Faceless

Hello, my name is Jess Franco.

I am a director of Spanish origin, as people say in France.

I have done most of my films outside of Spain.

I have been making movies for a long time

which means that I have made movies throughout General Franco's regime.

As a director, I have made movies just about everywhere

in England, France, Germany, Italy, the United States

sometimes under various aliases.

Hello, my name is Lina Romay.

I am an actress, originally from Spain.

I have been in quite a few movies, not especially in Spain and maybe this is

the reason why you haven't heard much about me.

I too have worked under different aliases.

I am very happy to be watching this film.

So then, what can I tell you?

You are seeing the first images, here under the credits.

I made this movie about twelve, fourteen years ago, right?

Yes, approximately.

We shot the film in Paris.

It's a French film.

It is not a Spanish co-production.

The producer was Mr. Rene Chéateau who wrote the script.

He was credited as Fred Castle, scriptwriter

but he is the same person, Mr. Rene Chéateau.

We shot the film in Paris in six weeks, also in the suburbs of Paris.

And in the middle of the winter.

As you can see it's Christmas in Paris.

That's because it was really Christmas when we shot the film.

I had a great cast for this film.

As you can see, the actors are well known,

really great people,

We also had a large crew, something that I don't usually have.

There were even some technicians whom I did not know.

And I would see people on the set, that I didn't even know.

Because René Chateau didn't want to have a big production

because he was used to it at the time

when he was in partnership with Jean-Paul Belmondo

and he made huge budget films with him

he made big movies with Henri Verneuil or directors of that caliber.

His films were commercial films, but they were well made.

And so I decided to make this a smaller production because

it put me more at ease.

I like it when I know everyone is the film, and what everyone does.

But that was not the case here.

What is more, René was very nervous during the shoot.

It was his first time as a solo producer.

And so he was full of doubts, he could not sleep.

He would call in the middle of the night to tell me

let's fire this guy, let's change that, etc. He was really hysterical.

But in spite of all this, the film turned out quite well.

For example, the director of photography did a superb job.

Maurice Fellous is a great director of photography

he was also very nervous

yet he was very logical and very good.

The crew was all very, very good.

The only problem was that, with René being anxious

we changed technicians, almost every week,

but other than that, most of the team did not change.

The composer was Mr. Romano Musumarra

an Italian composer who has written pop themes

who was going to write the rest of the soundtrack.

However, when he saw a first edit of the film

he was afraid because he thought it was a horrible film, dreadful

he could not even look at the screen.

And so he decided, finally, together we decided

that we would keep his songs, his pop music

but for the rest of the soundtrack

Daniel White and I would write our own music

mostly for the dramatic and horror scenes.

Nevertheless, I am not 100% happy at how the film turned out

I think we spent too much for some things and not enough for others.

At the beginning, the special effects were fine

but Rene Chéateau wanted to prepare them as we were shooting.

I was used to the American way of doing things

which is to shoot the movie first, and then

to create all the effects in a studio after.

But he was afraid that the special effects would not match the sequences.

And so we lost a lot of time

and even the quality suffered

because if they go out, if the special effects men work in their studio

they have all the elements all the things that they need to do a good job.

But if they have to work on location, where the film is being shot

and most of the time we were in real settings, real places

it's not the same for them.

But it was fine as far as I was concerned.

I did not mind going along with what René Chateau wanted to do.

But if there's a tiny problem, even something small

you have to stop shooting and that's it!

They do not have all the equipment they need to do it, to make corrections.

As far as I am concerned, after all these years

I like this film a bit more.

I detested it when I finished making it

because of all these irritations, these problems.

I didn't do the editing.

I was there because I wanted to be there

and René Chéateau did not want me to be there

maybe he wanted to direct the editing himself.

I believe the end result is quite good; it lacks originality

it's not particularly classy, but

it is professionally well-made, sturdy.

That's really all I can tell you.

Could you tell me a little about the actors in this movie

the stars such as Helmut Berger, Brigitte Lahaie and others?

Well, René and I made the decisions;

First we discussed them

because he wanted some actors that maybe I did not want, etc.

But in principle, we agreed very easily about the leading actors because

for example

if someone proposes Stéphane Audran for a role in the movie

you say yes right away

because it's a privilege to have an actress like her

for what is practically a secondary role, your know?

Helmut was for us- for me and for René- ideal for the part.

His agent was difficult however and we had a problem, Rene and

with Helmut's agent, but in the end we were able to get him

and that was good.

At the time, Helmut had the reputation

of being a very difficult actor to work with

he was very difficult because he would disappear

he would leave in the middle of shooting, things like that.

But as far as I was concerned

he went out only one night during the shooting of the film.

The following morning he wasn't there

no one knew where he was,

but by 2 PM, he got there.

He hadn't shaved but that was all, you know?

He was really adorable.

Now, about Brigitte Lahaie.

Brigitte Lahaie is someone I already knew well,

I had made three films with her.

One was Dark Mission

with Chris Mitch um,

where she had an important part and played it quite well.

I knew her from the time she was in erotic or porno movies

or whatever you want to call them.

Personally, I don't like to use the word "porno”

not because I am afraid of it

because people don't really know what the word means.

So, if you say something is porno, it's like a label

you are classified "X"

and, of course, I hate being classified.

Brigitte is a true actress very charming

pleasant and cooperative.

All I can tell you is that, as we were shooting the film

it was very easy to work with her.

Additionally, as an actress she played her part to perfection.

Even Helmut, who is generally used to working with great actors

loved her very much, found her a fine person.

There were other roles

played by Chris Mitch um and Telly Savalas.

These are well-known highly quoted actors who had important roles

although not leading ones.

We formed a group all together, more or less.

Anton Diff ring, same situation.

Caroline Munro, I had wanted to work with her for a long time

and I was lucky when I thought she could play this part

I don't remember if it was Rene

who said the name Caroline Munro first or if it was me

but it does not matter. We both agreed to have her

since the beginning.

She was a wonderful girl, and I think she was superb

in the way she played her character.

As far as production was concerned

I have no criticism. I found it very, very good.

The only comment I would like to make is literary.

What I mean is that FACELESS, at the beginning

Is Gritos en la noche also - a.ka. L'Horrible Docteur Orlof

It's the same plot.

You may say it is also like Les Yeux sans visage

perhaps it was heavily influenced by Les Yeux Sans Visage,

But I can tell you is that I made Gritos en la noche

exactly around the same time

Franju was making Les Yeux sans visage.

I was shooting the film in Madrid

he was in Paris, but we didn't have any connection.

We both didn't know about the other film

and I am sure that Franju didn't either.

You know, ideas are born in the belly.

Since our ideas came from the same source

it's Edgar Wallace

who created the story.

I always loved Edgar Wallace's work although it isn't well considered.

He's a writer with crazy good ideas.

One of his best was the body snatcher novel

which is the same departure point of Faceless.

My name isn't on the script.

Or in the credits, but I worked on it.

I didn't work as much as the co-writers

but like John Ford and Howard Hughes.

They all worked on the scripts they filmed

but they didn't sign the script.

Since I was not very proud of the script,

I didn't ask to have my name in the credits.

Of course, I helped develop the script.

In the end, about thirty people did!

I don't really know how many because,

every week, Rene would call a new author and ask him to help,

to add, or to take out things.

But, when all is said and done, I think the end result is clear enough,

the story Is clearly written, it's O.K.