Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:04 Hi everybody. My name's John Raby and I'm the host of the somewhere in time podcast called call back yesterday. This is a pod let designed for anyone who is on Mackinac Island this weekend at the 30th annual somewhere in time weekend at grand hotel or anybody who wishes, they could be there like me to get the time travel experience, just right. Go to the place where I conducted the interview during last year, somewhere in time weekend, and listen, very intently and concentrate. If you do it just right, it'll feel just like it's 2019. Listen to this one on one of the landings of the long stairs leading to the garden, you'll realize soon why pick this spot? Like everybody says happens at the weekends. My husband and I became good friends with this guy and his wife, Stacey, we visited their house, painted their horses and ate delicious donuts then covert. So we stay in touch by texting, which is fine, I guess, but no donuts.
Speaker 1 00:01:03 So you can't, you can't even see the microphone we're recording. Right? Cause you work on movies, right. And you work on movies. Yeah. Please introduce yourself and tell me your connection to the movie. But my name is Jeff Corson. I was the film editor on somewhere in time. Where are we standing? We are standing on the landing of the grand hotel where Elise and Richard met on the staircase. Elise yelling out Richard when she saw Richard and what I find very fascinating with this, which I'm sure this is a process has been used in movies quite a bit, but, uh, Isidore Mankowski the photographer used a split diopter in order for you as a viewer to see the person close up in focus, as well as the person, many, many, many yards away that were also in focus. Did you know he was going to do this or did you see it in?
Speaker 1 00:02:04 I didn't. I did not know. Uh, I saw it in the dailies and I went to see his and I said, Oh my gosh, that is a fantastic shot. I can't believe that you've, you know, how'd you do that. And obviously everybody's aware of, I guess, a split diopter except me, you know, and this was about my second film. I've done second or third film. So it was an education and I was very impressed. And that's why we were standing on this landing talking because it's brought that memory back. Did he tell you what it was? How he did it, how he thought it out? He, well, w w the way he said it is that, Oh, it's just a split diopter. I go, okay. It's not like no kid it's magic. And I'm not going to tell you the trick, the trick for 10 more years now, he was, he was very forthcoming with the truth. It achieves an effect. That's very romantic. I get well, yeah, because if he didn't use that effect, you couldn't see them both in focus at the same time. So,
Speaker 0 00:03:00 And their reactions, like all the emotion involved in that,
Speaker 1 00:03:03 Because when she saw him, you see her react. And then when she yells Richard, you see his reaction. Well, if they didn't use a split diopter, they would rack focus from her to him. So you kind of lose that as you said, romantic little piece, because now it's becoming mechanical and it's a visual that you're seeing change where the split diopter prevents that, which is pretty cool. Yeah. It's like, you got one that's near site
Speaker 0 00:03:32 And not, uh, it's something they would do with CG now, but the old Hollywood way is the way
Speaker 1 00:03:38 Exactly they would have split the screen. They would have shot her in focus, then go and then shot him and focus and then put the two together. And you wouldn't see the split. It would be a seamless split, but the way he did it, it was all in one shot. And that's what I admire about his adore is that needed a lot of in-camera effects.
Speaker 0 00:03:57 You were working mostly way over at the place that was Mackinaw college used to be an MRA film studio. So that's where you were editing film far away from the hubbub that was mostly here at grand hotel. What do you think about being separated that way from, from the excitement?
Speaker 1 00:04:14 It was fine because the editor as myself and any other editor, you know, we're stuck in the cutting room. I mean, I'm grateful that they brought me here because if they hadn't, I would have been editing in Los Angeles and then shipping the film back and forth. I guess they felt that it would number one, be cheaper to keep me here and to the director would prefer to me be closer because that way he could come in and look at stuff that I cut nowadays. It's the technology has changed so much that if we were to shoot this, the technology today, if we were to shoot this, they would probably have me in LA because it's so fast that you just put the stuff online and the director sees it. Sorry about that. He's a big guy in the movies. So he's getting
Speaker 0 00:05:04 Texts probably for, is that score sassy again? Pardon me? Is that score sassy again? Yeah. Oh yeah. You know, he just does call Thelma.
Speaker 1 00:05:11 It doesn't leave me alone. I mean, I just can't get away from him.
Speaker 0 00:05:15 Did you, do you remember what you thought when they said, ah, we're going to make a movie on an Island that has, you know, makin Island. It's weird. It's stuck in time. It's it's had you ever heard of Mackinac Island before? Even
Speaker 1 00:05:26 I heard of Mackinac Mackinac Island before, uh, Verna fields, who was the vice president VP executive of somewhere in time. And she was working at universal. And for those of you that don't know who Verna fields was that she was the editor on jaws. She took the position of a VP and then took over, over at universal. And then she became the VP on this movie and she asked me, she says, uh, you know, I want to see if I can get you on this movie that we're doing somewhere in time. And I said, okay. And she says, uh, you know, the only thing, the pay scale, I go, okay. And she says, you're going to have to kind of go on to location where like two months or so I went okay. And I would have done it for nothing. I mean, I would've done it for nothing, even though if I didn't know about this Island. And I obviously didn't know about it until I got here. And I was a little nervous because I wasn't really ever away from home. This was like my second or third film. And being away that long and not at the time I was married and I had a child. And why did you agree so readily? Why? Yeah, because I was an upcoming editor and we're working with Verna. I would have done it for nothing and I couldn't wait and being under her wing. And she being my mentor was unbelievable.
Speaker 0 00:06:40 So, so she says, you should do this, carries a lot of weight. Then she says, jump out of your house. Hi.
Speaker 1 00:06:46 You know, cause she was very important back then and very popular. And uh, and I had a lot of respect for her and I learned a lot from her. You know, I didn't really have much confidence in myself, you know, and I was nervous and uh, she would always give me that boost of confidence that, you know, you're fine. You can do it. You'll do it. You'll be fine.
Speaker 0 00:07:05 Just making movies. It's just making radio. That's all
Speaker 1 00:07:08 Just making it. It's just radio. But that's, that's, that's how I got involved in it.
Speaker 0 00:07:12 Did you know at the time how unique McEnroe was, did you know anything about
Speaker 1 00:07:16 No idea what makin Island was like?
Speaker 0 00:07:19 And then when did you learn and what did you think?
Speaker 1 00:07:21 Oh, when I got here and they said you are going to be, we can't put you in the hotel because there's no rooms and the crew's going to stay at a, in a dorm, like a college dorm. And I went, Oh, pretty cool. So I mean, they, they treated me very well. I had my own room, had my own bathroom where a lot of the crew members, some of them were sharing rooms and they were sharing bathrooms. And I, you know, they, they put, they put me up, they took care of me. And when we got here, they gave us all a bicycle. Uh, the department heads and I was considered a department head because I was the editor and we had our own bicycles. And that's the only way we can get around and, or walking. And then on the weekends or on my days off, which usually a Sunday, cause I'd worked six days a week, I'd go over and I'd rent a horse and buggy. And I would just go by myself in drive the buggy into the Island, to the inner workings of the Island. And, uh, they wouldn't allow us on the streets, you know, in town, but we would just ride drive the buggy. And I would, you know, try to get a couple of crew members to go with me if they want it to,
Speaker 0 00:08:21 I've been asking other crew members and, uh, this is, is it the case that this was an extremely happy shoot?
Speaker 1 00:08:28 I think so. Yeah. I mean, everybody seemed to be very, very happy. It's rare, isn't it? How can you not be everybody was in ways to be unhappy. True. But everybody was, it's a very positive. I mean, this is a magical place. It's, it's, you know, I mean every time my wife and I come here, Stacy and I come here, it's like Stacy, let's buy that house. And we would come back here and we'll move our horses here. Every, you know, we'll come out here during the, and we'll ship our horses out and which we have to, and I can hook them up with a buggy here and I can drive my own horses. I don't have to run any, but it's so beautiful and magical. And it's like, you get up in the morning. How can you be in a bad mood? You know, it's just it during the time we went, especially cause it was June, July, I believe somewhere around it.
Speaker 0 00:09:13 Do you agree with my thesis that, uh, this is, uh, a time machine, an actual time machine? The Island itself. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. And then the
Speaker 1 00:09:22 Off the boat, or step off the plane and that goes, and everything's gone and you start walking into town and as a horse walking by you with the buggy it's or bicycles, and even in no matter where you are in the, on the Island, in a hotel, if you have your window open, while you're here as clip clop, clip clop, you don't hear any horns. You don't hear any engines roaring. Uh, the other day we were walking up the main street and all of a sudden I heard this and I turned around as an ambulance coming up towards a hotel. That's the only motor that I I've ever hear. And actually when we were here shooting, I think the only thing that was here was an ambulance and a firetruck. Even the police was on a bicycle. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:10:03 When did you first become aware that there was this fan club for somewhere in town? So you, you make the movie fails basically 10 years later, stuff starts happening around it. When did you find out about that?
Speaker 1 00:10:16 I was working on a television series called quantum leap and I was, um, in the lab and the gentleman by the name of bill shepherd got ahold of me and said, you know, we would like you to come out to maca. Now there is a fan club and we would literally have you come out, we'll take care of everything. We'll pay for the flight and this and that. I go nuts. Okay. I, you know, I'm just, uh, you know, I'd rather not. And uh, he kept being persistent and uh, I said, okay, I'll do it. I'll go. And I thought it was going to be kind of weird, you know, when you hear that kind of stuff. So I got here and I went, Oh my gosh. And unfortunately I was still working full time. So the only time I could go was like on a, take a Friday off, fly in, get here on a Friday night, do my thing for the fan club on Saturday and then fly home Sunday, which was really hard. So I chose not to do it for a few years. And then when I retired, I haven't missed a day a year. I've been here every year after that. And I think I've been retired maybe 12 years.
Speaker 0 00:11:27 So you come and participate in this thing, people asking the, I assume the same questions, the same kind of doing the same thing every year. Isn't that annoying?
Speaker 1 00:11:37 No, it's not annoying, but it is weird because I feel like I'm repeating myself and it's like, well, these folks I've heard this before. And I want to try to think of something different or something. I haven't told them. And then the coordinator, Steve Ellis says, there's new people all the time. They haven't heard it. So just assume that these are all new people and they're hearing it for the first time. So don't feel like you're repeating yourself cause you really aren't.
Speaker 0 00:12:03 But at the same time, people love hearing the old stories. I mean, it's fun. It's great. There's a point when Dan Dewey says and every single tour, uh, we go out on the ice for the Genoese Mark and he's like, where's the water? And he points down, no, the water is underneath you. That's great. A million times. And how the movie got made people. It's just an all, it's a story. It's lower people retell those stories over the over campfires and stuff. I think you're okay. Yeah. I think so too. But you guys are telling it with a heart that I don't see often, you know, when you watch movie Q and A's and like,
Speaker 1 00:12:35 Yeah, right. Yeah. It is. It is from the heart and it's a lot of feeling. And um, there was just one thing I remembered this morning, which I wish I would have said yesterday on a panel was, uh, one of my favorite moments on the Island was the associate producer. Steve Vical w when I first got on the Island, he said, I want you to meet Jane Seymour. I want a cool, cool. So he gets me over to Jane. He goes, Jane, this is Jeff course. And our editor, Jeff, this is Jane Seymour. Hi. Nice to meet you. So maybe a few hours later, I run into Steve and Jane and Steve goes, Jeff, have you met Jane Seymour? I go, Oh, hi, Jane, how are you? This is Jeff Corson. So, you know, this went on for two months, every time, not every day, but every time we were together, it was Jane. This is Jeff, Jeff. This is Jane. You want to remind her when I see her today? Yeah, Groundhog day.
Speaker 0 00:13:29 Uh, I was talking with Steve, the transportation director and he said, it's, it's, it's really great at a certain time in your life to know that you did something that matters to people.
Speaker 1 00:13:38 Oh, absolutely. And out of all the films that I have done, I think this is the most, this is the one that has affected me the most. And even if I didn't come back every year, just the fact that working on it, uh, you know, people ask what movies have you worked on? And I'll give him some of my credits. Then when I hit somewhere in time, they go, you did somewhere in time. Oh, I love that film. And then there's a few people that would say, well, you know, I've never seen that film. I go, well, you know, get your wife or get your girlfriend or whoever and, and watch it. It's a very romantic piece. I think you'll really enjoy it. And when they do, they go, Oh my gosh, I wish I had seen this sooner. So it, this is a memorable movie and a memorable experience, which I will never, ever forget.
Speaker 0 00:14:23 What did you learn about filmmaking by working on this film?
Speaker 1 00:14:27 Oh, that's a good question. When I learned about filmmaking, I don't, I don't have an answer for that one. Oh, wait, what did I do? Question. Yeah. Whoa, what did I learn about what I learned? Any filmmaker? What did I learn about filmmaking here? I don't have an answer for that again. I don't want to keep throwing this out there, but as an editor, I don't get out of the room that much. And I take it upon myself. When I think I need to take a break, uh, leave the editing room. I'll jump on my bike. I'll come down to the set. I'll hang out. I'll watch. I'll sit behind the camera with Chenault and watch from him. Actually, I take that back. I did learn a lot about filmmaking from Gino as a director, because I was able to come out on my own and just watch them. I love to watch the director and with a journo, he makes it so simple. I mean, you see him direct and just like, Hey, I can do this. You know, anybody can do this. Well, anybody that is good at their craft always makes it look easy. You know, the ones that don't make it look easy is the ones that are having a problem with it. And, um, I just learned a lot from, from general, just watching him and also being in the editing room with him.
Speaker 0 00:15:36 Do you remember a moment of, you know, there's a funky boat? I don't even know what that is.
Speaker 1 00:15:41 The barge. Wow. I don't know what's going on. You got a lot of stuff,
Speaker 0 00:15:45 Cole. Was there, was there something he taught you? Oh yeah, they're pushing it better. Oh, you're going to give me you're going through. You're cutting stuff. He says, cut here, cut here. And you're like, Oh, wait a minute. You're right. That works. Well,
Speaker 1 00:15:56 The director has a vision. I have a vision. When I read the script, I see a vision and you know, mentally I say to myself, well, this is the way I would shoot it. You know, I would say most of the time it would be similar. But then when you put it together, it's sometimes different. And I've had experiences where I would put something together and I would look at it and I go, this doesn't quite work. Right. So I try something different and then I would show it to the director general or whoever and they would go, wow, I didn't think about that. That's not what I had in mind, but a sure works. Let's leave it and let's move on. You know? So it's a very creative process. And, uh, you know, sometimes you're limited to what you can do with the film. And other times the directors, which is an odd,
Speaker 0 00:16:42 He gives you the, you know, it gives, you, gives you the yeah.
Speaker 1 00:16:45 Options where you can try different things. Um, she, you know, was a very well prepared director. So there wasn't that much film where if someone didn't know what he was doing, they would just shoot, shoot, shoot, and then you'd figure it out and post, you know, unfortunately today directors have the ability to do that only because it's not film anymore. It's digital. So it's so easy for them to go, well, let's do it this way. Let's try it that way. Oh no, that didn't work. Let's do it this way. We'll figure it out in post. You know, we'll fix it in post as a famous line, fix it in post. Thank you very much. Thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to, uh, talk to me.
Speaker 0 00:17:25 Thanks for listening to a call back yesterday. Padlet, please subscribe and give us a rating. And I hope I'll see you next year on Mackinaw.
