By L. M. KIT CARSON [TOH/Thompson on Hollywood] – [Richard] Leacock. Who raises the question: “What does a camera see?” His answer – camera sees everything: what you show it – and at the same time, what you don’t show it – this is how he played out the foundation of cinema-verite.
Leacock. Someone who looks for the meaning of people. Searches and studies their faces – y’know? And someone – as docu-partner D.A. Pennebaker noted – who…”Made everything an adventure, even just going for Lunch.” And someone – as docu-partner Robert Drew noted – who… “Worked decent.” – recalling that when they were shooting the inside-politics of Primary, Drew had gotten an arrangement with the Kennedy Team to shoot inside Kennedy’s hotel-suite on the final hours of the local Vote-Night. But Leacock said no – and only agreed to stand in the hallway shooting through the open doorway to the suite: shooting Kennedy walking back-and-forth thinking, determined and vulnerable as the district-by-district vote-counts were broadcasting on the suite-TV. Drew: “Leacock said that doing any closer shooting would be what he called ‘morally intrusive’.”
Leacock. Who taught by doing it – with the camera he did find out – the real story.
Continued at TOH/Thompson on Hollywood | More Chronicle & Notices.
