry, that was like,

I want you to shoot with Malik Sayeed.

"Hey, I want you and Malik
to shoot my video."

So we shot a Chi-Ali video.

I did Bolex, like 16,
and Malik did 35, and it was a hit.

So all of a sudden Craig
started getting all this work.

And the three of us, for a few years,

would travel and shoot music videos.

Then I started doing cinematography
for music videos and shot like TLC video

and Heavy D and worked for Vibe magazine.

It was all like very community-based
at the time.

It was a great, potent time in New York.

I had a friend that used to work
at Danceteria, so he had called and said,

"My friend Vivian is moving to New York.

I think you guys would totally get along.

You should meet her,
invite her to parties..."

She lived right around the corner from me.

So we became close for,
I think it was like a year or two,

before she came to me and was like...

"I just got this fax from my father,

and he wants me to take these photos

for research for a film.

He doesn't know I'm moving
to Santa Cruz, and...

Can you help me?
But I can't tell him you're helping me,

and I can't pay you,
but I could buy you film..."

I said, let me see the list.

It was all in the Village.

I was like, "I'll do it, Vivian.
Don't worry about it."

I didn't even think about it.

So she bought film.

I went out and just photographed
what was on the list.

I gave her the photos.

She sent them off and forgot about it.
Like six months went by.

There was a message
on my answering machine,

because there were no cell phones,
and it was like,

"Hello, Lisa? Stanley Kubrick."

And Vivian was like,

"My father wants to know
if you want a couple of weeks of work."

So I was like, "Yeah!"

He sounded like one of my uncles,

because he's from the same
neighborhood in the Bronx as my family is.

He went to the same high school
as my aunts did.

So, just the way he spoke

made me feel like oh, I know this...

Comfortable.

The first question, he said,
"What kind of camera are you using?"

I said, "I have a Leica M6
and a Leica M4-P."

And he was like, okay. He realized,
"Okay, I guess she's serious."

But he wanted me to photograph
everything with a 28 millimeter

because that's the equivalent
of an 18 millimeter in film.

And that was his favorite lens.

So that's it...
It started on taking research pictures.

It was a contemporary film that took place
in the Village and the Upper West Side,

and he needed research photos,

because he hasn't been
in New York in 30 years.

So basically--
become his eyes of New York City.

You know, Village streets, stores...

just photograph,
go down to 8th Street, go down here.

He wanted to find, you know,

the hand-painted signs, but the old ones,

not the new ones.

So I would just get
two sets of prints, mark 'em,

send him one set,

I kept the other set,
and then we would just talk on the phone

for hours going through the photos.

"Look at, you know, 32 B."

He's like, "That's interesting.
Can you go back there and shoot that?"

He'd say, "I don't understand how
you're getting access to all of these...

Park Avenue, Central Park.
They're just letting you photograph?"

And I said, "Well, I go at like 2:00,
3:00 in the morning,

and the doormen are bored."

So and he was like, "Oh, that's great."

He sent me to his original home

in Central Park West
and in the East Village,

and I just knocked on the door.

Like, "Can I come photograph your house?
I'm doing this for Stanley Kubrick."

And everyone just opened the door,

and then it was...

He would approve it,
then I was taking measurements,

and floor plans.

Finally I said, maybe I should
get a letter from Warner Bros.

Like just some kind of documentation,
because it's...

So I did, and...

A lot of it was like I'd call friends--

I was a New Yorker.

So I had friends whose parents
maybe lived in Park Avenue.

Then I had friends that lived
in the East Village,

and I would just be documenting
everybody's house.

Every friend,
everybody knew what I was doing.

[secretary] Morning, doctor.

♪♪ [orchestral]

[Leone] My mother, I used to, like,
just take all her mail and everything.

Pill prescriptions, everything.

Like when Nicole opens the door,
it's all my mother's stuff, you know?

It's like he wanted everything to be real.

I shot my friend Colin's apartment
for Domino's apartment.

Like the lighting, when I shot it,
it was just perfect.

And he was like, "This is perfect."

He said even the lighting,
the way that you captured it...

And I said, "Well, guess what?"

He's moving, and they're redoing it,

so they're throwing
everything out, they're gutting it.

"Do you want it?"

And he was like, "Yeah!"

So I took the tub.
I took all the old stuff.

I sent two 45-foot containers

of taxi cabs,
all the signs, all the light posts.

I took everything and sent over.

He called and said,
"These aren't taxi cabs."

I said I bought them from a taxi place.

He said you could hardly fit
in the back seat.

I said, "They don't do
the Chubby Checker anymore."

He wanted the Chubby Checker.

He said, this is crazy, there's no space!

And plus the London black cabs

are so big in the back.

Chubby Checker, you know,
you used to have a--

You could pull another stool.

You could fit five people
in a Chubby Checker.

I said, "Yeah, it's bad."

He was very disappointed
in our new taxicabs.

There started to be a joke
that he would say...

He said, "You know, I need somebody...
I need to do some translights."

"Don't say you can do it."

Because I would always say,
"I could do that."

"I could do that."

And I said, well, I could.
I shoot eight by ten.

So there was two things, right?

One, go with a Steadicam
and just shoot the street at night,

because he was going to use it
for back, for Tom.

And then establishing shots.

So with the establishing shots,

I carried around an aluminum ladder.

I would stand up on the ladder
and then just do establishing shots

of hospitals...

He's like, I need a hospital.

I need a Village populated street,
I need this...

So I just went and documented everything,

and then we would go through them.

Then when it came to
the second unit shots,

it was Malik and Arthur Jafa.

I hired both of them.

I actually wanted Malik to shoot A.I.

That was my master plan.

Just never happened.

We would go and he'd be like,

"That looks good. But I'd go back
and just pan left a little, tilt up..."

[whispers] Are you kidding me?

We'd go back... "Find another angle."

This is the one thing: he was great,
but he would push you to a point

where you just didn't think
you had anything left.

I'm like, "There's nothing. I cannot see
anything else there. This is it."

But he'd send you back.
and you would go back...

and you would find something else.

And it would be there.

For two years, two winters, I did that.

So when it was time to shoot second unit,
it was basically just putting a camera

on a ladder...

and framing it to the photo
that he approved,

that I took.

So it just kept going.

And I started to get the sense,

when he said...

They had like a New York art director,
and he told me he fired him.

And I said, "Oh, do you want me
to help you find somebody else?"

And he's like,
"No, no, no, it's fine. I have you."

And I was like, okay. And then it started.

Then he started saying, you know,
maybe you should just come here.

♪♪ [orchestral waltz]

[Leone] It was incredible.

It was shocking. It was New York City.

Everything that I measured
and that I built, and saw...

And then it was like quirky also, right?

It was like, "Oh, that's with that..."

Or he's like, "How is it?"

I was like, "It's a little clean."

I would be walking around
throwing cigarette butts,

and graffiti, and trying to get more...
Again, it was the 90s, right?

So it looked a little different.
Putting tags up places...

but it was incredible to see it built.

I mean, we realized very quickly

that they built it too small.

It needed to be bigger streets.

So when I finally got to London,
what I did was I built

books and books

of reference pictures.

Of stores, or whatever.

So let's say we're like,
something was a nail salon,

and he's like, all right,
what else should we change it into?

And I'm like,
"Hmm... Let's make it a psychic."

Or, "Let's make it this..."

And then I would have all
the reference pictures,

and we would change it
to make it seem like Tom was walking...

I mean, the one thing that people
really don't talk about with Stanley,

that was producing.

He was an incredible producer.

People would say, "Oh, he went
on for eight months, nine months,"

but you went to his lighting truck,
and it was empty.

And as a producer, you know how much
a lighting truck costs every day.

But he had an enormous amount
of lampshades and light bulbs.

All of Tom and Nicole's apartment
is his house.

He'd be like:

"Go to Katherine's house
and get the dining room table,"

or "Go get all Christiane's artwork."

And he told me a story once,

he said, "When we were shooting
Clockwork Orange,

and I asked the set decorator..."

He picked up a matchbox car, and he said,

"What are we paying for this?"
And she said, "Oh, nothing."

It's like, you know,
£50 a week or something.

And he's like, "Yeah, but you know,
the set's going to be up for six months.

You could have bought it for £50."

So every time I had to show him anything
that wasn't part of his house,

or his daughter's house
that was on the set,

because he knew
the set would be up so long,

I'd have to give him:

"This is how much it costs to buy,
and this is how much it is to rent."

And then he would make the decision.

We were on location
in the doctor's office,

which was a location in London.

And I hear him off to the side,
saying to somebody,

"Don't worry, Lisa'll do it."

And I heard him and I said,
"Lisa will do what?"

And he started laughing and he's like,

"Oh, I decided I want
the secretary to talk.

So why don't you just go
to hair and makeup,

and you could do the secretary."

And I was like, "Really?"

He's like, "Yeah, yeah,
go to hair and makeup."

Then the costume designer was--
we're on location and she's like,

"I only have this like sweater.
I don't really have anything."

And Stanley's like,

"Well, she's only going to be
behind the desk. So it's here up."

So everyone's like okay, whatever.
So I'm like... all right.

So basically I was just saying,
"Morning, doctor."

♪♪ [orchestral waltz]

- Good morning Lisa.
- Good morning doctor. Your mail.

Good. Please ask Janelle
if she will bring me my coffee.

- Sure.
- Thank you.

- Good morning Sara.
- Good morning, doctor.

He's like, "You're pretty good."

I was like, okay.
I said, "Morning doctor..."

But then that was on a Friday.

And then the following Monday,
I was up in my office

and they were shooting in the stage.

And I hear like,
Brian comes on the radio and says,

"Lisa, Stanley wants to see you."

So I go downstairs and I see
Tom and Stanley, like... laughing.

And I was like, "What?" And he's like--

That's when he said,
"I have another scene for you.

I haven't written it yet,
but you're going to have to...

You're bringing him lunch.

So how do you--
what would the lunch look like?"

I was like: okay, while I wait
for my lines, I'll make the lunch.

Come in.

- Tuna salad and black coffee.
- Thanks.

Listen, how's my afternoon looking?

I think it's just Mrs. Akerly at 2:30
and Mrs. Kominski at 4.

Well, look, something has come up,

and I'm not gonna be able to see them.

Please ask Doctor Miller
if he can fit them in.

Otherwise, just apologize
and make new appointments.

Sure.

And, please call the garage and have
them get my car out in half an hour.

- No problem.
- Okay.

[Leone] He was fun. He was a jokester.

He was definitely, like, even gossipy...

So wait, are those two together?
Like, what's happening?

You know, just like normal set stuff.

He was really funny.

But if he felt-- like if you didn't care,

if he thought you didn't care...

Forget it.

Then that was not a good place to be.

You didn't want to be on his bad side.

I was still in contact
while he was editing,

and I had shot

the establishing
shot for Ziegler's party...

a year ago or something,
and he called me up.

He goes, "You know... Now that
they're piecing the film together,

I'm feeling like
we need a little bit more action,

maybe some cars pulling up.
Maybe we can have some lights..."

Because everything else
was very sneaky, sneaky.

Like I used to show up in a van,
put a ladder up... and go.

You know, it wasn't...
Again, independent film.

And then...

So I was like, oh, okay.
He said, "The same shot."

Let's just like turn some lights on,
maybe have some people, some cars.

I said, great, got it.

So I spoke to him on Saturday.
He's like, "Are you all ready?"

I said, "Yep, we're shooting Monday.
We're all set." Great.

And my mother called and said,
"Did you see the news today?"

And I said no.

And she said,
"They said that Stanley passed."

And I said, "No, that's bullshit.
I just spoke to him yesterday."

It's one of the "Stanley Kubrick" things.
She said it seems kind of serious.

I said, "I'm going to call him."

So I called his cell and his wife,
Christiane, picked up,

and I said, "Christiane..."

And she just...
And then I knew it was true.

It was very, very emotional because
we'd become very close at this point,

and I was close to the family,

and there was the funeral,
and everybody came...

Then after the funeral,
there was the conversation of,

Terry Semel, Jan of course, Leon...

And we're all like, what now?
I left, I didn't shoot that last shot.

So there was the question of like,
what do we do?

And then it was decided, okay,
we're not touching it.

The way it is
is how it's going to be released.

The only thing that's going to happen
is Lisa, go back and shoot that shot,

because we know
exactly where it is in the edit.

It's in the edit. It's just replacing it.

It's the same exact shot,
but just more lively.

So go back to New York, finish the shot,

finish that one shot.

So that was really...
eerie, to go back to New York.

And now we're doing it. And I'm like...

I was with Arthur Jafa,

because I asked Arthur
to shoot it with me.

And we were both like, "This is crazy."
Stanley's dead, and we're doing...

So...

So, as far as the cut goes,
that was all that was going to be.

But obviously there had to be--

The sound mix had to still happen
and all that.

At that point, afterwards,
I went and spent some time in Los Angeles.

Vivian was living there,

and Leon was out there doing the mix.

So I would go and hang out with Leon.

Not that I was doing anything,

just to go in and watch, and see,
and still kind of be involved.

♪♪ [orchestral waltz]

There is nothing that I do
without thinking about him,

or thinking about the process,

or thinking about,
"How would Stanley look at this?"

Or giving me courage to fight something
and being like,

"Wait, no." Like there's always something.

I mean, four years...

I got so many gems.

His curiosity and his push.

Don't settle. And it's...

"Well, this is good. But what else?"

Did you look at it from this angle?
Did you go from here? Did you...

It's just that curiosity and that...

Always push it to the next level.

♪♪ [orchestral waltz]