Madeleine Stowe Quotes

Yes, the marriage proposal was shot. Michael excluded the dialogue from the final edit.

Working on the accent helped, enormously. I will tell you that when I brought Michael a correct “British” accent, one that my dialect coach was happy with, he hated it.

We were all so different, temperamentally from one another, it’s impossible to believe that we were together for so long. The cast and crew. How could we be more different from one another? It’s difficult to imagine. But something lovely came of it.

There were mornings in the make-up trailer where I’d have fits of laughter because of the extraordinary daily events of the shoot. Sometimes, it was all too much to believe. But the wildest things happened.

There came a point in time when Michael was under a great deal of pressure to alter the film in a way that was just disturbing to him. I had not seen the movie, yet. He phoned me in July of ’92 to look at his version.

The weather was turning cold and I remember that Dante was using nothing but natural light as his electric department was away, prepping the scene in the cave. We stayed on that rock for the whole day.

The scene was attempted a second time, up on top of the fort, and cameras didn’t even roll. Michael, though he wasn’t admitting it, wasn’t sure how to shoot the scene.

The Kiss scene was attempted three times. The first was in a peculiar spot of the fort on the ground level. It felt forced to me, and I knew right away that, in spite of what others were saying, it was dead wrong.

Sometimes I’ll turn the channel and there’s the movie and I can honestly say that those last few minutes always fascinate me. It’s one of the rare instances when image, music, and drama work effectively.

Saving Milly was a break from this effort because I felt that it was time to be part of something that could shed light on a disease everyone feels they know, when most know so little.

Part of Michael’s uniqueness, I think, comes from the fact that he worked with music. He had a tape which he gave me with many different compositions, really eclectic. These pieces of music were sources of inspiration.

My driver Kellie Frost and I would race these fellows home and they were always faster on the highway. We did the same with Daniel and his driver, and thus began a long series of jokes and competitions to alleviate the impossible hours and tensions this film provoked.

Michael would take us on location and see how the colors worked in the forests and fields.

Michael was very specific during rehearsals. When he was pleased, he always had this charming grin.

Michael is a funny character, for whom I have a great deal of affection. He sat across his desk and seemed to be a bit of a blunt fellow. We began talking about the characters and he opened up about his vision.

It was treacherous. I think someone was injured. But I did love being there, we all did.

It was exactly what was released two months later with the exception of a couple of reaction shots which we went back in to get. I liked the movie very much and asked him what the studio’s problem was. I felt that he was at a point where they might have worn him down.

In the 90’s action pictures were all the rage. As a woman, I was fed up with them and I initially thought that the script was just another action film dressed up as a period piece.

I’ve never returned to the locations. I do remember certain days more clearly than others and certain locations with a sense of nostalgia. Perhaps one day, I’ll bring my daughter to see them, if she’s interested.

I’m reticent to say much more, but we would like to begin in the coming year. We’d like to shoot through the seasons because of the passage of time. This project is the great love of my life.