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Lindsay Anderson - in his own words
Diary entry, October 1979, on Anderson's experiences of trying to get a film made in Hollywood (LA 6/1/79).
An image comes to my mind. Hollywood is like a large railway station, with many platforms. (In the open air, of course, and the sun is shining.) Shiny express trains hurtle through. We are walking on a platform with bulky luggage and great expectations. The train is signalled, it speeds towards us: we gather our cases. The train hurtles past us, down the line. No-one seems surprised. (Was that our train? Or a different one?)
The next train stops. We get in: fine. It does not start. It goes backwards, then forwards again. Stops. Starts again. We are on our way. But is this the right train? There is no-one else in our compartment. Or perhaps they are talking so loudly among themselves that they didn't hear our tentative enquiries. Or they answer briefly, incomprehensibly. With bright, shallow assurances that fail to convince.
The metaphor can be extended. Not a railway station but a railway system. The trains are well-appointed, but many things do not work. On other lines, parallel with ours, they are speeding powerfully to their destinations. Sometimes our own train too runs fast and smooth - then suddenly jerks to a halt. "All change!" The timetables are elaborate - but inaccurate. No-one else seems worried though. And always there is the apprehension: we are in the wrong train, going in the wrong direction.
© University of Stirling 2005
